Outsiders Howard S. Becker 1. “When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one who cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. He is regarded as an outsider. But the person who is thus labeled an outsider may have a different view of the matter. He may not accept the rule by which he is being judged and may not regard those who judge him as either component or legitimately entitled to do so. Hence, a second meaning of the term emerges: the rule breaker may feel his judges are outsiders.” This quote from the book Outsiders by Howard S. Becker gives the idea that there are social laws, or “rules”, and when broken you are considered an outsider. This is shown when Becker, as seen above, says, “When a rule is enforced”. What he says also sets up the different points of view. When Becker says, “person who is supposed to have”, he means the person who breaks the “rule” may not consider it a rule at all or just not think it applies to him, “a special kind of person”. Showing how the deviant person sets himself/herself apart from the general public, this person will not be offended by the people who judge him because he sees the said judger as an outsider himself. Because the “outsiders” or said rule breakers can see the people not breaking the social norms as outsiders too, it sets up a subculture or a deviant society, where there is mutuality in non-conformity. On page one-hundred and
is that there are outsiders in today’s society. When one is made into an outsider, the bias
The most important lesson for Rachel that comes out of this situation is that after wearing the disgusted sweater she has become even older, and it was tied to the experience instead of the birthday itself. She understands that it is the challenge she needs to grow up faster as she will receive additional benefits of behaving the way she wants and resisting to the outside irritators. As for the literature techniques, the author applies language, diction and symbolism to reveal the issues of experience, aging, knowledge, power, authority and freedom. The discovering is gaining age are conveyed with the help of the memories of eleven-year-old girl on her birthday. Rachel resists her humiliation from Mrs. Pierce, and that is the exact moment when her “smart eleven” comes as well[2].
Discuss how your investigation of the generic conventions of poetry has influenced your understanding of at least one poem that you have studied in this unit.
“I find that the very things that I get criticized for, which is usually being different and just doing my own thing and just being original, is the very thing that’s making me successful.” Country singer Shania Twain explains that the things she does in her daily life, making her different from everyone else, actually makes her unique, despite the fact that it goes against social norms. A non-conformist person is someone who goes against societal norms because they are an individual who will do what they prefer to do, regardless of what others may think. In the novel The Outsider, Meursault is indifferent and passive to a
Being an outsider is a position that an individual does not fit in with the rest of society. Areas of society are often called clique at which we feel like we must coordinate our actions to follow and pleases. Those actions leads to the anonymous question should the outside, those who do not follow the rest be embraced or rejected. Corresponding with the rights of our world, we are seen as equal, yet we do not always follow that. Outsiders should be rejected, providing them growth, individuality through independence and, crucial life skills.
According to the theory, a person may be close to others in proximity yet does not conform completely to the system and maintains their own customs and norms. As a result, a division arises in society between “the stranger” and other of different social groups who view this nonconformity as dangerous, threatening, and suspicious. The stranger may also have different expectations placed upon them than other groups in society. This divide that separates the stranger and society is compared to a veil, like that of Du Bois. Both theories discuss a “sense of otherness” that Individuals may experience in Society (Appelrouth & Edles, 2016, p. 289). The sense of otherness produces a strain in how members may act and view the world around them.
The first reason why “outsiders” are misjudged is because others judge them on where they live, who their parents are, and their social status. Ever since humans have been on earth, we place each other into a socioeconomic status. Certain people might live in a terrible, broken down house in a dangerous part of town, due to not making enough money. Others might be rich, living in a ginormous mansion, and living like a king. The poorer and less fortunate can't often help that they don’t have a lot of money. Yet, some richer people judge these poorer people on things like where they live or how they might dress. This happens a lot more in high schools, although some adults could do this too. Others might judge the “outsider” because of who raised them. The “outsider’s” parents might have had a “troubled past” in the eyes of some people and they might judge the outsider for being their child. It could also be the exact opposite and others could judge the outsider due to their parents being “wealthy” or “snobbish.” People are judged all the time based on lives that they can’t control. An outsider might want to try and create a better life for themselves
What is an outsider? An outsider is a person who is not excepted by or is isolated by society. Have you ever been an “outsider”? Everyone experiences a situation where they weren’t able to fit in. The feeling of not being able to fit it is universal. Not everyone is the same and in certain situations you may not be able to bond with everyone. Everyone is focused on being judged or being the person who is judging someone. If you are not like everyone in your society group, those people don’t except you. Nowadays our society feels that if you aren’t up to people’s expectations, you are known to be an “outsider”. Being an outsider is universal because not everyone is social, not everyone can afford nice things and not everyone is popular.
