To What Extent Can It Be Said That Outsiders Are Characterised By Alienation And/Or Anomie?
...are made and attempted by all social groups at sometimes and under some circumstances are enforced. Circumstances and the appropriate kinds of behaviour to them are explained by social rules; which explain actions as either “right” or “wrong”. A person who breaks an enforced rule may be seen as a special kind of person; one that cannot be trusted to live by the rules agreed on by the group. This person is considered an outsider. (Becker, 1963, pg 1) An outsider may also be those who judge a rule breaker, that is, an outsider may not accept the rules by which he is being judged and may think that those who judged him are not competent or legitimately entitled to do so. Similarly to Becker’s definition, Oxford dictionary (1992) defined an outsider as a person who is not a member of a group or a person who is not accepted by a group of people.
Since rules are law or regulation governing behaviour, action or operation, which may be formally enacted into law; the police power may be used to enforce them. At the same time, it can be an informal agreements enforced by informal sanction of various kinds. An individual might feel alienated, if he can not abide by these rules. (Becker, 1963)
Schacht (1970) explained that Alienation occurs when a person perceives an absence of meaningful relationships between his status, identification, his social relationships, his style of life and his work. This might make a person feel like an outsider because he does not have a ‘stand’ in the society. Furthermore, Finifter (1972) defined alienation as the estrangement, and powerlessness felt in a setting an individual views as foreign, unpredictable, or unacceptable. For example, in depersonalization phenomena, feelings of unreality or strangeness produce a sense of alienation from one's self or environment. In Ollman, (1971) Karl Marx saw alienation as a central feature of...
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