Marginality - what is it, examples, classification, reasons

What is marginality?

Marginality (from the Latin word marginalis - located on the edge) is a term in sociology that denotes the intermediate position of a person between certain social groups.
This term appeared in the 1920s, arose thanks to the scientific works of sociologist R. Park from the USA. Marginal people were considered to be people who were outside the social and cultural context due to the loss of connection with the normal environment and society. In those days, they included villagers who came to the city, emigrants. Subsequently, the category of “marginality” acquired a broader meaning—asocial people who did not recognize social conditions and lived by their own rules began to be called marginal.

As a rule, marginalized individuals are highly susceptible to psychological crises, loneliness, fear about their future, and are subject to aggression from other people. Such people usually belong to certain social groups that are temporary and situational in nature.

What is meant by this term?

Marginalization is a phenomenon studied by sociological science and means that an individual is outside a specific isolated group, on the border of several subcultures. The concept comes from a Latin word that literally translates to “standing on the edge.” This is exactly how the marginalized person feels, who is at a crossroads, without a certain social status, or without identifying himself with any of the public institutions or human organizations. He has already lost contact with the old way of life, norms and values, and has not yet found a place for himself in the new group. Why does this phenomenon occur?

Examples of marginality

The most common example of marginality is migrants who came in search of a better life. They do not know the language of the country, belong to a different cultural environment, and cannot be fully included in the modern semantic space. One of the most numerous groups of such marginalized people are migrants from the former USSR. They come to get money, lead an unstable lifestyle, choose random work, which can be criminal.

In many cases, the term “marginality” has negative associations, since the lower social strata or even criminal groups are considered marginal. However, such a definition cannot be called correct. Successful people who do not belong to specific social groups can also be marginalized. An example is Leo Tolstoy, who rejected the established values of his time.

In addition, refugees often become marginalized, and sometimes, for example, former military personnel who, after being discharged, have not yet had time to adapt to society. Often, after a break with a past life and lack of contact with a new one, a person is able to sink to the “bottom” of life.

Consequences of this phenomenon

Marginalization is not necessarily a negative thing because of its cause. For example, a family wanted a better life, but found itself cut off from relatives and unwanted by anyone in an unfamiliar city. But the consequences, as you can see, can be destructive both for an individual cell and for the structure of society as a whole.

An individual who finds himself outside his environment is prone to deviant behavior, since he no longer applies the moral norms of the previous community, and the moral values of other social groups are not yet familiar to him. Teenagers who strive to free themselves from parental care and fall under the negative influence of sects, drug dealers, and bad companies easily become marginalized.

The actions of marginalized groups aimed at trying to win a place for themselves in society also lead to negative consequences. Revolutions, uprisings, and riots arise.

It should be noted that changing the structure of society is an inevitable phenomenon, so the pros and cons of marginalization will multiply all the time.

An individual, not being able to enter the desired group, can not only become upset and be subject to negative influence. On the contrary, he can mobilize his best qualities, thus founding his own subculture. And this is definitely a plus.

Due to massive displacement due to military conflicts, racial strife and natural disasters, marginalization will remain a constant phenomenon. The formation of new social groups, their struggle for a place in the social structure can be either peaceful or bring destruction and conflict. The task of humanity is to help marginalized people adapt to new conditions for them, a loyal attitude towards any personal manifestations.

Reasons for marginality

The process of marginalization can be forced and deliberate. A person is able, in a certain form, to stop connecting himself with the cultural and social environment, to break spiritual, social and economic ties.

The main reasons for marginality include:

forced relocation, loss of normal environment, difficulties in getting used to other conditions, environment, new language, culture;
loss of property, property, source of income;
change in the political regime in the country;
the formation of a new way of life, other habits, changing the existing worldview;
choosing a new religion;
loss of ability to work, disability.

Directions of spheres of influence

The individual is influenced by four main spheres of society:

Social. It includes such concepts as belonging to gender, locality, family, or other small social group.
Spiritual. Includes everything intangible: religious views, art, the concept of morality, the value of science and education.
Economic. In this area, the dominant role is played by production relations, as well as everything that has to do with the formation and distribution of material wealth.
Political. Includes the current political regime, lawmaking, place in the power structure, general security.

The composition, interests and behavior of a social group depend on the various influences of these aspects. It is vitally important for each person to feel that he belongs to a certain circle: family, class at school, work team, winter fishing enthusiasts. It is precisely because of the inability of an individual to attribute himself to any of the groups that social marginalization arises.

Types of marginality

There are several types of marginals. Their classification is quite simple. It is based on the reasons for the development of this particular way of life. The following types of marginality can be distinguished:

Economic. It implies that people, for specific reasons, lose their jobs, the opportunity to earn an income, and their own housing. This type also includes very rich people who, due to their high income, completely lose connections with work colleagues, friends, and relatives. As a result, the economic type of marginality is usually classified as oligarchs and beggars.
Ethnic. This type of marginality is associated with a change of place of residence, as a result of which a person has to live in the same society with representatives of other races, cultures, and nationalities. It is not possible to adapt to a foreign religion, language, culture, or traditions in every case. Representatives of ethnic marginality can be called emigrants.
Criminal. We are talking about a situation when a person ceases to comply with the moral norms and laws established in society. This leads to him committing crimes and violating existing legal provisions.
Social. It implies a change in economic systems, which negatively affects the process of people’s adaptation to new living conditions.
Political. We are talking about rapid changes in the country's political regime, revolutions, turning points in historical events at the level of the state and the whole world.
Age. Implies conflict between the older and younger generations.
Biological. It implies difficulties in social adaptation of people who are ill and have limited mental abilities. Individuals who suffer from Down syndrome, HIV-infected people and others become outcasts.

