Who belongs to the marginalized? Marginal

Who are called marginalized, and how do they differ from ordinary people? A marginalized person is a person who, for some special reason, has fallen out of the familiar environment in which he lives and has not tried to join another layer of society. An individual who is in limbo and usually refers to people who do not conform for a number of other reasons, or due to a cultural aspect.

History of marginalized people: facts

Today, the word “marginal” is fashionable, but very vague in terms of its meaning. People sometimes pronounce it without realizing its real meaning, but they consider it very, very appropriate. Historians say that the first marginalized people can safely be called slaves who later received freedom. These slaves were not prepared to live as free citizens and were simply not morally and psychologically prepared for such changes. You can give an example of the modern marginalized, this is a special category of middle-aged people who served in prison for at least ten years and have now been released. The conditions are new for them, however, they do not know how to exist in them and again soon return back to the places that sheltered them for these many years.

Can marginality be called a phenomenon?

It is a well-known fact that people who perform absolutely no functions in society begin to actively unite their efforts over time. That is why people who belong to different classes are often called marginalized. Individual people who can safely be called remnants, individuals who left the historical scene and who have not yet managed to find themselves in life. Usually, marginals are an uneducated category of citizens who cannot take on any systemic functions and all because of a general lack of awareness in the process of leadership and making important decisions. The state often singles out marginalized society and focuses on the fact that they are a special problem for the country.

The whole point is that the marginalized do not do anything useful if we consider this issue in the format of active interaction between society and people. These people are dangerous, they often organize protests against the system and believe that they are doing the right thing. The marginalized promote their ideologies to the masses: communism, fascism, anarchism, etc. Who exactly are these people and why do they pay such close attention to them? Are these really just ordinary rebels who don’t like the political system in the country? Or maybe it’s worth digging deeper and it turns out that this is just a mask and in fact they are unfortunate victims of circumstances. It’s difficult to immediately understand and figure out who actually appeared before us; each person has his own path, and even more so for a person who calls himself a marginalized person.

Key characteristics of marginalized people

We can safely identify several key characteristics of the marginalized, among which we should note the severance of any spiritual as well as social ties that previously existed in “pre-marginal” life. Typically, refugees and migrants are included in the category of marginalized people. People who find themselves on the outskirts of social groups, a military man discharged from service, who has not yet decided what exactly he will do with his life. Among other signs of marginality, it is worth highlighting such characteristics as:

a number of psychological problems - a person simply cannot find himself and his “place in the sun”;
mobility - if there are no attachments and there is no housing;
own values. In such situations, there is even some hostility towards the society that exists;
involvement in some other

About types

We can highlight the main types of marginals that are worth paying attention to:

political marginals. This term can be safely applied to the period of power of Fidel Castro in Cuba. His reign was accompanied by bloodshed; more than 2 million people left the island, trying to save their lives by fleeing. They became political marginalized because they were not satisfied with the regime and laws;
ethnic marginals. People who were born from representatives of different nationalities can be included in this category. But a child can call himself a marginalized person only if he does not consider himself to be one of the nationalities of his parents and is not recognized anywhere. Historians call ethnic marginalized representatives of national minorities who are scattered throughout the world;
religious fringes. If the whole world adheres to one religion, and individual people believe in the existence of another higher power and actively promote belief in it, they are called religious marginals;
social marginals. This category of marginality manifests itself at the very moment when upheavals, revolutions occur in society and it experiences some historical cataclysms. Groups of people cannot find their place in society and get used to the new system of power. Quite often, such people simply leave the country and go to seek their fortune abroad;
economic marginals. Typically, such groups of people cannot find work and only contribute to an increase in the percentage of poverty among the population. Economic marginalized people try to live off government funds as well as the handouts they receive from other people. In modern society, this category also includes very rich people who are essentially marginalized and cut off from society;
biomarginals. This category of citizens is so called because they had health problems and they were forced to try to find ways to deal with their problem, but nothing worked. They believe that the state is obliged to provide them with monthly funds for their maintenance and medications. Many bio-marginal people do not work and do not even strive to look for work, due to their physical and psychological health.

