Each living organism included in some ecosystem occupies a certain niche in it. The optimal filling level of each niche ensures the balance of the entire ecosystem. If a niche is overpopulated or devastated, this creates a threat to the existence of the entire system, in particular, to each organism inhabiting it. Accordingly, if the balance is disturbed, the system seeks to restore it, getting rid of the excess and making up for the shortage.
It seems that a small social group is subject to the same pattern. For any group, a certain combination of social niches is characteristic, which, if they are empty, the group seeks to fill, and if they are overpopulated, then they are truncated. When joining a group, a newcomer either has the opportunity to take a “vacancy” or displaces someone from an already filled niche, forcing him to move to another. In this process, the personal qualities of the individual play an important, but not decisive role. Much more important is the socio-psychological structure of the group, which seems to have an archetylic character and is reproduced with surprising constancy in the most diverse communities.
Numerous data from sociometric surveys of school classes can be cited to support this hypothesis. (It seems that the patterns observed in groups of this kind are quite true for adult formal and informal groups.) When comparing sociograms compiled by different specialists in different groups, some common features are striking, namely, the indispensable presence of certain categories of students in the structure of almost each class.
A detailed development of this problem with the allocation of specific socio-psychological roles (niches) requires large-scale empirical research. Therefore, let us dwell on a quite obvious figure, the presence of which can be noted in most sociograms — the figure of an outcast, or an outsider.
What are the reasons for the appearance of an outsider? The first assumption, prompted by common sense, is that the role of the rejected is a person who has certain characteristics that do not find approval among other members of the group. However, some empirical observations suggest that such features are not so much a reason as a reason for rejection. The real reason is the presence of a «vacancy» of an outcast in the structure of the group. If this niche in the group is already filled by someone, then another, say, a newcomer, must have extremely pronounced negative features in order to deserve rejection. Equally pronounced features, like those of a “regular” outsider, may no longer cause rejection. In its composition, the group can tolerate two or three outcasts. Then comes overpopulation of the niche, which the group begins to interfere with: if there are too many unworthy members in the group, this reduces its status. Some other niches, which seem to also exist in the structure of the group and are represented by the roles of an informal leader, «jester», «first beauty», can be filled by only one person. The emergence of a new contender for such a role leads to intense and rather short-term competition, which inevitably soon ends with the displacement of the loser into another niche.
However, back to the outsider. What dictated the need for this niche in the structure of the group? It can be assumed that a person endowed with the sociometric status of an outcast in a group acts as a kind of scapegoat. This figure is necessary for the self-affirmation of the other members of the group, to maintain their self-esteem at a sufficiently high level. If this niche is empty, then the members of the group are deprived of the opportunity to compare themselves advantageously with someone less worthy. An outsider with strong negative traits is a convenient excuse for anyone who also has those traits. With his obvious or, more often, artificially accentuated inferiority, he focuses on himself the projection of the entire group “negative”. Such a person serves as a necessary element of the balance of the entire socio-psychological «ecosystem».
From the first days of the existence of the school class, the children’s community strives to stratify in accordance with socio-psychological archetypes. The group selects among its members the most suitable candidates for a particular social role and, in fact, forcibly drives them into the appropriate niches. Children with pronounced external defects, slovenly, stupid, etc., are immediately elected to the role of outsiders. the tool of rejection in the children’s community is practically not found, since it does not correspond to the task of maintaining psychological «homeostasis»).
It would be possible to experimentally test this hypothesis through the following — alas, difficult to implement — experiment: out of a dozen classes from different schools, according to the results of sociometry, select outsiders and form a new class from them. It can be assumed that the structure of the new group will very soon show its «stars» and its outcasts. Probably, a similar result would have been obtained in the selection of leaders.
It is easy to understand that the situation of rejection is a source of serious trouble for the child, and sometimes even provokes inadequate forms of compensation. It is outsiders who make up a large segment of the “clientele” of school psychologists, since they need various forms of psychological assistance. Approaching the solution of this problem, the psychologist usually seeks first to understand what individual characteristics provoked the placement of this child in this unworthy niche. It rarely happens that a child is rejected completely undeservedly. His features, which are shortcomings in the eyes of peers, are usually not difficult to identify. So the next step is corrections. By overcoming shortcomings, the task is to wash away the stigma of an outcast from the child and transfer him to a more worthy status. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work out. And the reason for this is seen in the fact that the group needs this niche filled for psychological balance. And if one can be pulled out of it, then sooner or later someone else will be squeezed into it.
Explaining to an outsider’s classmates that they are behaving cruelly towards their friend is practically useless. Firstly, they will certainly have groundless objections such as «it’s your own fault.» Secondly, and most importantly, children (as well as adults) behave this way in full accordance with their psychological nature, which, alas, is far from the humanistic ideal. Their behavior is driven by a simple consideration: “If I’m not better than such and such, then who am I better than, why should I respect myself at all?”
Rebuilding the system of relationships in a group, improving the self-awareness of its rejected members is a very difficult task, since it requires a radical restructuring of the worldview of the entire group, primarily its prosperous niche. And since her well-being is based on the rejection of the outcast, it is necessary to cultivate other, constructive mechanisms for self-affirmation and maintaining socio-psychological balance. The development of this colossal problem requires more than one dissertation research. Moreover, one has to overcome a mechanism that, probably, there is every reason to consider archetypal. It is hoped that the solution of this problem will become the subject of appropriate research.