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The way I see it, with trying to distinguish individuality from societal influences... it's not really possible. If you were born into a world devoid of any sensory input whatsoever, who would you be? We can only find the boundaries of our own identity through interaction with others and the world around us. What defines yourself and what you like and don't like is both the environment around you, and the elements of that environment which you choose to assimilate and those you choose to reject.
So the way I see it, say for example there's this song you like. Do you seriously like it yourself, or do you seem to like it just because all of your friends like it? Is there a difference? If you're going to say it's the latter case, then I say that you like being accepted by your friends, the song is a sign of acceptance by your friends, therefore you like the song. Because (in a sense) that's just as much a property of the song as is its beat, melody, and lyrics. They're all reasons to like the song. Which reasons you give the most weight to is a matter of your own preference. And perhaps your own preference was shaped by societal influences but in my opinion, however far back you draw out this chain of influences, it was still you who decided to accept that particular idea out of the millions of ideas we're all exposed to throughout our lives. But you can't separate the individual from the environment.
I'm not sure if that answers your question... just my 2 cents. ^^;;
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