Group Instinct In A Class Divided

Our current and past societies are defined by a group instinct, a group instinct that fuels our societal beliefs. From the beginning, humans have had a pressure to conform to our peers. In order to survive in tribes they had to follow the authority, and in wartime, they took the values of their country. Stereotypes and prejudice are created from a human instinct. So, how does it start? One person, often of authority, puts an idea out in the world, an idea created because of insecurity or as a power-move. The belief is put out in the world and because of survival instinct, people conform even though they are not in danger. Some may claim it is because people are just “born evil” but that is truly not the case. Prejudice is ingrained in society …show more content…
The episode focused on prejudice, specifically how it becomes ingrained in society. “A Class Divided” was an experiment by an elementary teacher, performed on her students. The teacher, being the person of authority made an impact on her young students because they trusted her. She made the students believe that a group is inferior if they have a certain eye-color and the latter group is superior. The kids acted on group instinct and conformed to their fellow classmate’s values, the kids transformed into entirely different people because their safety figure and their peers shared a new set of beliefs. However, when the teacher performed this on a set of adults, they rebelled, they rebelled because the group of coworkers already had a set of strong shared beliefs and they felt safe with one another, while the teacher was a dangerous outsider to them. One could argue that adults don’t conform to opposing beliefs and it’s only children that uphold their peer's belief, although, this doesn’t hold true across the board. This episode showed a situation of adults in a group and since they were in a group with shared beliefs they stuck to them. They were not conforming to the teacher, they were actually conforming to their workplace peers. “A Class Divided” is a prime example of peer …show more content…
The novel is based around the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. The townspeople in Maycomb try their best to fit in with the expectations of being a resident of the town. The Finch family is notable because they don’t adapt to the town's beliefs; they stick with their own. Atticus Finch specifically is unique because he ignores his human instincts and the opposing values of the townspeople, an example of this is when Mr. Ewell threatened Atticus, even though Atticus was threatened he ignored it and went along with his day. An opposite example to this would be Mayella lying in court, Mayella was scared of what her father would do if she told the truth so, she stuck to her survival instinct and lied. To Kill a Mockingbird, may be a fictional example but it holds true to humanity and creates scenarios that still occur today. To Kill a Mockingbird presents an example of a family that ignores their neighbors prejudice and rises above