Who are the marginals in modern society?

Marginals are people who, for various reasons, have fallen out of their habitual social environment and are not able to join the new social strata, usually because of cultural inconsistencies. In such a situation, they experience a strong psychological tension and experience a crisis of self-awareness.

The theory of who such marginalists was put forward in the first half of the 20th century by Park R.E. But before him questions of social declassing were raised by Karl Marx.

Weber's theory

Weber concluded that the social movement begins when the marginal layers form a community, and this leads to various social changes: reforms and revolutions. Weber gave a deeper interpretation of who such marginals are, which made it possible to explain the formation of new communities, which, of course, did not always unite the social scum of society: refugees, the unemployed, and so on. But on the other hand, sociologists have never denied the undoubted connection between the masses of people excluded from the system of habitual social ties and the process of organizing new communities.

In the communities of people the main principle operates: "Chaos must be somehow ordered." At the same time, new classes, groups and strata practically never arise in connection with the organized activity of beggars and homeless people. Rather, it can be viewed as the construction of parallel social structures of people whose life before the transition to a new position was quite orderly.

Marginals in modern society

Despite the prevalence of the now fashionable word "marginal", the concept itself is rather vague. Therefore, it is impossible to specify the role of this phenomenon in the culture of society. One can answer the question of who such marginals are, the characteristic of "extra-systemic". This will be the most accurate definition. Because marginals are outside the social structure. That is, they do not belong to any group that determines the character of society as a whole.

There are marginals in the culture. Here they are outside the main types of thinking and language and do not belong to any artistic direction. Marginal can not be considered a single mainstream or main group, no opposition, no different subcultures.

The society has long determined who the marginals are. In the public mind , the opinion has been established that these are representatives of the lower strata of society. At best, these are people who are beyond the norms and traditions. Typically, calling a person marginalized, show a negative, contemptuous attitude towards him.

But marginality is not an autonomous state, it is the result of the non-acceptance of norms and rules, the expression of special relations with the existing social system. It can develop in two ways: breaking all the usual ties and creating one's own world, or gradually phasing out society and then throwing it beyond the law. In any case, the marginal is not the wrong side of the world, but only its shadow sides. The public is accustomed to flaunting people outside the system to establish their own, considered to be normal world.