When reading paper or online publications, you can often come across words whose meaning is unclear. Embargo, mainstream, gender, collapse, gadget, pattern, retail, headliner, trend, fake... What some of them mean can be guessed from the general meaning of the text, but this is not always easy. The task is simplified when a word is currently used by the media so often that it is firmly remembered, and the reader has no choice but to find out or guess the meaning of a particular term.

"Unclear Concepts"

The most difficult situation is with words that are not used daily in the speech of a large number of journalists. These include, for example, “offer” or “marginal”. The meaning of a word is sometimes difficult to guess by its sound. And if the word is foreign, then the task becomes almost impossible. We have to turn to explanatory dictionaries to establish the origin of a term that is unfamiliar to the ear.

Who is the marginalized? The meaning of the word is particularly difficult to ascertain for several reasons. Firstly, not all explanatory dictionaries provide the full number of meanings. Secondly, the very meaning of this word has undergone several dramatic changes, which has made it rather blurred and unclear. Only by tracing the entire history can one understand this issue.

First of all, marginal is not a mathematical concept, not a plant, or a piece of clothing. This is a man. But what kind of a person is, what distinguishes him from everyone else and why he received a separate status - all these questions are the subject of a detailed conversation.

Margins of the early 20th century

The term itself was formulated in 1928 by the American sociologist Robert Park, and has since undergone significant changes in its meaning. Initially, R. Park, the founder of the psychology of urban lifestyle, believed that the marginal is someone who is in an uncertain position between a rural resident and an urbanized one. His usual culture was destroyed, and he did not fit into the new one. Such a person can be called a savage in the concrete jungle, his behavior is so unacceptable in the social environment of the city.

The term was derived from the Latin margo - “edge”. Thus, marginalized are people who live on the border of various social elements, but do not fit into the norms of any of them.

Marginal personality according to Robert Park

The meaning of the word was quite negative from the very beginning. How best to answer the question? Professor R. Park himself defined the main character traits of such a person as follows: anxiety, aggressiveness, ambition, resentment and self-centeredness. Usually this was the name given to various kinds of asocial elements: the poorest migrants, tramps, homeless people, drunkards, drug addicts, criminals. In general, representatives of the social bottom. The borderline state in which these people find themselves leaves an imprint on their psyche.

Any society has its own written and unwritten rules, foundations, and traditions. The marginalized person rejects all this, not feeling his duty towards society, not sharing the norms accepted in it. According to R. Park, such individuals experience a strong need for solitude and a secluded lifestyle.

Classification

According to modern sociological classification, there are several groups of people who, based on a number of unifying features, can be called marginal.

These groups include:

ethnic marginals (descendants of mixed marriages, migrants);
biological marginals (people with limited physical or mental capabilities, deprived of the attention and care of society);
age marginals (a generation whose connection with the majority of society has been severed);
social marginals (people who do not fit into one or another social structure due to their lifestyle, worldview, profession, etc.);
economic marginals (the unemployed and the poorest segments of the population);
political marginals (those who use methods of political struggle that are not accepted in a given society);
religious marginals (believers who do not adhere to a particular denomination);
criminal marginals (criminals, by the standards of a given society).

In modern society

Due to such a broad classification and the gradual expansion of the meaning of the concept of “marginal,” examples can be found in various areas of life:

a tramp who has neither housing nor work;
a person who left to seek the meaning of life in India or Tibet;
a hippie who denies social hierarchy;
a world traveler living on the road;
drug addict;
hermit, antisocial person;
freelancer and any “free artist” not bound by corporate conventions;
a bank robber who breaks laws and is forced to go into hiding;
a multimillionaire whose lifestyle is significantly different from the vast majority of society.

In short, everyone who does not fit into the so-called “correct” social behavior can be called marginalized. Over time, the meaning of this term has changed significantly.

From social bottom to special group

By the end of the 20th century. the term has lost its original, sharply negative meaning. In print, television and online media, phrases such as “marginal literature”, “marginal topic”, “marginal culture”, “marginal movement”, “marginal worldview” began to appear. These, at first glance, very strange semantic combinations reveal the altered meaning of the word.

