ASOB05019U Marginalization Sociology

Understanding the paradox of marginalization phenomenon

Involving elements from the classics of sociology like G. Simmel, E. Durkheim and K. Marx, with current sociologists like A. Giddens, U. Bech, N. Luhman, Z. Baumann, A. Honneth and in this country P. Abrahamson, T. Broch and N. Mortensen, will assist to build up a comprehension of marginalization as an omnipresent phenomenon having both a historic and trans-historic, a civilizing and an existential dimension. During the course these four dimensions of marginalization will be related to the current concrete marginalization issues, not least concerning the labour market, unemployment, migration, and ethnicity.

However, marginalization is, especially in a welfare society as the Danish, not only a disintegrative phenomenon in the proper sense, but also a question of differentiation, in other words potentials in regards to freedom. This paradox, that marginalization on the one hand is a phenomenon of the disintegration, inequality, exclusion, powerlessness and poverty, and on the other hand it is a phenomenon of differentiation and enrichment of freedom potentials, must be intriguing for any student interested in an overall comprehension of the interplay between structure and actor in a welfare state society.

We will discuss the life fields where actor’s freedom of action is directly dependent on communication with what we in Giddens’ terms understand by structure, however even in the case of a direct dependency on structure, in some situations this dependency – paradoxically! – can be overcome. The sociologists are faced with this paradox within many fields of activity.

Consequently, the understanding of marginalization as a comprehensive modern double-edged phenomenon is more than a matter of a sociological theoretical interest. It is a way of being a sociologist who on a basis of a comprehensive theoretical ballast and broad perspective is able to master current issues demanding methods and approaches such as inquiry, field- work and collaboration with political, economic and administrative institutions as well.

Furthermore the course includes the assumption that an understanding of the marginalization phenomenon necessarily involves a social psychological approach, where sociology and psychology each from their own perspective may contribute to the creation of marginalization theory. There is a tendency to individualize and psychologize marginalization situations, while the existing sociological marginalization theory tends to stay far away from the concrete actor marginalization situations. Here there is an obvious scope for the sociologist to unfold the sociological approach.