Is It All About Fitting In?
Throughout all of human history, the majority have continually followed what they are told are the social norms/expectations and ideas of society. People who would not ordinarily conform to it are forced to conform to the social expectations of society either by legal force or by extreme social pressure. Wherever non-conformity is allowed, people that conform have always hated and feared those that don't conform.
Even countries that are very diverse and extremely multi-cultural like America focus on conformity and shun those that don't conform to the mainstream cultures, beliefs and practices.
Following The Masses
Why have humans continually felt the need to be like everybody else in their society and not be who they actually want to be? Conformity has always been an enormous part of humanity and still plays a massive role in modern society everywhere.
Be A Child And Free From Constructs
Let's assume that from childhood and forwards there's desire to be liked by others and that this need is rooted in one's mind.
There's a huge amount of things to enjoy and find like in, both within the sense of doing things for pleasure and for the novelty of doing any certain thing.
We tend to lean towards what others like to do, when thinking about what one's self-enjoys. We do this because we feel that they are the social norms. If we lived in a world not surrounded by others, would we like the same things that we do today or would be truly open up and be who we are?
It is necessary to share, mix and play with each other to even start building an original self, separate from others. I feel this plays an enormous role in why 'conformity' is as huge as it is because we quickly relate to others and want to belong to one another instead of being ourselves.