Now, in many cases, a marginalized person is a person whose lifestyle differs from the generally accepted one. Moreover, this can be either a difference with a “minus” sign (homeless, drunkard) or with a “plus” sign (hermit monk, billionaire).

It has also become common to use this word in the following meanings: “belonging to a minority”, “little known”, “little influential”, “incomprehensible, not close to the majority of society.”

Due to the transformation of the meaning of this term, it is becoming increasingly difficult to give a clear answer to the question of who is a marginalized person. This word is gradually losing its original, unambiguously negative connotation, approaching a neutral sound. Marginal is someone who (whether by choice or not) does not fit into the traditional structure of their social environment.

Marginal properties of objects

In addition to the meaning relating to the human individual or social groups, this term expresses certain properties of the material world. For example, explanatory dictionaries describe the following meanings of the adjective “marginal”:

insignificant, secondary;
minor, minor;
written in the margins (of a book, manuscript, etc.).

Foreign words with unclear meanings surround us everywhere, but modern dictionaries help us understand them. So it is with the concept “marginal”, the meaning of which is varied and often changes depending on the situation of use.

The word marginalized became fashionable 15-20 years ago. Almost everyone loves to use it: from abstruse and glamorous intellectuals to almost grandmothers on benches. Anyone who somehow does not fit into the usual framework can hear addressed to them: “He’s just marginal!”

Moreover, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the attitude towards this person will be strictly negative. And this is understandable, considering that the very meaning of this word is known to only a few.

In Russia, the concept of marginal is constantly confused with the concept of lumpen, that is, a declassed element, a tramp, an alcoholic drug addict, a homeless person, a criminal. The one who is beyond the boundaries of society, outside its coordinate system. There is zero benefit from it to society, but it will not cause any harm.

But if we look at the phenomenon of marginality in more detail, we find out that the marginalized, of course, are outside the system (Latin marginalis - edge, border, side), but they have their own set of values, which they religiously adhere to.

They have a strong reluctance to adhere to generally accepted norms, which they consider inappropriate for themselves. Unlike the marginalized, the lumpen are willing to obey a strong leader who has power and accept the values of that leader.

A marginal is a person who is outside the boundaries of both the generally accepted system and the “systemic opposition”, who obeys only his own rules. He is not contactable, avoids society, as he is well aware of his dissimilarity. This is a person who lives outside of his time period.

If we take the present time as a segment, then a marginalized person can either overtake his contemporaries or lag behind them, consciously choosing for himself to live according to rules that have already expired.

Is it good or bad? None of our contemporaries can know this. What will take root from what the leader preaches, what will rise from the past tomorrow?

Despite the fact that the marginalized have always been, if not despised, then treated sympathetically, they are a very important part of society, although they try their best not to be this part.

It is the marginalized people who go against everything that discover new things to the world (which of them was not considered marginalized in their time - Jesus Christ? Copernicus? Nikola Tesla? Mayakovsky? Picasso?), or carefully preserve “remnants of the past” (Orthodox believers in the Soviet Union) .

Feminists and fighters for the equality of blacks in the United States are recent marginalized people, and today racists and chauvinists who claim that women are inferior beings are considered marginalized.

Freelancers who don’t want to work from 8 to 5, and child-free people who aren’t crazy about the idea of leaving behind offspring; hippies who defend free love as opposed to traditional family values and downshifters who do not spend their lives working are all marginalized.

But we no longer have a sharply negative attitude towards them, as we did just a few years ago. Society recognized their right to exist. The more developed a society is, the more loyal it is to any manifestations of individuality.

And it seems that not much time will pass before people with their own special outlook on life will be treated not from the position of usefulness and compliance with traditions, but from the position of harmlessness and possible creative potential.

After all, there are more and more developed societies, and the freedom of one ends where the freedom of another begins.

Socialization is a psychological need of a person. The child goes to kindergarten (the first group), then to school, college, gets a job in order to live in a social environment. Every person should have family and friends who share his interests.

