WHY PEOPLE REBEL

Those of us who shun society’s expectations are on a difficult and maybe even dangerous path. But are there unexpected upsides to being a rebel?

Those of us who shun society’s expectations are on a difficult path. But are there upsides to being a rebel?

Rebels hold an unadulterated fascination in our lives. They’re the fearless folk who don’t care what others think and aren’t afraid to colour outside the lines, or – to hell with it – rip up the whole damn piece of paper and set it on fire. ‘If only we were braver, cooler, less constrained, maybe we could even be like them,’ we whisper to ourselves. We don’t really understand them, but many of us secretly want to be them.

Senior social scientist at the University of Melbourne, Dr Lauren Rosewarne says whether a person is considered a rebel depends on the context and the expectations placed on them by a particular group. “Rebellion is about going against the norms of a household, a culture, or a society, which means there are not fixed definitions of who or what a rebel is. Someone in a highly devout, conservative family, for example, who opts not to be devout would be viewed as a rebel by their family but not by our broader, Western society.”

So what makes a person a rebel? Is the aim to get under other people’s skin, or is it about resisting others’ expectations and compulsively seeking pleasurable experiences? We might automatically picture the motorcycle-riding figure posed by movies and TV, but Rosewarne says not all those who pit themselves against society’s standards are leather-clad larrikins. “There are stereotypes of rebels – the James Dean Rebel Without a Cause type [who’s into] rule-breaking, criminality, etc – but generally it’s about electing not to observe values and customs that you’ve decided shouldn’t apply to you. Motivations might be political, subversive, or just wanting to be a ‘troublemaker’.”

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