How Non-conformists are Actually Conformists

First off, Let's start by defining things. A conformist is an individual who changes his behavior or thinking in order to fit in with established thought processes and norms. The act of conforming, is changing your behavior or thought due to influence from another individual or group. A non-conformist, is an individual who identifies those established thought processes and norms in society, and decides to do the opposite (or different).

Why Non-Conform?

Non-conformists are typically people that go against the dominant culture and its norms. There could be a few reasons for this. The individual could've never been socialized into his/her culture, and therefore doesn't feel like he needs to submit to its norms. The individual could also be under a lot of stress, learned different rules or feel oppressed by the dominant culture.

The most popular, and cool, reason to be a conformist is to be seen as an individual by your peers. It's essentially wearing a big sign on your back that says, "Look at me, I'm different. I'm a rebel" Pop culture non-conformity is a way to stand out from the conformists, and the non conformity often leads to establishing a new fad or style in the future. Often, the individuals who begin to non-conform are individuals who feel oppressed in one way or another.

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” 

― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Why Non-conformists are Still Conformists

Once you understand what a non-conformist is, and the definition of conformity, it's easy to see that non-conformists are just conformists wearing a different color.

First, If yo acknowledge what the "main stream" culture is doing, and then consciously decide to go against it, those people are essentially deciding what you do. If they go up, you go down. If they wear red, you wear blue. You're merely reacting to what pop culture is doing and doing the opposite, or something different, for the sake of being a rebel. You aren't thinking for yourself and deciding for yourself on whether you like something, you are letting the crowd influence you on your decision making. This this makes you a conformist. Remember, the definition of conformist is any individual who changes their behavior or thoughts due to influence from another individual or group.

Second, if you're not conforming to the conformists, who are you conforming to? Often, you're conforming to the non-conformists. Just because you go against the crowd, doesn't make you an individual. Sometimes itt just means you belong to smaller crowd of people who go against the larger one.