Understanding Society and The Individual Self In Albert Camus’s The Outsider

Abstract

The relationship between the individual and society is more philosophical rather than sociological because it involves the question of values. It is in society that an individual is surrounded and encompassed by culture, as a societal force. It is in society again that he has to conform to the norms, occupy status, create new identity and hence become members of groups. The question of the relationship between the individual and society is the starting point of many discussions. This paper attempts to explore the issue of difference between the society and the individual self and how societal norms bring out conflicts and restrictions for the individual self through the central character of the novel The Outsider.