On the Edge of Society

Introductory Questions
What does it mean to belong?
Belonging is a feeling you have when you are appreciated and
welcomed in a society or in a group. You might not feel this
way when you are new to a place or don’t share your
personality or your culture with those around you.
Belonging doesn’t just mean
being in an unfamiliar situation,
many people also don’t feel
belonging in very familiar
situations to them, you can feel
unbelonging in a group that
doesn’t share their ideas and
interests with you or with
people that frighten you.
It is nearly in most occasions that you feel unbelonging
because of the people around you, not because of the place
you are in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfMXcAKxMRk
What does it mean for a group of people to be
marginalized?
Marginalization, or social
exclusion, is when a group is
considered unimportant or
meaningless because of how
they are, this includes race,
gender, ideologies, religion,
disabilities, wealth and many
other factors.
There are different levels of marginalization, it can go from
having different classes for people in wheelchairs to absolute
zero freedom of speech and being considered like unliving.
This events have happened throughout world history, from
the Jews in Egypt 3000 years ago to the LGBT’s public
executions in Saudi Arabia. And although governments many
times create laws preventing this, much of society still has
disregards and prejudice against many minorities.

Is it always better to be included than to be excluded?

There is a big difference in between fitting in and belonging.
Many times people would want to be included so they say
things that they don’t mean or agree on, they do this to fit in
and begin to feel included, unfortunately this is not good for
their self esteem, making them believe that their true self
can’t be accepted in society.
On the other hand belonging means that you sincerely feel
inside of a society and feel comfortable with your position in
it. To belong you must be your true self and be accepted that
way.
Sometimes it is better to not be included at all in a society
that does not agree or think like you, especially if it makes
you uncomfortable.
EXAMPLE: You are new at school, there is a group of
extremely popular kids, you are invited to join, a few days
later you find yourself uncomfortable with them and realize
you have not much in common. To feel better you exclude
yourself from this group and look for more interesting
people.

Who decides who belongs in a certain group?

It really depends, when talking about a group like a country or
in a work setting it is always the leader deciding the
members of his group. If there is no official leader (like in a
group of friends) it is often the most influential people who
get the last say.
At times the decision is made by who you are, for example:
skin color, gender and wealth. Some characteristics of you
may not be legally or socially accepted and you can’t really do
much about it.

You can decide

most of the times
whether you want
to be in a group or
not, but not always,
at times
governments or
other organizations
force you into being
a citizen to take advantage of you (like making you pay taxes).

Is it always wrong to exclude people from a group?

Absolutely not, many times it is necessary to exclude a
person from a group, not everyone is fit for being in a group,
you might be rejected from a university for your low skills or
be denied a vote because of your mental health.

Excluding an individual can be to please the majority of the

group, if children voted for a presidents, for example, their
vote would be influenced by their parents, give a huge
advantage to voters with a large family.
Are there any situations in which one might want to be
marginalized?
Yes, take the LGBTQ, many times this group doesn’t hide their
identity, they are given the chance to be well included in
society but they follow what they believe, although this leads
to their marginalization.

This is not new at all, the

same happened in the
Holocaust (And many other
massacres), all Jews had
the chance of converting to
Catholicism, but most didn’t
because they feel that they
shouldn’t abandon their
identity, although it may cost
their life.

Should people ever be integrated with others against

their will?
Yes, but only for their own good, people who are not brave
enough or too shy to join society, many times this people are
not willing to join because they think they are too emotionally
weak.
An example is Japan’s “Hikikomori”, a word that means a
depressed person who completely isolate itself in a small
room for months and sometimes years, without ever looking
at sunlight. This people sometimes need to be included by
force to put them in a better mood.

What is the difference between exclusion and

inequality?
Exclusion and inequality are closely related and usually one
leads to the other, but there are still differences. Exclusion is
when someone is restricted from entering a group, because
of who they are or how they think, most of the times
exclusion also brings inequality.

Inequality is when a certain group of people has more power

than another, many times this is used to take advantage of
the smaller group. An example is poverty, you have the same
rights as everyone else and are equally a citizen, but your
wealth is far from being equal to the average.

Can people ever be “separate but equal”?

There are two meanings to this statement:
-Every Human Is Alike But Treated Differently (Paragraph 1)
-Two People From The Same Group Can Be Treated
Differently (Paragraph 2)
Before the 20th century most people thought that there
were different human breeds, and that some were purer
than others, this of course has been proven wrong, all
humans are the same, but we are indeed treated differently
depending on who we are and where we are.

Yes, they can, take Mexicans migrants as an example. A

Mexican in Mexico is
treated like an average
citizen by both the
government and society.
But a Mexican abroad can
be associated with crime
and be prejudiced. This
two Mexicans can easily
be the same person, but
their role in society is drastically different. Of course this is
not just for one country, but for most, especially with those
with a large amount of migrants.

Are there any valid arguments against inclusiveness as

a social goal?

Are there any steps toward increasing inclusiveness

with which you would be uncomfortable?
Certainly, taxes is one of them, allowing people into a country
as refugees means that the country’s citizens pay taxes for
foreigners, something who wealthier countries may not mind,
but with less economically stable countries like Cyprus,
Greece and Italy it is quite annoying.

Letting uneducated people into the country can also be quite

uncomfortable, although necessary. Most of this people aren’t,
but few are not educated enough to know how to be polite in
society and keep things clean.

Are there times when stratification is necessary or

beneficial for a society?
Startifaction does
make sense on
paper, the harder
you work, the better
your role in society
is. Unfortunately
most societies are
not perfect, and
people in power
want to keep their
positions exclusive.
In this perfect world people would have equal chances of
going up and down of this ranking, and only the lazy and the
cruel would be marginalized, due to their inconsiderate
actions.

Is the world becoming more inclusive? Is your school?

Is your country?
World
Absolutely, our planet is going through a big process called
globalization, it is easier and easier for us now to
communicate with each other, and by so learn that we are all
equal in the inside.

School
Going in an international school has opened me to a new way
of seeing the world. Before entering the IB system I didn’t
see other cultures to be even fairly close to mine, I only got
to see what the TV had to say about the world, usually war
and disasters. Meeting people from all over the world has
indeed made me feel that education is soon going to become
fully inclusive.

Italy
My country is slower than the rest of the continent at
becoming inclusive (Especially from a social point of view),
many Italians have strong prejudice about minority groups.
But with the education improving and the younger
generations learning to set aside our differences we are
slowly becoming an inclusive country.

Is there a difference between being in the minority and

being marginalized?
Yes, being marginalized means
to be excluded from society and
treated as insignificant while a
minority is a small group of
people. Most of the times a
marginalized group is a
minority (But not always
EX:Apartheid), but a minority
group is not necessarily a
marginalized one.

Take as an example being multilingual (Speaking 4 or more

languages), only 3% are, making this people part of a minority.
But they are not necessarily excluded from society, unlike a
refugee or a bisexual person.

Are different marginalized groups in the same society

natural allies, or are they just as likely to turn on each
other?
Marginalized groups are not necessarily natural allies, an
homeless person can too have strong opinions towards
refugees, but they certainly can understand each other’s
conditions best.

I believe that them fighting

against each other is rare, but
possible, an example is the
Austro-Hungarian empire, people
with different ethnicities were
forced into one country as
marginalized groups and started
fighting with each other because
of them having different cultures
and ideologies.