Social change comes from a societies understanding and acceptance of controversial topics, laws that enforce social norms and the politics that play a role in such change. The author Gerald Rosenberg of “The Hollow Hope” believes that the Supreme Court is able to bring about social change. Rosenburg main argument seemed to be questioning if a courts ruling that had once been accepted and had standing for several years were to be over turned, would the environment outside of the courtroom suddenly change and be accepting of their division.
Reading a variety of novels throughout my educational career has been an essential portion of my life furthermore; I believe the Irvine Unified School District should teach the novel “The Outsiders” by Susan Eloise Hinton. This novel has many themes and morals that fit perfectly with it, but the main one is to show how our society segregates people based on their looks and appearance. I believe this novel is suitable for young adults between the ages of twelve and sixteen because this novel gives them an insight to the contemporary segregation issues that they face in life. During this age group many kids get judged based on their looks and style. I would teach the themes and ideas to the kids in a way that they would be able to understand
The violation of the social norm can be meant to be utilized as a way of sustaining power, position, and influence of a specific group of people or organizations. In most cultures, the idea of deviance is based on the values, deeds, and beliefs that are achieved through interaction among people that have influence in the society and from the understanding that culture is passed on from member to member. Societies are also comprised of the subculture and the culture itself. The huge cultural forces depict what deeds are appreciated and which are unaccepted or discouraged. On the other hand, the subculture in a certain setting creates a resistance to the dominating culture and in doing so, they give a hand in the behavior that violates the large culture social norms. Therefore, the deviation from the cultural norms can be attributed to the social classes and financial classes. For example, prostitution in regions of the developing world is deviant in most cultures, however poverty pressure pushes young girls toward it for survival.
Within any culture lies an array of definitive demeanors and actions that are deemed socially adequate and inadequate. Depending on the distinguishing behavior of a given individual and the society that they live in, there are invisible “laws” that prevent people from acting a certain way. If the individual’s behavior is adverse to the superior, predominant norms of their society, the actions of that individual are considered to be deviant. Social deviance in shown in a variety of dissimilar faces: within physical appearance, actions done to oneself and others, and religious groups.
Society has taught its members how to act in certain ways, and what standards they are required to meet as they journey through their lives. These individuals will take certain actions to maintain a position in their society in hopes of not being cast aside. However, there are the select few in society who chose to go against these rules and standards that society has set in place for example, people who get their face’s tattooed. Society has ruled that facial tattoos go against their rules, compared to someone who receives an arm tattoo. These certain individuals are believed to possess something society labels as deviance. Becker states in his writing that deviance is, “The failure to obey group rules” (Becker 5). Individuals who receive facial tattoos are considered deviant due to opposing the rules set by the hegemonic society. These individuals will take something in their culture and style it to make it their own, causing them to be cast into a subculture, which in turn assaults the ideas of ideology and culture.
"Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders-deviance is not a quality of the act of a person commits, but rather a consequences of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an 'offender' The deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label."
Deviance is socially constructed because it is defined and outlined firmly by society’s norms. As a result, a deviant act in one society may not be considered deviant within a different society. Societies define themselves through the shared common values of the individuals and in order for a society to maintain these values and cultural identity they create and maintain boundaries (Erikson, 2005, p17). These boundaries allow individuals to relate to each other in an articulate manner and so that they may develop a position within society (Erikson, 2005, p17). The boundaries are created by individuals’ behavior and interactions in their regular social relations. Deviance then becomes the actions which society perceived to be outside of its boundaries. In other words, an act is viewed as deviant when it falls outside of those commonly shared values and norms which created the boundaries. This is because the society is making a declaration about the disposition and arrangement of their boundaries. Boundaries are not fixed to any society rather they shift as the individual’s redefine their margins and position on a larger cultural map (Erikson, 2005, p20).