Socs Vs Greasers

Have you ever ran into issues due to your social class? In The Outsiders, the Greasers and the Socs struggle with similar and different problems. Due to their different environments, they deal with their own issues. However, even though the Socs and Greasers grew up in different environments, they have similar issues and obstacles they have to overcome. Additionally, their problems are addressed more in “Alarming Number of Teenagers are Quitting School to Go to Work”, and “A Generation Struggling: Rich Kids are Losing”. The three topics addressed in this essay are the Greasers problems and how they affect them, the Socs problems and what is expected of them, and the differences of the Socs and Greasers problems and how they are stereotyped.

For instance, “‘You greasers have a different set of values. You’re more emotional. We’re sophisticated--cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real to us. You know, sometimes I’ll catch myself talking to a girl-friend, and realize I don’t mean half of what i 'm saying ’” (38). This proves that the Socs are expected to constantly keep being someone that they are not, and are pressured to keep up a certain image in front of others, whether they are Socs or Greasers. The Socs are expected to be sophisticated, and in order to keep up their image they say things they may not mean or be passionate about. Furthermore, “We are losing are children to unrealistic expectations and setting the moment for class warfare if we don 't stop our exclusive focus on what we do rather than who we are ” (A Generation Struggling: Rich Kids are Losing). This shows that kids who have high expectations end up getting lost in life, and the parents need to stop trying to focus on what the children do, and focus more on who they are. This relates to the Socs because the parents of the socs constantly want them to keep their image, and won’t allow them around the greasers because of their reputation. In conclusion, the Socs are expected to keep up an image and do what is expected of

Finally, the Greasers and Socs share many problems, such as the stereotypes that they label each other with, but differ in how wealthy they are. For example, “Need a haircut, Greaser” (5). This demonstrates the stereotypes the Socs have on the Greasers and how they label them based on their appearances. The way the Socs ask if he needs a haircut shows that they are stereotyping the Greasers on their long greased hair, and they are using this to terrorize them based on how they look. In addition, “I thought maybe it was the money that separated us. ‘No’, Cherry said slowly when I said this. ‘It’s not just money. Part of it is, but not all’” (38). This quote proves that the wealth the Greasers and the Socs have separate the two social classes. Even though their wealth is not a large part of what differentiates them, it still makes a big difference when it comes to their appearances because if they have less money, they do not have as nice of a neighborhood or clothes, which then causes the two social classes to stereotype each other. In conclusion, The Greasers and the Socs share similar problems such as stereotyping each other, but are different in their