Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders, members of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and high school subcultures such as punk and goth are instances of non-conformists. Non-conformists are individuals who do not adhere to regular society norms of behaviour.
One of the most well-known examples of nonconformity is the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Against social norms, King and other civil rights leaders argued that black Americans deserved the same rights as whites. By opposing conventional norms, the Civil Rights Movement was able to alter those norms. Historical examples of non-conformists include the leaders of other social groups, such as suffragettes and feminists.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is a more current instance of nonconformity. The movement originated as a protest against the power and influence of corporate interests in American politics and expanded to include varied concerns such as immigration policy, mass imprisonment, and education reform. By acting contrary to conventional social conventions, the movement drew attention to concerns of income distribution and social inequality in the United States.
High school cliques are examples of nonconformity on a smaller scale. Teens that adopt nonconformist fashions such as punk, goth, or metal are frequently shunned by their more conformist peers for refusing to adhere to conventional norms.
