Peer Groups

A peer group is a particular kind of primary group formed among individuals who share a similar age, or who belong to a common professional or occupational category. Because members of a peer group are, by definition, positioned similarly to one another — same age, same stage of life, same kind of work — they interact on relatively equal terms, unlike relationships with parents, teachers or employers, which are structured by an imbalance of authority.

Precisely because peer relationships are close, frequent and among equals, they carry a distinctive kind of influence that sociologists call peer pressure — the social pressure a person's peers exert on what they ought, or ought not, to do. Peer pressure can operate quite informally: through approval or disapproval of how someone dresses, behaves, or what music or films they prefer, peers shape one another's tastes and conduct without any of this ever being written down as a formal rule. Because a peer group typically lacks the kind of authority a parent or teacher has, its influence works less through direct command and more through the desire to fit in, be accepted, and avoid the discomfort of standing out from the group. …