Outcasts are people who, for various reasons, have fallen out of their familiar social environment and are not able to join new social strata, usually because of cultural discrepancies. In such a situation, they experience intense psychological stress and experience a crisis of self-awareness.
The theory of who such marginals were advanced in the first half of the 20th century by R.E. Park. But before him, questions of social declassification were raised by Karl Marx.
Weber Theory
Weber concluded that the social movement begins when the marginal layers establish a community, and this leads to various social changes: reforms and revolutions. Weber gave a deeper interpretation to those who are marginalized, which made it possible to explain the formation of new communities, which, of course, did not always combine the social dregs of society: refugees, the unemployed, and so on. But on the other hand, sociologists have never refuted the undeniable connection between the human masses, 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." Moreover, new classes, groups and strata almost never arise in connection with the organized vigorous activity of beggars and homeless people. Rather, it can be seen as the construction of parallel social structures of people whose life before the transition to a new position was quite streamlined.
Marginals in modern society
Despite the prevalence of the now fashionable word “marginal”, the concept itself is rather vague. Therefore, it is impossible to specifically indicate the role of this phenomenon in the culture of society. One can answer the question of who the marginalized are by the “non-systemic” characteristic. 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 nature 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. A marginal cannot be reckoned with any dominant or main group, nor with the opposition, nor with various subcultures.
Society has long determined who these marginalized are. In the public mind , the opinion has been established that these are representatives of the lower layers of society. At best, these are people who are beyond the boundaries of norms and traditions. As a rule, calling a person marginalized, they show a negative, contemptuous attitude towards him.
But marginality is not an autonomous state, it is the result of non-acceptance of norms and rules, an expression of special relations with the existing social system. It can develop in two directions: breaking all the usual ties and creating one’s own world, or phasing out society and then releasing it beyond the law. In any case, the marginal is not the underside of the world, but only its shadow sides. The public is accustomed to flaunting people outside the system in order to establish their own, considered normal world.