The book Outsiders by Howard S. Becker discusses the concept of sub-cultures. Sub-cultures are groups consisting of members who share a culture that is different from the “mainstream”. Members can be seen as so-called “outsiders”. They people often have a different view or opinion on things than most people or they simply don’t follow the unwritten rules that society brings with it. You often find people have a career in their subculture, as this is a job that fits the way they are and behave. I work as a guitar teacher, so I guess this could be seen as an example of this, because according to Becker you could say that I’m part of the “musician sub-culture” and found a career within this sub-culture.

The concept of being an “outsider” is a very interesting one, as it raises the question “when can someone be seen as an outsider?”. This is a difficult question. I think everyone can be considered an outsider in some way, it just depends on how you look at it. We all have different views and ideas that make us different from other people.

Becker’s book was published in the 1960s and many things have changed since then. Of course there are still things like sub-cultures, people will always share interests and become part of the same culture. However, I do think that the concept of sub-cultures has modernized a lot. We tend to not think in groups or labels as much anymore. For example, the book calls marihuana users a group of outsiders. Nowadays in The Netherlands I don’t think we can really call it that anymore. Marihuana has become a normalized and .

If I’d have to describe what sub-cultures I’m a part of according to Becker’s book, the list would be quite long. It would also be messy, as I think that all these sub-cultures are somehow intertwined now. People from different cultures hang out with each other and create a new sub-culture. Some sub-cultures can still be called deviant, like in the 1960s. There are after all still norms in our society. I think that there is a less strict line of what is deviant and what not, because like I said: the lines between sub-cultures are fading and our norms have changed a lot in the past 80 years.

Shortly, I think the book Outsiders gives a good perspective of sub-cultures and the image of an outsider in the 1960s. This concept is still very relevant, but it’s definition keeps slightly changing, just like society does.