Throughout history, each society has carried its own norms as a key part of social groups. While norms exist as part of human culture, it remains important in our personal and professional lives to question these norms, whether socialized or institutionalized. Norms exist for many reasons, including to guide and define behavior, and are relative to every culture.
According to Simply Psychology, “norms provide us with an expected idea of how to behave and function to provide order and predictability in society.” When we blindly accept what has always been done, we risk falling into a trap of comfort, as well as blind conformity to a majority or consensus.
Positive change in the world does not come when we blindly accept the state of things and what’s always been done. Change begins in imagination, when we challenge the status quo and interrogate systems of injustice.
Questioning traditions we deem as normal and analyzing the status quo allows us to creatively challenge things in society considered the norm, but cause harm or injustice. Historically, by not questioning the status quo and striving to improve it, we leave marginalized people vulnerable by accepting the status quo as unchangeable.
When it comes to the history of systemic injustice, racism, prejudice and bigotry were accepted as normal and ingrained institutionally. For example, American slavery, while challenged by abolitionists, was considered by many to be a normal part of life. Through laws or agreements such as the Three-fifths Compromise, slavery and racism were codified and normalized into law.
Yet despite ideas of racial hierarchy, Black abolitionists and enslaved people actively interrogated the status quo of their day, resisting slavery and envisioning a nation without it. Abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman actively challenged the status quo of their day by fighting slavery through various methods.
Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, restrictive state and local laws, referred to as “Black Codes,” codified social norms into laws, which not only severely limited the freedom of African Americans, but also dictated how African Americans were permitted to interact with white Americans. These laws were the roots of Jim Crow laws, segregation laws that persisted for nearly a century, designed to establish white supremacy and undermine the rights of African Americans.
By observing history, we see progress often begins in the minds of dreamers, people who envision the world as it should be rather than just accepting it for what it is. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement, spoke famously about his dream for racial equality in his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” King said.
During King’s time, many of his contemporaries viewed his vision as radical or too soon. According to a Gallup poll of Americans from early 1965, 34% of participants felt President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration was moving too fast overall on integration.
But King’s willingness to dream of a just world and his audacity to believe in the power of social change led him to create effective change in his time, which is still felt to this day. His refusal to accept the status quo has served as an inspiration for generations not to back down in the pursuit of justice.
“If peace means being complacently adjusted to a deadening status quo, I don’t want peace,” King said.
Imagination not only shapes the political and social state of the world, but also serves as a building block for artists, who, through the power of their work, can inspire positive change in the world. For example, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, through his immense contributions to neo-expressionism, used his art to address social issues such as racism, classism and colonialism, inspiring a new generation to do the same.
Of course, we shouldn’t be idealistic to a degree of naivety, where we disregard the complexities of the reality that we live in. Rather, through awareness, we should challenge the status quo and utilize our creativity, our dreams and our imagination to actualize our visions for better lives and a better world.
Change begins with imagination, but should not end there. Like King and the many artists and activists before us, we shouldn’t abandon our imagination or dreams for the future because we think they are impossible or defy the status quo. Rather, we should take inspiration from the dreamers of the past and utilize our dreams as inspiration to take action for the future.
David Asamoah is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to David about his column? Email him at da602024@ohio.edu.
