Rebels, Their Causes and Society

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that the rebel exists within a constant state of tension within society. The paper explains that in one sense rebels are seen as innovators that move society forward, and in another sense they are seen as a direct threat to the stability of a society. The paper explores how the dominant depiction of rebels depends on whether the society is in a state of advancement or trying to stabilize itself and uses two works to examine this argument. These works are "Hackers and the Battle for Cyberspace" by Helen Nissenbaum and "From Hell's Angel" by Ralph "Sonny" Barger. The paper also looks at how rebels occupy a precarious place in society. In conclusion, the paper shows that sometimes rebels are seen as a positive force of creativity, however when they threaten dominant institutions too much they are transformed into criminals that society attempts to destroy.

From the Paper:

"This statement seems to indicate that although hackers largely did not play by the rules they did provide a valuable social and economic function. They were the creative individuals who really made the Internet into the highly functional technology that it is today. For this reason their rebellious nature was accepted by society as a whole.Many writers and researchers have noted that rebels play vital social, cultural, economic and political functions within society. For example, in "The Praise Folly" Desiderius Erasmus has Folly (the pinnacle of rebelliousness) explains her importance to society."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baines, Paul, "A Pie in the Face" in Alternatives Journal,Waterloo, Vol.27, Iss. 2, Spring 2001: 14-18.
• Barger, Ralph "Sonny", "From Hell's Angel" in The Generation of Ideas, Quentin Miller (ed), Thomson-Wadsworth, 2005: 85-89.
• Erasmus, Desiderius, "The Praise of Folly" in Praise of Folly and Letter to Martin Dorp, Betty Radice(trans), Penguin Books, 1971: 63-77.
• Kittrie, Nicholas N., Rebels with a Cause, Westview Press, 2000.
• Ludwig, Sami, "The Realist Trickster as Legba: Howell's Capitalist Critique" in Mosaic : a Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, Winnipeg, Vol.34, Iss. 1, Mar.2001:173-185.

More papers on Rebels, Their Causes and Society:

• Term Paper # 133014 : "Rebels, Their Causes and Society"
• Comparison Essay # 130691 : "Capitalism and Society"
• Film Review # 5953 : "An Analysis of Several Teen Movies"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: