Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion - Book Report/Review Example

Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion The world today is like a stage. Human beings in their societies are mere actors. People act in ways that they choose or deem to be pleasing to them. We have people who condemn the actions of others because, perhaps, those actions do not fall within what they consider to be right. They may then decide to rebuke them for the perceived wrong they did, and reject them. There are parents who have denied their children and chased them from homes because of doing things, or behaving in ways that the parents do not think is right. Similarly, friends have rejected friends and cut ties because of conflicting beliefs and interests. The world is a wide society where certain things interplay in the social circles; the desire to belong, social exclusion and social inclusion (Wilson & Beresford, 2000). Everyone wants to feel that they belong. This is a bit of a struggle sometimes because not everybody is ever going to subscribe to what their closest of friends or relations think is right or wrong. People are not homogeneous in thoughts and beliefs, but they all strive to belong. They want to be accepted as they are. Social exclusion is where individuals are marginalized, alienated or even disenfranchised because they are perceived to be different from the rest. It is a way of discriminating against other people. Individuals that are socially excluded are denied the right to fully participated in the political, social and the economic life of the society. In Sula by Tom Morrison, the main character, Sula, is a victim of social exclusion. People in her tow are so superstitious, and they do not approve of some of the things that Sula does. They perceive her to be evil and as the reason bad things happen in the society. She is black, but is hated by everyone in the black community (James & Louisa, 2014). Nobody trusts her. Sula has a friend called Nel. They are very great friends but they are different inside. Nel does what the society expects of her, while Sula is impulsive, daring and independent-minded. She does her things her own way. She refuses to be a social conformist. For this reason, she suffers rejection, with even her friends abandoning her. Sula even sleeps with Jude, Nel’s husband. Nel stops their friendship that has lasted years and never gets to talk to Sula. Sula betrayed Nel by sleeping with her husband. Everyone in medallion is horrified of what she did to her long-time best friend. The rejection that Sula suffers among her own black people is so much that she is considered a villain. She is thought to cause bad weather and sickness. She wants to have a relationship with Ajax, but he fears that she might not be a good marriage partner because she goes against the traditional and definitely will not agree to a traditional marriage which is what he would want. Save for a few white men she has slept with, the wider white community cannot trust her because she is black. Racism is another form of social seclusion in the novel. Whites do not associate with black people. Blacks hate white people. One of the reasons Sula is hated is that she has been sleeping around with white men. It is a highly discriminative society. Blacks are a minority and as such, they struggle to fit and survive in a society dominated by whites. They struggle so as to have a sense of belonging. The racial hate is so fierce, so much so that white people are busy buying land at the Bottom, a place that is predominantly occupied by black people, and put up buildings. The black people are forced to move downhill into the valley (James & Louisa, 2014). The book is a clear picture of the society today. It chronicles things that happened in the 1920s and one would realize that not much has changed today. The element of racisms has stuck around. The fight against racism hasn’t been won to this date. A section of white and black people still live in distrust. Whites have euphemisms for black people, and blacks have awful nicknames for people with the white skin. There are black and white extremist today who believe that everything about the other color is bad. Both races fight for relevance and want to dominate over each other. Nobody wants to be dominated and so the fight continues. It is a war that might not even be won in the next generation. There are countless social divisions in the world. The divisions take the forms of ethnic groups and tons of other categories of social groupings. Every social division has norms and beliefs which its members are supposed to be conforming to. The civilization that has swept across the world over the past couple of decades has led to deviations. Some elements within a social group will most likely go against the grain and want to be accepted as they are. Societies have their ways of punishing deviant behaviors and failure to conform to the norms. One obvious way is to reject such elements and make them outcasts. This kind of neglect is always played into one’s face, and will always be implemented by one’s friends and relatives. In some cases, however, parents tend to understand their kids as they are, and understand that times have changed. Such parents and friends will never run away from their friends or shun them, or discriminate against them for what they have become. Everybody wants to feel included in the society and, no doubt, Sula doesn’t like the fact that people reject her because she acts in ways that, despite being queer to them, are very normal to her. People should be allowed to make their choices about things they think are important in their life. It is inappropriate to try to confine a person to any kind of social norm because things don’t work for people the same way. What’s good for one person is always going a few other people’s poison. However, independence should always be executed in ways that do not appear disrespectful of other people’s feelings. On this one, Sula is very insensitive to have to sleep with her best friend’s husband. Conclusion The book is educative. It highlights things that ail the society. It highlights the social rigidities and deviation from norm. It tells readers that deviation from social norms is not such a bad thing, to the extent that it is executed in a manner that obeys other people’s feeling. Sula has different faces. She isn’t doing wrong by rebelling with the societal norms, but appears to have overstepped her right to do what she feels is right by deciding to sleep with Jude, Nel’s husband, considering the fact that she has been friends with Nel for years (James & Louisa, 2014). With this kind of education, it would never be difficult to wipe out every kind of racial and religious profiling which are the biggest forms of discrimination in the world today. People should be accepted as they are, and their choices respected. Respect is mutual and everyone wants to feel important and appreciated (Wilson & Beresford, 2000). Social exclusion is real and people keep fighting to belong. It is a struggle that is bound to continue because the social structures are rigid. There must be conformists and rebels, both must have a sense of belonging. References James, R. & Louisa S. Nye. CliffsNotes on Sula. 2014. Wilson A. & Beresford P. (2000). Anti-oppressive practice': Emancipation or appropriation? British Journal of Social Work 30, pp. 553–573. Read More