If a person suddenly “falls out” from the usual society, he will become marginal. This does not mean that a person is lost to society, has sunk to the bottom, or is leading a self-destructive lifestyle. Having understood who the marginalized are, you may recognize yourself in them or find them among your friends.

Who are the marginalized?

Marginals are people outside the social group, outcasts who differ from the majority in behavior, views on reality, and appearance. The Latin word "marginalis" means "on the edge."

The marginal is an asocial subject, but not always dysfunctional, immoral or degenerate. The first marginalized were people freed from slavery who left their usual environment, but were not able to immediately become full-fledged members of society. In the first third of the twentieth century in America, rural residents who found themselves in cities and could not find employment became marginalized; people who have not worked for a long time; emigrants who went to the USA for happiness.

For various reasons, a person falls out of his usual environment and cannot join a new group. Marginalized people experience stress, psychological tension, and experience a crisis of self-awareness. They are also characterized by a hostile attitude towards others, increased sensitivity, and unsatisfied ambitions.

Examples of this condition are often found in Russia. The difficult situation in the country has led to a drop in income and an increase in unemployment. A person is forced to change his place of work, and his social status also changes. Suppose he worked in science, and now he is forced to suddenly change the field of activity in which he feels discomfort.

In Europe, the number of marginalized people is increasing. Society does not accept these people, as a result of which they cannot socialize and even start riots.

Signs of marginality:

rupture of economic, social and spiritual ties of “pre-marginal” life;
mobility that occurs in the absence of housing or attachments;
mental problems that arise due to the inability to find a “place in the sun”;
development of one’s own values, sometimes hostility towards the existing society;
involvement in illegal activities.

Types of marginalized people

There are political, ethnic, religious, social, economic and biological marginalized people.

Political marginals– these are people who are not satisfied with the political regime in the country, the laws. They often become refugees or emigrants. There are many political fringes in Cuba, Syria, Turkey and other countries.

Ethnic marginalized come from interethnic marriages. As a result, a person does not identify himself with any of the nationalities of his parents - in this case, he is not accepted anywhere. Also, ethnic marginals are national minorities, representatives of extremely small nationalities living among other nationalities.

They are not representatives of any existing religion or consider themselves to be fictitious denominations: for example, the “Church of Bacon”. Among such marginalized people there are false prophets who create their own religious movements.

Social marginals they lose their usual place and cannot find it in another society. Appear during an unstable state of society, revolutions, cataclysms. For example, in Russia, after the revolution of 1917, representatives of the noble class became social marginals.

Economic marginalized These are either very poor or very rich people. Both are cut off from society. The former cannot afford basic things, saving on the essentials; the latter bask in luxury, not noticing the problems.

Biological marginals fall into this category as a result of illness, age, or congenital defects. Society is not ready to accept HIV-infected, disabled, terminally ill people who become outcasts.

Marginality happens natural And artificial. There is a “bottom” in society in the form of ruined and dejected people, as well as antisocial elements - those whom society itself rejects.

An example of mass artificial marginalization is in the middle of the last century, carried out by Nazi Germany. Artificial marginalization acquired catastrophic proportions during the era of Stalinism. Family members of “enemies of the people”, special settlers, etc. have become marginalized.

Synonyms

Words and expressions that are close in meaning are “freak”, “declassed element”, “nihilist”, “outcast”, “informal”.

The concepts of “lumpen” and “marginal” are not complete synonyms, although they are similar. The difference is in the shades of meaning. Lumpen is a person who “strayed from his own people” and stopped working. These are tramps, beggars, beggars. The marginalized who quit or lost their jobs became lumpen.

If events develop favorably, a person’s period of marginality does not last long: he adapts, joins society, finds work, friends, and ceases to be a marginalized person. However, this “status” can be imposed on a person by society because of his unusualness, originality, difference from others, or illness. This “stigma” is placed in schools, work groups, even in the family. Someone sinks to the social bottom and can no longer get out, while someone decides not to return to a “normal”, ordinary life, and proudly bears the title “marginal”.

