ABSTRACT
The next three chapters will look at processes that are common in most status systems, but are most easily identified in relatively hierarchical status systems. The material is organized around the key notions of the theory of status relations: conformity, association, inalienability, and inexpansibility. This chapter focuses on conformity. Those who wish to have high status not only attempt to conform, but they often try to control the content of the norms. They do this by elaborating and complicating the norms in ways that give them an advantage in the competition to conform. Paradoxically, high levels of conformity often require that students be very sensitive to changes in the norms. They must “keep up” with their competition and changing fashions in the broader society. Often conformity to the norms of one group requires that you reject, or at least distance
yourself from, the norms of other groups. Before I attempt to explain the patterns of behavior, I need to describe the crowds commonly found in high schools and their relationships to one another.