Public social structure

Humanity as a group is not homogeneous by nature. It traces the composition and structure, which include diverse social phenomena and processes. The main components of society are individuals, their interpersonal relationships, actions and connections, as well as groups and communities that determine accepted values and norms.

Thanks to the presence of structure, society differs from a chaotic, randomly formed mass. Social structure determines the stability of human symbiosis as a whole, as a system. Marginalization is a process of destruction and restructuring of civil society, when social groups lose their structure.

Marginality in the modern world

The concept of “marginal” from the very beginning had a negative context, but in the modern world it can also have a positive connotation. Now it is even considered prestigious to stand out among others.

Marginalized people have higher social mobility than ordinary people. Moving to a more economically prosperous area, finding a job that brings more income, changing professions is not a problem for them;

In addition, the lack of similarity with other members of society helps such people create a certain business. The reason is that marginalized people often do not have permanent employment, which means they are open to new ideas and initiatives.

Disadvantages of Marginalization

Obviously, marginalization has a huge number of disadvantages. First of all, they are associated with the psychological discomfort of a person who finds himself between different social groups. This can be fixed. Moreover, you can get used to it. But this point must be taken into account. There are also the following disadvantages of marginalization:

Deterioration of self-esteem.
Decline in social status.
Difficulties of survival.
Lack of stability.

These are the disadvantages of marginalization. This is a difficult process for humans. In fact, a person needs to undergo socialization again if he suddenly finds himself at the junction of social groups in which he is not fully accepted as a full member. And in another he was kicked out altogether for not conforming to social norms. This is how it works.

The Pros of Marginalization

Marginalization has many benefits. Many people find themselves in a fairly low social position. But since everything remains stable, they do not strive to change anything. When a person finds himself on the margins, he feels a fairly strong threat to his well-being. And so he goes to marginalized groups. If they can win their place in the sun, then the man is on horseback.

Also, marginalization can become an incentive for a person to develop independently, without joining these groups. We will talk about them further. In this case, this process provokes a sharp growth of a person. If he decides to give up his past life, then he may have quite strong success. There are many examples that confirm this.

Difference from lumpen

The term “lumpen” was first introduced by K. Marx. He called it people who had become vagabonds, beggars and bandits. According to the population, the lumpen and the marginal are one and the same group of people. However, it is not.

Lumpen is a classless, physically and morally lost person. They are part of the marginalized, but a marginal personality is not always lumpen.

Origin of the term

The concept itself has a long history of use in different senses:

Recording notes and marks in the margins.
In the economy - unprofitable, close to the limit.
In sociology it was first mentioned in the works of Robert Park in 1928 when studying the phenomena of resettlement. The concept of “intermediate element” became the original one.

For Robert Park, marginality meant the status of individuals located at the borderline of two cultures opposing each other. Served to study the consequences of migrants' lack of adaptation.

Initially, the key problem of marginality was cultural conflict.

In the 1940-1960s, the concept was actively developed and applied from various aspects by American sociologists. The original approaches from the perspective of cultural conflict and race were criticized. A. Green believed that a marginal person is a comprehensive term, therefore it should be used only when defining its parameters in detail.

Thus, marginality is transitivity, the contiguity of personality between social groups and statuses. This affects his psyche.

Marginalization in Russia

In Russia, marginalization is quite widespread. Since the country is quite large, it cannot be considered as a full-fledged large social group. In any case, there are divisions between regions that have completely different psychological characteristics. Whatever one may say, Russia is a synthetic state. There are quite a few ethnic Russians there. But there are many peoples of other nationalities. All this exacerbates the processes of marginalization in our society.

Another cause of marginalization, which is even stronger in intensity, is alcoholism. This social evil is condemned by society - yes. But on the other hand, drinking alcohol has been part of our culture for a long time.

Do you know what is the secret of the French or Germans who drink but do not become alcoholics? This is because they do not approve of the first stage of alcoholism. For us, Friday drinking is considered absolutely normal. But drug experts say that drinking alcohol more than once every two weeks inevitably leads to alcoholism and, as a consequence, marginalization. In general, frequency of use plays a much more important role than quantity. Although the latter also has an effect. In general, we don’t know how to drink in moderation. And by normal alcohol consumption we mean the first stage of alcoholism, which is very sad.

Examples of famous marginalized people

A famous person recognized as marginalized is Leo Tolstoy. He liked life in the countryside, ignored most of the privileges of the nobility, and wrote revolutionary literature.

The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope also belonged to this group. The society around him did not understand him; he did not even find understanding from his wife.

Stepan Razin, Don Cossack, leader of the uprising of 1670-1671, is also marginal.

The phenomenon of marginality can have both positive and negative effects on a person. A marginalized person can become an engine of progress, bringing something new and unusual into society.

Signs of marginalia

There are several main signs that characterize a marginal personality:

Severance of economic, social and spiritual ties that exist in the “pre-marginal” period of life. Often this status is assigned to migrants, refugees and military personnel discharged from service. Such people find themselves on the periphery and cannot always adequately adapt to new conditions. Finding himself in such a situation, a person can declassify - fall to the social “bottom”.
Developing your own value system, and sometimes hostility towards the current society, legislation, etc.
Mobility – arises due to the lack of housing and attachments.
Mental and psychological problems that manifest themselves on the basis of unfulfillment.
Tendency to engage in illegal activities.

The marginal label can be imposed on a person by society or adopted by the individual independently.