The meaning of the words “marginal” and “marginality” in the modern world has changed beyond recognition. However, this is not surprising. The world is rapidly changing right before our eyes and old stereotypes are being replaced by new concepts, often diametrically opposed to the old ones.

What is marginality and who are the marginalized? What new categories of people have begun to be classified as marginalized in the modern world. How the marginalized person differs from all other representatives of society, and why he has such a status, you will learn about from the article.

So, who is the marginalized? This term came into use back in 1928. It was formulated by US sociologist Robert Park. He believed that a marginalized person can be called a person who occupies a certain intermediate and uncertain position between a city resident and a resident of the rural outback.

The culture of such a subject is not formed; he cannot fit into unfamiliar living conditions in another place. His behavior patterns are not accepted by society, and for them he is nothing more than a savage who does not know how to behave among people.

The term itself originates from the word “margo”, which means “edge” in Latin. Therefore, the marginalized are those who live on the very edge, the edge of society, and do not fit into the generally accepted norms of interaction between people.

What is marginality according to Robert Park?

Marginality is a sociological concept. It means a borderline, intermediate position of people between social groups. This affects the psyche of such people (marginalized) in a certain way.

Previously, this word had a sharply negative connotation in society. Robert Park considered such people to be extremely touchy, aggressive and focused only on themselves. In addition, he included among them those who committed crimes, did not have their own housing, and were alcoholics and drug addicts.

In a word, these were people of the poorest and lowest strata of society. An important feature of the marginalized was the denial of all norms and rules in society. They had no obligations and violated the rules of interaction between people.

Park said that such people are often lonely and do not want to make friends and family.

Categories of people who belong to the margins in modern society

In the modern world, the concepts of “marginality” and “marginal” have lost their original sharply negative meaning. Marginal people now refer to those representatives of society whose way of thinking and way of life differs significantly from the way of life of the majority of people.

Gradually, the semantic content of this term changed greatly. Once upon a time these were representatives of the very bottom of society. Now everything is different. Now on the Internet and in the media you can often find many articles devoted to the word “marginal” in its elite sense, for example, “marginal culture”, “marginal literature”, “marginal worldview”. Nowadays a marginalized person can be either an unemployed person or a millionaire.

In simple terms, marginalized people now call everyone who does not fit into socially “correct” behavior.

The marginals can be called:

a tramp without housing or work;
a traveler who left to look for the meaning of life in Thailand, India, Tibet;
a hippie who denies the hierarchy of society;
freelancer and any “free artist” who is not tied to work and lives on the road;
a hermit living away from society;
a multimillionaire whose lifestyle is extremely different from most people.

Classification of marginal groups in sociology

In sociology, marginalized people are subdivided into several groups, these include:

Ethnic marginalized, mostly migrants.
There are biological marginals, these are those who have certain physical or mental capabilities.
There are marginalized people by age, this is a generation with which communication in society has practically been lost.
There are social marginals, as a rule, these are those who do not fit into the social structure due to their lifestyle.
Economic marginals are also identified, they are either the poorest or have no work at all.
There are political, those people who use methods of political struggle that are not approved by society.
In addition, there are also religious, these are those who have a faith that does not coincide with that recognized in society.
And the last ones are criminal elements, criminals.

I hope the article helped you find out who the marginalized are? How has the meaning of the words “marginal” and “marginality” changed? And what do these words mean now in our modern world?

A classic example of a marginalized person is Jeffrey Lebowski, the hero of the cult film “The Big Lebowski” (1998)

If you want to fully understand this topic, I recommend watching the famous cult film by the Coen brothers “The Big Lebowski” (1998). The main character of this film is a classic misfit. Everyone's favorite pacifist Jeffrey Lebowski can be called a classic fringe of the modern world.

Here is the official trailer for The Big Lebowski (1998):

I wish everyone strives to be themselves, stay true to their dreams and not squeeze themselves into the framework of society’s stereotypes, while, of course, not violating the freedom of other people!

See you again on the blog pages!