go against the grain

We should nurture them as an occasionally irresponsible group that can go against the grain of society and pronounce hard truths.

David Murdoch: Going to go against the grain here and say this tie isn't over.

“That’s not how people behaved. But to see the beginnings of that kind of progress, to not maintain racial segregation in business — obviously, they wanted to make money from this large building, but they were also willing to go against the grain.”

That willingness to go against the grain, to share the space regardless of race, created the conditions for Washington Hall to mean a whole lot to a whole lot of people — long after the Danish Brotherhood had left.

The leaders of the so-called men's conferences have been polygamists - seen by some as people who go against the grain, against societal pressures, to do what they want to do.