Young people are characterized by protest moods. They do not want to "be like everyone else", and therefore often there are groups of people who allow themselves to dress in their own way, to distinguish themselves with a catchy style, including many tattoos, unusual hairstyles and hair colors. Such people are usually called informals looking for any opportunity to declare themselves to society, literally calling to draw attention to themselves.
Recently, sociologists have been paying more and more attention to informal groups, seeing in them not only a desire for self-identification of their members, but also a manifestation of a special state of society - a crisis, borderline.
Is a vivid image a reflection of an internal crisis?
First of all, informals are a special social group linked by common interests. The informal is undoubtedly unusual, he looks at the world through the eyes of an absurd person who calls into question the very foundations of society - hence the frequent illegal behavior and anarchism. His actions are unpredictable, they begin, as psychologists say, with the appearance of a rather unpleasant slang, peculiar clothes and end with all kinds of punctures of the lips, nose, and head repainting in colors uncharacteristic of a human appearance. But these are only external manifestations.
The first thing that betrays the essence of the informal is the desire for the special, different from everything else.
As a rule, people adhering to informal groups are going through a difficult period of their lives, mainly associated with the age transition. That is why the overwhelming majority of informals are adolescents.
Growing up in the image of an informal is a sign of inner infantilism and a deep crisis of one's own identification, in rare cases - a habit or devotion to ideals. However, the latter, as a rule, concerns the currents of "neo-formalism" with philosophy, ideology, and culture. Growing up informals are rarely militant; they create clubs, create websites, actively share cultural features and attitudes towards the environment in social networks.
The birth of the phenomenon
Sociologists identify many reasons for the formation of informal groups, saying that they usually manifest themselves in a complex. The first is the desire to declare oneself in the crisis period of the formation of the personality, the desire to challenge society, to express a protest. Many simply do not want to be like everyone else, they consider themselves unique. For others, problems and misunderstandings in the family were the impetus. Still others pay tribute to fashion. The fourth are subject to the influence of criminal structures. There are also those who have absolutely no purpose in life.
In colloquial speech, such people are often called abbreviated: "nefor", "nifers". Informal associations are mass and group phenomena.
There are those who have been united by music. Perhaps it is music that has a magical effect on adolescents and encourages them to not quite adequate actions. What is transmitted from the stage, for example, by performers of rock, metal, hippies, develops a special understanding and worldview among representatives of informal cultures.
Do not write off the political, economic situation in society. It is believed that in a conservative environment with stable economic well-being, informal movements are rarely born, unlike in times of crisis.