On the Edge of Society

Here There be ____:

Understanding the Margins of
Society
Discrimination
You are discriminating when you treat someone in a certain
way because of who they are. EXAMPLE: Blacks were
discriminated in the US before the 1960’s

Colonialism
It is when a country takes political control of a specific area
usually taking many of the resources and funds out. The age
of global colonialism started around the 15th
century. The people in a colony are most likely
marginalized and with little power.

Slavery
Slavery is when people are legally treated like an object, and
like property, can be sold, bought, rented and be used in any
way you want. People under slavery don’t actually legally
exist and have no rights. Although it is abolished everywhere
in the world, there are approximately 46 millions total slaves
today, with half of them being in India. This is not even
counting the millions of other people who get paid minimal
amounts that are impossible to live with.

Hegemony
It is quite similar to colonisation, it’s when a state has
political or military control over another. It was first used in
Ancient Greece when city states occupied each other.

Nepotism
It is when the leader of a group (Often a country) gives
important jobs to his friends and family as well as granting
them multiple favors. This term was first used in the Papal
States, describing how the pope gave all the bishop jobs to his
nephews. This can be seen in any corrupt country, even in
the US where Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son in law, was
given the important position of Senior Advisor, without even
understanding politics.

Endogamy
It is present in cultures in which it is rare (And many times
not accepted) for you to marry to someone from a different
country, color or ethnic group. It was mainly common in the
past, but can be still found in some really conservative
families.

Xenophobia
It is a word made of the Ancient
Greek terms of ​xenos​ (Foreign)
and ​phobos​ (Fear). It means being
scared of someone not from your
ethnic group, often treating them
as an alien like being.

Rankism
Rankism is discriminating someone because of their rank or
importance in a society. EXAMPLE: Bullying a person because
they are not as popular as you.

Sexism
It is when both genders do not get equal rights and rewards.
Throughout history males have always had better rights than
females, and in many countries the difference is still big.

Racism
It’s the thought that one race (Usually the white one) is more
important and superior than another,
often this thoughts are put into
practice and discrimination starts
against the “less superior” group.
Although it is illegal nearly
everywhere, some societies still bear
this thoughts in their minds.

Ageism
It is making stereotypes of someone because of their age.
The term was first introduced by Robert Neil Butler. Some
examples of ageism are: ”you are to young to be able to do
algebra” and “she is way too old to do the marathon”.

Ableism
It is discrimination against those with physical and mental
disabilities, usually thinking of them as inferior. People who
have ableist thoughts are also more likely to see disabilities
as a problem to fix, rather than something that makes them
special.

Elitism
The belief that people with a lot of wealth and intellect (The
1%) should have more political and influential powers than
others. This is often seen in corrupt societies.

Bullying
Using threat or violence to be in charge over others or
making them feel minor to them. Those who are bullied are
also more likely to have a worse mental health in the future.
Bullying most often happens against marginalized groups.

Victimization
Making someone feel in a bad position or as if treated
unfairly.

Social Dominance Orientation

SDO is way to measure a person’s belief in hierarchy. People
with high SDO believe that a few select groups should be
ruling the world. Some famous people with an high SDO can
be Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump.

Gini Index
Made by Corrado Gini, it is an index to
show inequality in a nation by
showing its wealth distribution. To
measure it you need to use a quite complicated formula.

Great Gatsby Curve

It is a map showing the Gini
Index compared to the
generational immobility, if
you look closely you can spot
the line, meaning that the
higher the inequality is, the
more likely the
intergenerational immobility
will be high

Poverty Gap Index

It’s a way to measure poverty
by calculating how much, on
average, the poor are from the
poverty line

Social Class
It is dividing people by “classes”, the low-class is the poor, the
middle-class is the average and the high-class is the rich and
influential.

Social Mobility
You experience social mobility when you move in between
social classes.

Dissimilarity
It is an index to measure the spread of a
group in a certain area compared to another
group by using this formula. It is good to use
when studying social mobility

Division Of Labor
It was first thought of over 10’000 years ago, when humans
started settling in cities. It consists in making everyone do
one job in a society, so they can specialize in it and do it
faster. This system is used nearly everywhere in the world,
with each person doing one job.

Just-World Fallacy
It is the theory that people who are good get rewarded and
people who are evil get punished. Actually this theory is quite
bad, since this theory would never work in our corrupt world.

Redlining
It is a term used in the US and Canada to say how lower
income neighborhoods receive less services from the
government, like hospitals, schools and transportation. In the
past it also used to be related to black neighborhoods.

Davis-Moore Hypothesis
It is an attempt to explain Social Stratification, it says that
the jobs that require the most effort should be the ones that
are paid the most. EXAMPLE: A soldier risking his life should
be paid more than a singer.

Homelessness
An homeless person is one that does not have a permanent
house to live in. According to the UN 100 million people are
homeless.

Slums
An extremely poor and left behind
neighborhood of a large city, they are
usually densely packed and have
inhumane living conditions. It is
important to note that also rich cities
can have slums.

Favelas
It is the Portuguese term for slum, they are found in nearly
every major Brazilian city and 6% of the population lives
there. These neighborhoods are often densely packed,
unsanitary and violent.

Shanty Towns
Also called a squatter area, it is a city made out of
improvised houses, usually made of unstable materials.

Skid Row
A small area in the downtown of a North American city with a
high percentage of the population who is homeless, as well as
having violence, illegal activities, improper housing and an
overall poor lifestyle.

