Pierre Bourdieu's Research

In her essay McIntosh, discusses how “[p]ower from unearned privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate” (31). Like McIntosh, my social status has allowed me to meet inspirational people who are willing to give me the opportunities I other wise would not encounter. For example, I can say with confidence that my own social ranking has allowed me to experience life with no limitations, “I could think of myself as belonging in major ways and of making social systems work for me” (31). One’s social class is determined due to several different factors. However, our economic standing is a huge part in determining the social rankings we are part of.

Consider sitting in your high school with multiple different groups of people around. You hear numerous conversations coming from every direction and laughter filling the halls, but you are left standing in the hallway alone, feeling outcast, because you have no connection with those people. Having desolate feelings comes in response to this situation, and overall, it takes away from that sense of belonging. The unspoken rules present in these groups are responsible for the loss of belonging. People that do not fit the requirements within the rules often find themselves feeling as though they are outcasts in society. Individually, they will perceive themselves to be outsiders without a belonging in the social order because their traits do not match the desired ones in society. Additionally, the people in each specific group will begin to exclude the said outcasts because they do not belong in the clique. As a result, social events and conversations become more exclusive to those who fit the unspoken rules. This unfortunately can lead to bullying, for the exclusive people will make the outsiders feel unwelcomed and criticized. One who does not “fit in” with others will find themselves feeling insecure about their life and role in the community. Therefore, the unspoken rules of society affect each individual’s sense of belonging in both a positive and negative

The importance of social factors over the individual can also be seen in Durkheim’s work on suicide (Stones, 2008). Suicide was explained in terms of two independent variables, integration in society and regulation by society. Low levels of integration led to egoistic suicide, while low levels of regulation led to anomic suicide. Durkheim cited egoism and anomie as the main causes of suicide in the modern world; a world which he believed showed less interaction and people thinking more about themselves than others. As a result, people are less bound to one another, there is less community and social control is weaker (Stones, 2008). Durkheim applied his

Starting as children, people are inclined to strive to be socially accepted. With social standards being very difficult to fit into, many people feel as though they do not belong to a set group of people; therefore, they tend to have a lower self esteem which causes them to act out. Being isolated causes one to feel a lack of confidence within themselves because him or her can feel as though they are not wanted and do not belong. This low sense of self esteem affects a person’s motivation and mental health. Social norms can cause people to feel alone and as though they have no one there for them. On the other hand, belonging to a community or a specific group can allow people to feel as though they have a support system, making them feel more confident in themselves and becoming better in their overall life. Feeling accepted and supported by people can increase intellectual activity and boost a person’s self esteem tremendously. Belonging and acceptance increase and decrease self esteem thus dictating a person’s behavior.

Eugene Jacques Bullard was born October 9th 1895 in Columbus, Georgia. He was nicknamed “The Black Swallow of Death”. He was one of 10 children. His father was William O, Bullard nicknamed “Big Chief Ox”, and his mother was Josephine Thomas. She was a Creek Indian. He went to school at Twenty-Eight Street School from 1901 to 1906 where he learned to read and write. As a teenager Eugene hid on a ship headed towards Scotland because he was trying to get away from racism. Bullard arrived at Aberdeen before making his way south to Glasgow. Eugen became a boxer in Paris and also worked in a music hall. When he visited Paris he decided to live in France. When World War 1 first started Eugene decided to join the war. he enlisted on October 19, 1914 in the 1st Regiment of Foreign Legion

Many of the underclass combats a sense of emptiness or depression. They wonder how they got in this situation, if they can still fight on, and if it will ever be better. Depression in the underclass is twice as likely to happen as to those that are

Suppressing negative emotions can cause mental health concerns, but individuals with low social power and low social status may use these strategies to avoid conflict (Langner, "Social Hierarchy And Depression: The Role Of Emotion Suppression"). The social hierarchy affects mental health in part through a process of emotion suppression. It also does not help that some scholars suggest that the more individuals aim at climbing the social hierarchy, the more society's hierarchy gets strong (Bardoscia, "The Social Climbing Game"). Pepi Leistyna states in her “Social Class and Entertainment television” article that there are harsh realities that the poor and working class of color face, but television and other media outlets show that the middle class is open to everyone (Leistyna 3). The middle class has not been open to everyone, and the social hierarchy that has been the unwritten law of where an individual is placed in society can explain this. The hierarchy is not only destructive for individuals of color, but even European females and European families who have not came from money. It is a frustrating reality that seems never to be changing and only getting worse. The country is dividing into the two extremes. There is the rich who are getting richer and the poor who are getting poorer. The majority of individuals who are getting poorer are

According to leading psychologist Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy Of Needs model, human beings have a variety of needs that must be met before they progress. The need to be included and belong to a group is second only to the need for safety and food and water. If this need is not satisfied, the chronic anxiousness developed from wanting to be included could cripple success in correctly choosing between the decisions and judgements of daily life. This anxiousness is prevalent in literature and is expressed as fear of not belonging and become a social outcast. This fear of not being accepted into a population causes conformity, behavior that adheres only to accepted standards, which ultimately inhibits social progress.

