Dally Winston And Erikson's Theory Of Social Differences

Most people in the world are misunderstood at some point in their life. However, if other people’s perceptions of a person create a reputation, it can camouflage their real traits. Dallas (Dally) Winston is a victim of this. A character in the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Dally is commonly known for being a tough ruthless guy who doesn’t care about anybody but himself. He’s a great fighter and is very confident, but because of his past, it seems his real qualities have been masked. Even though Dallas Winston’s friends misunderstood him to be a cold-hearted and tough person, his experiences and how he treats his friends reveals his loving, self-reliant, and dependable nature.

Have you ever had a simple feud between peers, or even close friends? Imagine if you had a fight over social classes, would it be worse? S.E. Hinton, the author of the 1967 novel, The Outsiders, uses unique characters, symbols, and hectic events to prove that class conflict is pointless, unwarranted, and destructive. In the novel, fictional characters are brought to life by the author, as she connects and compares their taxing lifestyle to that of the reader. Using 14 year old boy, Ponyboy Curtis who is a greaser who has it fairly bad, living with only his brothers after his parents dies in a tragic car accident, Hinton shows that it’s tough all over, no matter your social status. Ponyboy can only rely on Sodapop and Darry, and the rest of the gang. The author displays class conflict throughout the book, by using the ‘socs, or ,the rich kids with mustangs and madras, showing that this dispute, between the greasers and socs, does not make life any easier. The Outsiders uncovers that blood, may not be thicker than water, after all.

Erikson was a German psychologist and psychoanalyst. He was a student of Freud, and was greatly influenced by his theories of personality development. Similarly to Winnicott, Erikson drew on his experiences as a child analyst, to inform his contributions. Erikson’s theories, like Winnicott, are highly regarded today.

Erikson believed that people develop in psychosocial stages. He emphasized developmental change throughout the human life span. In Erikson's theory, eight stages of development result as we go through the life span. Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced. According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but a turning point. The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be.

Imagine a young boy who has to watch behind his back in case a snotty rich kid was lurking in the streets wanting to beat up on little kids. “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton is full of differences so the reader can understand that people have different views than them. This book is a “call to action” because social class and violence issues are a big part of the world's problems 51 years ago and even today.

Eric Erikson was one of the most famous theorists of the twentieth century; he created many theories. One of the most talked about theories is his theory of psychosocial development. This is a theory that describes stages in which an individual should pass as they are going through life. His theory includes nine stages all together. The original theory only included eight stages but Erikson‘s wife found a ninth stage and published it after his death. The nine stages include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. identity confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair, and hope and faith vs. despair (Crandell and Crandell,

The second theory examined is Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Each stage in Erikson’s theory involves a conflict/crisis that a person must work through to evolve their personality. Rosenthal (1981) explains that, “Each stage arises because a new dimension of social interaction

“The silence grew heavier, and I could hear the harsh heavy breathing of the boys around me. Still Darry and the Soc walked slowly in a circle” (Hinton, 143). The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a realistic fiction novel taking place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1966. The story informs the reader of a rivalry between two gangs, the Socials (Socs) who are the rich people that have nice cars, clothes, and have a bright future ahead of them. The Socs live on the West side. The Greasers are the other gang who weren’t rich, weren’t known to have bright futures and always had grease in their hair, hence the name Greasers. Throughout the story many themes have been applied to our society today. Two themes that I have chosen were that loyalty is a thread that holds people together and to not judge people based on how society labels them.

Erikson’s theory of personality is based on his eight stages of development. In each of these eight stages of

When the word outsider comes to mind, you may think of a person who is not part of a certain group or activity. Well, in the novel “The outsiders,” writer S.E. Hinton tells a story that takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma about two teenage groups; the greasers and the Socs. Sometimes, it can be hard to identify what social group you’d think you’d fall under. In the novel, the greasers and the Socs are stereotyped by their peers and they feel like outsiders. But as the story unfolds, they realize that they need to set aside their differences and not assume each other’s personalities based on the social groups that they’re in.

S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a novel that follows a group of boys growing up in the 1960s and having to face prejudice and stereotypes on the daily. The author includes multiple examples of prejudice in the novel and uses these to demonstrate the destructive nature of prejudice on the characters in the story, such as fights between characters, friendships being torn apart and people feeling ashamed of who they are and which social class they belong in. The first examples of prejudice shown in the novel are fights and hate between the two social classes.

“The outsiders” by S.E. Hinton focuses on editorial writing: class differences, lack of family support, gangs becoming brothers, and police discrimination. People took many different viewpoints about the book from when it was first released. For example, allowing the greasers to play their role during that time period, Americans thought Hinton was explaining their way of life. Hinton also express a topic about police discrimination by demonstrating how harshly they were treated and how they showed favoritism to the Soc and give them a warning and “send them on their way.’

S.E. Hinton, the author of “The Outsiders,” wished to emphasize a certain concept or idea in the book. Many important concepts were discussed, such as loyalty and the search for personal identity. The most important concept in the “The Outsiders” was the concept of class conflict. Class conflict is the conflict between two or more classes, in this case the Greasers and Socials, in a community. This conflict was going on because the Socials, or Socs, were rich and lived on the West Side of town. On the other hand, the Greasers lived on the East Side of the town, and were mostly poor. The public perceived them in different ways, which fed this class conflict.

Erikson’s main contribution to psychology was his developmental theory. He developed eight psychosocial stages of development and believed that each stage presents

Erik Erikson is known for his psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. Psychologist Erik Erikson, is a major contributor to developmental psychology, who proposed a comprehensive theory of the ways that individuals develop their identity, a sense of who they are, and society's influence on that development. Erikson stated that people go through crisis at each stage of their lives. The stages each had a developmental task to be mastered. As an individual resolved these various crises an individual would have a better harmony with their social environment that they live in. If an individual could not successfully resolve a crisis, they would be” out of step”, and the individual would have a greater difficulty in their dealing with a crisis in the future. Erikson did however recognize that an individual can develop through a stage negatively and still go on with their life. Erikson stated that each of the psychological stages have a basic conflict and important event leading to growth. The theory was developed from his hundreds of clinical observations in children.