Gang Culture In 'The Outsiders'

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Module 9 Discussion

Based on what I have read from “The Outsiders” reading, gang culture was created in the 1950s by increased violence in youth culture, tensions and conflicts between other cultures and social prestige in America. Throughout history, gangs developed by anger, jealously, bitterness and hatred due to materialistic things and different cultural perspectives. What I did not see at all was racial identity being a factor for rivalry to whether it was goods and resources in the story. Whether one was a Greaser or a Socs, power, control, humiliation and social status were important key components to which ever group one belonged to. Other aspects beside the novel to why gang activity was also developed was due to: after the Cold War and vast increases in population growth and demographic / social changes that transformed America. …show more content…
The story is about how Ponyboy, Darry and Soda are three young boys who stick together after the loss of their parents. The Socs did whatever they could to have superiority and control over the Greasers. On the other hand, the Greasers were a group that looked out for each other. This gave them a sense of security and protection for watching out for one another. All three boys felt as if they were brothers in a family by helping each other. The Greasers are seen as poor people while the Socs are more of an upper class group. The youngest teen “Pony,” who is fourteen years old realizes how grateful he is to have family support and takes care of him. Especially, when violence erupts from the

S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders

they wanted and rejected the traditions and cultures of their parents. The Greasers and Socs were a part of that youth subculture which emerged in the 1950s. For the first time in history, teenagers have become important cultural assets and trendsetters. The writer of The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton, was living through the same things she was writing about. The Outsiders was located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Hinton was living. Her focus was on popular culture during that time. Other important events were…

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Culture In The Outsiders

“The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton was published in 1987, a time of ending wars, new styles, social gangs, and rebellion. All of these aspects were impacting daily life at the time, and one could argue that it impacted young-adults, or the youth of this era the most. To Hinton, at this time there weren’t enough books geared toward that affected youth, so she wrote the book “The Outsiders” to tell the story of what was happening in the world right in front of her. S.E. Hinton accurately portrays the…

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The Role Of Gang Violence In The Outsiders

I too felt the novel "The Outsiders," was about teen culture and lifestyle during the 1950's. During that time, they either belonged to the Greaser's or the Soc's who both hated each other. Back then, my perception from the reading and your post is that gang violence was at different level than it is today. Teens were either beat up, punched, used a baseball bat or mugged as you mentioned. Today, gangs escalate the violence by carrying guns for protection, being shot at and are in larger groups…

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The Socs Vs Greasers

After reading "The Outsiders," the book gave us a different perspective between two rival gangs "The Greasers and The Socs." It went into detail how their different cultures and beliefs developed a conflict of interest between the two. Kyung, In your post, you mentioned how the Socs wanted to show and gain superiority over the Greasers. Why was this so and was the hostility mainly over teen status between the rich and the poor? I see a resemblence between what the Socs and the Greasers went through…

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Favelas: A Cause For Moral Panic

Analysis Understandably, outsiders who are not used to the culture of favelas see the acceptance of violence, particularly in children, a cause for moral panic. It is evident that the bailes funk foster an environment that encourages violence, sexuality, anti-authority lyrics, and gang themes, which is a major issue that Brazilian authorities face constantly. First, favelas are not easily accessible to authorities and people who see this behaviour as harm to society (Sneed, 2008). Thus, enforcing…

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Examples Of Norm Breaking On Television

CHAPTER 7 Norm Breaking on Television The study of deviance is one of the most enduring concerns in the discipline of sociology. Deviance is understood as behaviors that circumvent, flaunt, and even challenge the normative conventions of a given culture. Emile Durkheim suggested that deviance provides boundaries for social groups and help outline the standards for both inclusive and exclusive membership. Norms can be prescriptive, outlining forms of expected and preferred thought and action (what…

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Indigenous people have a right to live in their traditional customs and we should talk about our differences to know the history of each others culture/history. In addition Indigenous people possess an enormous body of irreplaceable information and skills when it comes to living in the amazon rainforest without destroying it. Miners used to carry canaries into the mines, so if the birds died of…

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Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. In “Hostage” and “Straw in to Gold: The Metamorphosis of the everyday”, Bruno Sokolov and Sandra Cisneros were both alienated by their society and culture. They seemed and behaved different from others when they were kids; they had been ignored, laughed at, or even feared of by the society. Bruno Sokolov was a fourteen –year-old…

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