The loss of status in society, an inability to provide for one’s family, and unattained educational goals can lead to isolation and marginalization (Ahmed & Reddy, 2007).

Teen suicide rates have increased in a specific community. What kind of community is it that we are looking at? Are we looking at a Munroe Falls, Ohio, which is the least populated city in Ohio; versus Columbus, Ohio the most populated? There is a difference, and it could be because the reason that someone would feel they want to die can vary. In either city when someone has very little to no connections, it can increase the rate of suicide. Durkheim studied the rates of Suicides and discovered that when people feel less connected to society it increased the rate of suicide. He called this “Egoistic.” You could argue that someone who lives in a small community may feel more connected to on another, because you know everyone. I argue that the size of the city affects the feel of connectedness in a small community, if your nearest neighbor is 10 miles away, and that it is a hardship to see everyone in your community besides church on Sunday, it creates an easier atmosphere for suicide. In a large and busy city, it can be difficult to find connections to people who share your interests. One study that I researched showed that Rural versus Urban suicide rates urban cities had significant and drastic differences. Urban girls’ suicide rates were nearly doubled! 1 Of course, that is not the only reason someone may have killed themselves. Also, Durkheim explains another form where social norms are not explained, or they could not be presented causing a feeling of Anomie, which can lead to suicide. Not in the book is Altruistic suicide and Fatalistic suicide. All of these can lead to rising rates of suicide. Being exposed to suicide, either in family or in friends can lead to suicide. Teens hearing that their peers are committing suicide, because of bullying and not fitting into societies norms, so they also use it as a way to escape the pressure. Society teaches us that we need to “fit in” to our matrix, but they do not teach us how and feeling like you do not “fit in” is detrimental to teenagers who do not know how to express themselves.

I am writing in regards to your book, The Outsiders. The world often categorizes people according to their wealth, appearance, and popularity. We tend to think of the upper class as professional, powerful, and problem free, while the lower class is looked at as problem prone, uneducated, and criminals, but after reading your book my perspective changed. I realized that problems do not have a specific category, and being superior in society doesn’t bring you true happiness. Instead our value can be determined by how we face the challenges we are given, and the people around us.

The Suicide theory proposed by Emile Durkheim (1951), explains that because of the numerous adverse socioeconomic factors that operate in the life of the young Black male, many give into the negative socio-genic force of illicit drug culture as either a psychological or physiological escape from their reality. The development of deeper feelings of low self-worth which can cause a vicious cycle of self-defeating behavior which will cause suicidal behavior.

For life, many people succumb to societal expectations which turn them into someone totally different. This idea is explored in Todd Strassers’ “On the Bridge”. In this story, there is a boy that tries to be recognized according to societal expectations. This however, sacrifices his happiness whilst doing so affecting the him negatively. Seths’ experience suggests that societal expectations can affect people negatively , this is because many people want to be one with society.

This is evident in Frank Pearce’s chapter “Fatalism” in The Radical Durkheim and C. W. Mills chapter “The Promise” in The Sociological Imagination as both men place great emphasis on the fact that our awareness of our everyday lives affect how we behave and react to daily stressors. However, Pearce’s Durkheimianism exceeds what Mill’s calls the “sociological imagination” by demonstrating that all walks of life suffer no matter their employment or social ranking, but in very different ways. Additionally, Pearce’s explanation on fatalism furthers this point by insisting that our personal experiences are predetermined due to the greater society in which we live in; thus, the outcome becomes unavoidable (Pearce 2013:126). For this reason, I contend

The Rococo is an art style that originated in France in the early 1700s in response to the strict, oppressive tone of the baroque. It is characterized by its devotion to frivolous subjects and themes that also included romantic scenes that used the outdoors as its backdrop referred to as “fetes galantes.” It was immensely popular among the French aristocracy and championed the playing up of sensual and natural themes as it pursued a more open approach to art. The most well-known and influential painters of the Rococo movement were Jeane Antoine Watteau, Francois Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. These three were credited with bringing the movement to the forefront of the French art scene and innovating its style. Watteau was important because