Outsider Figuration Sociology

308 Words2 Pages
A sociological classic, Elias and Scotson elaborated the key to understanding the dynamics of segregation through their Established and Outsider figuration. The empirical example of their figuration is based on observations of the small town near Leicester, anonymously renamed Winston Parva. Here, both sociologists observed a rather curious form of segregation: the amount of time a resident had been living there determined the affiliation to each group. The so-called Established, who had lived in Winston Parva for at least two generations, “stigmatised them generally as people of lesser worth”. Important was to observe the difference in power and cohesion in each of the groups. Obviously the established had a much higher cohesion between group