Steering Steps Ostracism

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22W251 Sunset Terrace

Medinah, IL  60157

Ostracism, "the judgment of the potsherds": Athenian juridical practice in which a potentially dangerous person would be exiled from the city without loss of property or civil rights.

One measure to protect anciet Greek Athenian democracy would be to exile a man who was too influential. Although a very common way to protect the city from rivalries, this was a harsh measure that was only taken by the community as a whole. (In fact, the right to send people away was, like the death penalty, something in which the city-state showed its independence and autonomy.) Because it was seen as too strong a measure, the ancient Athenians -perhaps the statesman Clisthenes- developed the practice known as ostracism, which can be described as "exile light". This happened in two stages.

Every year, the People's Assembly (ekklesia) was asked whether a vote of ostracism should be held. If there was no clear majority, this was the end of the matter. But if the people wanted to ostracize a person, a day was set, typically two months later.  Every voter was given a potsherd (ostrakon) on which he wrote down the name of a politician he believed to be potentially dangerous. (Or he asked someone else to do the writing.) If a certain quorum was reached, the politician who had received most votes was sent away from Athens.

In today's society, osctracism has taken many forms, exclusion, isolation, and more.  The results of ostracism can often lead to suicde or aggressive reactions (school shootings).  As Williams describes it, Ostracism is The Kiss of Social Death.

How might ostracism affect a child's development?

Ostracism might affect a child's development in that the child will feel indifferent, perhaps abandoned, and lonely, unloved, unconfident, unworthy, and undervalued. The ostracism might make the child act and behave in a strange and or awkward manner and will cause the child to regress and become withdrawn from other children and adults as well as everyday activities and situations. The child will be unable to function and cope with life in general. This could cause both cognitive and physical (it might stunt or affect the child's growth) and mental delays.

Also, a child could either attain one or another extreme attitude, either a superiority complex with an overwhelming sense of power and a need to control everything and everyone in their environment or they can partially or completely withdraw from society and family and friends, feeling neglected, alone, insecure and inferior to the world.

Ostracism would cause depression, low self-esteem, insecurity and a fallible (frail/imperfect) sense of justice and oneself. It can cause a child to be extremely self-critical, lose their self-respect and identity therefore this would cause major deficits with the ability to think critically and problem-solve and or conflict resolution as well as issues with social interactions, criticisms and aggression with others.

To exclude or isolate a child is unequivocally detrimental to the independence, upbringing and productivity factor of raising and supporting whole-heartedly good, loveable, self-respected children in our society today!

Our new program dealing with Ostracism has been designed to address this important topic with a number of age appropriate presentations, videos, and resource files to educate your students, staff, and parents on this dangerous form of bullying.

Contact us for details on our program dealing with Ostracism and other Pro Social Behaviors!

You and an ostarich may be ignoring the problem. 

Ostracism comes from the Greek "ostrakon", used to "exile" someone!

Aren't some of our youth doing the same thing today?  Not with a piece of pottery, but with their social groups and digital technology.