An anti-society is a small, separate community intentionally created within a larger society as an alternative to or resistance of it.
For example,
Adam Podgórecki Adam Podgórecki (1925–1998) was a sociologist and one of the founders of the Research Committee on Sociology of Law. Podgórecki was also one of the founders of the first institute at Warsaw University which was devoted to the social scientific ...
studied one anti-society composed of Polish prisoners;
Bhaktiprasad Mallik of
Sanskrit College studied another composed of criminals in Calcutta.
are developed by these societies as a means to prevent outsiders from understanding their communication, and as a manner of establishing a subculture that meets the needs of their alternative social structure.
Anti-languages differ from
slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
and
jargon
Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...
in that they are used solely among ostracised or rebellious social groups including prisoners, criminals, homosexuals,
and teenagers.
History
Janse writes that reform societies get their start with the Second Great Awakening in the early nineteenth century. National evangelical Protestant organizations encouraged the development of local groups to organize Sunday schools, missionary efforts, and Bible study groups. Also among these local groups were anti-vice societies that encouraged the observance of the Sabbath and fought dueling and gambling. Over the 1820s, these groups spread beyond evangelical circles and gradually broke apart into societies organized for specific purposes, including everything from anti-swearing and anti-Masonry to anti-Indian removal and anti-slavery. Also in the mix were temperance groups, which sometimes referred to themselves as anti-intemperance societies.
References
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Sociological theories