how system labels and reduces those who don't fit-in

in conversation with a friend from the corporate world -

'how does one rate drifters' she asked and later, 'how do we understand rolling stones' though she didn't mean it in any negative way, the terms she used (and repeated during the conversation that was centered on her frustration with the corporate world) got me thinking...when did these terms come about and why?

the below online search results gives some idea...looks like these ideas came into vogue only with the onset of large scale industrialization and the 'taming' of man (and women) into 'workers' in 1900 and increased in 1950s reaching the peak in 2000.  in India, being 'rooted' in one place is more like being 'settled', and someone un-rooted may be considered as 'drifting'...

rolling stone

noun

plural noun: rolling stones

1. 1.

   a person who is unwilling to settle for long in one place.

   "he was a rolling stone, with no ties to anyone or anyplace"

   
   

drifter

noun

noun: drifter; plural noun: drifters

1. 1.

   a person who is continually moving from place to place, without any fixed home or job.

   synonyms:

   wanderer, traveller, transient, roamer, tramp, vagabond, vagrant,person of no fixed abode;

Use over time for: drifter