Pressure

What is the difference between Social Pressure and Peer Pressure?

The biggest difference is what a person feels pressure from (of).

Social pressure seems to be based on general social morality while peer pressure is based on inner rules of his/her close friends.

For example, when a person feels pressure and couldn't refuse to take the dope, it is what you call “peer pressure”. In another case, when student athletes face pressure to win, from peers, parents and coaches, it can be peer pressure, too.

In the move “Finding Forrester” we saw in Yukari’s class, a guy named Jamal was hiding the fact he was reading many books and writing notes about the books in order to avoid to stand out. He was talking about basketball (they call it “the ball”) all the time with his friends or his mother because he wanted to be a part of his friends. His behavior has a lot to do with peer pressure.

Also, Jamal and other boys are wearing same kinds of outfits, hair styles. Without noticing or not, friends are getting similar because of peer pressure.



On the other hand, social pressure is more general.
One example I can think of feeling social pressure is that a thirty something single woman always being asked when or whom she is getting married.
Moreover, after one woman gets married, she is under pressure to be asked “Are you having a lovely baby yet?” hundreds of times. That’s social pressure, too.

Ten Years from Now...

We had a piece of assignment to write about "imagining yourself 10 years from now" in Yukari's class today.

Hm-hum. That was exactly the same question I was asked at the interview by Mrs. Yohena for the entrance exam in 2006.


I remember answering two things.

One was that I said "I will be ten years older from now for sure." (What a stupid answer!)
The other thing was that "I would like to be an interpreter in the future."

Well, well, well.
It's been already three years since I had that interview.
Do I still want to become an interpreter in seven years???


It was a really good opportunity to remember what I was willing to do in the future two years ago.
I thank Yukari for giving me the opportunity.

Yes, I would like to be a Japanese-English interpreter ten years from now.
The bottom line is that I would like to be studying English to become an interpreter.