I have been thinking about the Big Idea of Social Norms and how they can and do, in many  people's lives,......influence and dictate how we behave, dress, talk, buy, watch, read, eat, and think.
Below is an artist addressing this issue:

http://www.newdream.org/resources/2011-09-artist-critiques-consumer-culture

Artist Critiques Social Norms and Our Consumer Culture

Award-winning artist Mary Ellen Croteau covers a wide range of themes, from sexuality and warfare to global politics. But a strong current of her work is a critique of our consumer culture.

“I firmly believe in the power of the visual, and my work is my voice: a social critique and a visual challenge to all the cultural detritus we are force-fed every day,” she explains. “My art is about looking at things in a slightly different way, and is intended to undermine the status quo with wit and humor.” 

Based in Chicago, Croteau uses a variety of media, from traditional painting to photography to sculpture and installation. Her project "Mountains" (2008) is a series of photos of trash arranged in the shape of a mountain range. The piles include electronic waste, plastic and metal, cattle dung from feedlots, and nuclear waste.

Recent projects have focused on the use of plastic—plastic bags, plastic water bottles, and even plastic bottle caps.

One of her latest pieces is a large (8-by-7 foot) self-portrait, “Close”, made entirely of nested bottle caps and modeled on artist Chuck Close’s painted portraits. Croteau also created several “endless columns” of these caps, after Constantin Brancussi’s iconic modernist sculpture. 

“Bag World”

In an earlier series, “Bag World” (2004–09), Croteau explored the ubiquity of plastic bags in the environment. Her first project involved making a braided bag rope using plastic bags that she accumulated over a seven-month period in 2004. The piece is titled “A Measure of Consumption: 225 days, 68 meters” and is intended to harken back to an era when all waste was recycled.

"I was trying to think what to do with all those bags that you get every time you go to the store,” explained Croteau. “Even if you bring your own bags, they still try to put the stuff in plastic bags before they put it in the ones you brought. And no matter what they tell you, these bags are not recycled. They are just collected and disposed of.” 

For later pieces in the series, Croteau painted replicas of works by well-known artists such as Van Gogh, O'Keeffe,Monet, and Matisse, but she added her own twist by featuring plastic bags among the beautiful landscapes. When exhibited, the installation could only be accessed by wading through a bag-strewn floor, resulting in a performative interaction. 

Croteau’s installation “Waterfall” is made from more than 700 plastic newspaper bags and plastic water bottles, and offers a commentary on “the plasticization of our world, and the destruction of the source of life itself.” In another series, Croteau crocheted plastic bags into replicas of dead coral reef, part of the Hyperbolic Crocheted Coral Reefproject. Croteau talks more about the "Bag World" series in a video interview (below).

Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best

Art and music are key to student development.

BY FRAN SMITH

"Art does not solve problems, but makes us aware of their existence," sculptor Magdalena Abakanowicz has said. Arts education, on the other hand, does solve problems. Years of research show that it's closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity.

Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. A 2005report by the Rand Corporation about the visual arts argues that the intrinsic pleasures and stimulation of the art experience do more than sweeten an individual's life -- according to the report, they "can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing," creating the foundation to forge social bonds and community cohesion. And strong arts programming in schools helps close a gap that has left many a child behind: From Mozart for babies to tutus for toddlers to family trips to the museum, the children of affluent, aspiring parents generally get exposed to the arts whether or not public schools provide them. Low-income children, often, do not. "Arts education enables those children from a financially challenged background to have a more level playing field with children who have had those enrichment experiences,'' says Eric Cooper, president and founder of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education. Taken from: http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development

The Arts Are Essential

Cornell University's president on why teaching creativity in schools is not a luxury.

BY DAVID J. SKORTON

"The arts and humanities play a vital role in the educational development of students. They keep and convey our cultural heritage while opening us up to other societies and civilizations around the globe. They help us explore what it means to be human, including both the ethical and aesthetic dimensions. If science and technology help us to answer questions of "what" and "how," the arts and humanities give us ways to confront the intangible, to contemplate the "why," to imagine, to create. If ever there were a time to nurture those skills in our young people, it is now, when our nation's future may depend on our creativity and our ability to understand and appreciate the cultures around the world as much as on our proficiency in reading and math." Taken from: http://www.edutopia.org/arts-education-humanities-creativity