SOCIAL PRESSURE AND IMPULSIVE DECISIONS: BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO MARGINALIZATION IN AWAIS KHAN'S IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between social marginalization and impulsive decision-making in Awais Khan's contemporary Pakistani novel In the Company of Strangers (2011). Drawing on Kimberlé Crenshaw's intersectionality theory (1989) and Louis Althusser's concept of Ideological State Apparatuses (1971), this study analyzes how overlapping forms of oppression—including class inequality, gender discrimination, and ideological pressure—limit characters' agency and compel hasty, often destructive choices. Through close textual analysis of three central characters—Mona, Ali, and Mir Rabiullah—the research demonstrates that impulsive decisions emerge not from individual moral failings but from systemic pressures that constrain rational deliberation. The findings reveal that marginalized individuals face intersecting constraints that reduce their decision-making autonomy, while those in positions of power use manipulation and violence to maintain control. This study contributes to understanding how contemporary South Asian literature represents the psychological costs of social exclusion and the ways marginalization shapes human behavior under duress.