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Posted by Gerda Wever-Rabehl Jul 12, 2006 |
Last week, we noted that social exclusion, or the threat of it, is a complex and mysterious phenomenon that permeates all of our relationships and almost all aspects of our lives. Exclusion is, and always has been, very bad news. For our ancestors, it meant death. For our contemporary selves, it kind of means the same. But this week's question is, who is this outcast? We all experience rejection and exclusion at some point or other, but few of us have to deal with lasting exclusion or bullying. Do those few have shared features or dispositions that make them more vulnerable to become a social outcast? And are there social circumstances that make certain people more vulnerable to bullying? In exploring these questions, I will borrow from the insightful and contemporary work of Roelof Hortulanus, Anja Machielse and Ludwien Meeuwesen. (2006), Anja Machielse (2006) and that of Jaana Juvonen and Elisheva F. Gross. As always, there are no easy answers. Social and personal factors that cause people to become outcasts interact in complex and convoluted ways, ways that are not easily unraveled. Yet one of the insights that emerge from their research is that social rejection has a lot to do with the degree of similarity or "fit" between the person and the group. There is no problem if a person "fits in" but when there is little similarity or "fit", he or she is at risk of becoming an outcast. Another insight that emerges is that once this person has become a social outcast, he or she is caught in a vicious cycle of loneliness that is very hard to break.
To read the whole article, click here. Questions or comments? Email me!