go along to get along

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an idiom describing the social strategy of conforming to the expectations, norms, and preferences of a group in order to maintain social harmony, avoid conflict, and secure one's acceptance and standing within the group, even when one privately disagrees with the group's positions or behaviour; the phrase captures one of the primary social pressures toward conformity — the desire for belonging and the fear of exclusion — that operates in families, workplaces, social groups, and political communities; going along to get along is sometimes a rational strategy for maintaining necessary relationships and social capital, but it can also be a form of moral abdication when it leads individuals to participate in or tacitly endorse harmful group norms and behaviours; the tension between social conformity and individual conscience is a central theme in social psychology, explored through research on conformity — Asch's line experiments — obedience — Milgram's shock experiments — and groupthink — Janis's analysis of policy disasters