Segregation
It is the separation of people because of who they are,
making them live in two different versions of the same place.
The most well known segregation is the racial one, especially
the one against blacks in America and South Africa.

Self-Segregation
It is when a group prefers to be separated from the main
society by excluding themselves. It can be useful to maintain
its culture and identity. EXAMPLE: Some remote tribes,
although aware about the outside world, have decided to
remain disconnected to preserve their customs.
Ethnocentrism
Judging a culture by using your own
culture’s stereotypes.

Tribalism
A tribe is a social group, tribalism is the practice of using
tribes. Tribes are mainly a thing of the past but can be still
found in some remote locations.

Supremacism
The belief that one race (Usually considered to be the white
one) is above all others and should be ruling the world.

Reverse Racism
The very unscientific claim, mainly found in the USA, that
soon colored people will take over and start to be racist to
whites. All this does is actually only bring more racist
thoughts.

Eugenics
The use of various practices to “improve” the
genetic quality of a group. It was first
thought of of by Francis Galton in 1883, but
famously used in Hitler’s Lebensraum, a plan to expand the
aryan race throughout the world.

Institutionalized Racism
Giving people unequal benefits in a society because of their
race. It was first used in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael, a
promoter of the civil rights movement.

Race Traitor
A slang used to describe a person who goes against their
race’s beliefs, in some cultures being a race traitor is illegal
and can get you arrested.

Passing
It is the ability of becoming the member of a group that isn’t
your own, it is often used to gain privileges. EXAMPLE: Jewish
families converting to Christianism to survive the holocaust.

Reparations
Reparations For Slavery is the belief that the descendants of
slaves during the slave trade should not only be honored, like
we honor veterans, but also given financial compensation
from the government because of their brutal actions towards
them.
Institutional Sexism
When companies or governments prefer
men and give them better opportunities
and services than women.

Objectification
It is treating a person like an object or thing. EXAMPLE:
Having slaves or treating wives like a “Thing to clean the
house”.

Masculinity vs Femininity
Behaviors and actions that we associate with men are called
masculinity, some of this are being violent and courage.
Femininity is actions that we associate with women, things
like sensitivity and gentleness.

Mansplaining
When a man tries to oversimplify a subject or argument
when talking to a woman because he believes that she does
not know anything.

Pay Gap
The difference that man are paid respect to women, although
they are doing the same job. Iceland has the smallest gap
while Yemen has the highest.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/international-womens-day-norway-children-video-gender-pay-gap-boys-girls-finansforbundet
-trade-union-a8245841.html

Gendercide
Killing people because of their gender.

Heteronormativity
The belief that heterosexuality (Liking the opposite gender), is
the correct way, and sometimes the only way, to love
someone.

Glass Ceiling
It is the term to describe the
invisible barrier that prevents
women from going up in society. The
term bamboo ceiling was used to
describe the same thing happening
to East Asians in America.

Gender Identities
The gender that you feel inside you, not necessarily the one
you were given at birth.

LGBTQ
The marginalized group made of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals,
Transgender and multiple other categories.
Toxic Masculinity
It is the use of violence, torture or sexual abuse from a man
to a woman.

Intersexuality
The rare case that you are born with damaged
chromosomes, making you born with damaged genitals, no
genitals or in an in between of a boy and a girl.

Second-Class Citizen
A citizen who is discriminated by its government, although
still being an official citizen.

Dehumanization
Looking at a person, usually a marginalized one, as if lacking
basic mental capabilities.

Vagrant
A person that doesn’t have an home and walks from place to
place doing small jobs to make a living.

Alien
In law an alien is a foreigner, someone not from your
country.
Untouchable
A person who is so discriminated and low in society, it is
called this way because in India you weren’t even able to
touch them.

Homo Sacer
Latin for sacred man, it is a person that can
be killed by anyone who wants to, but too
disgusting to be sacrificed.

Lumpenproletariat
The term invented by Karl Marx to describe the lowest class
people in a communist society. This were usually the
Americans, the blacks, the LGBT and many more depending
on the regime

Baekjeong
The lowest class in Korea during the Goryeo period, second
only to slaves. They often lived in isolated nomadic
communities,

Burakumin
It means village people in Japanese, and during the feudal
area they were one of the lowest classes. The Burakumin
are all people with jobs associated to death, like butchers,
executioners, workers in slaughterhouses etc.

Cagot
This group has been discriminated for more than 3000 years!
They are a minority in western France and northern Spain,
and in both countries were separated by the main society.

Ragya Bpa
The lowest group in Tibet. They represent those who did the
“unclean” work, like miners, farmers, butchers etc.

Bụi đời
It used to refer to poor people coming from the countryside
to the towns in Vietnam, but after the war, it became the
children and teens who lived on the street in gangs.

Tanka
This ethnic group lives in the Hong Kong region in China, they
are quite fascinating since they used to only live in boats.
They were discriminated against until not so long ago, by both
the British and the Chinese.

Osu
A population in southern Nigeria, other tribes regarded them
as inferior and where not allowed to interact with them in
any way.

Akhdam
It means servants in Arabic, this minority group in Yemen,
that doesn’t different much from the Yemen, does now have
rights, but they are hated by society and only get the worse
jobs.

Bitlaha
An ancient form of punishment in northern India to those
who violated the marriage rules, like marrying a slave, a poor
person or a Nepalese.