Low-life
Examples of people typically referred to as low-life include bullies, criminals, drug dealers, freeloaders, bums, drunkards, gangsters, sex offenders, pimps, aggressive panhandlers, scammers, and thieves.[1] The long-term origins of the ideas behind this in the Western world trace back to ancient times with the distinction of high culture associated with aristocracy at the top of the social hierarchy who were regarded in aristocrat-dominated society as compared with low culture associated with commoners at the bottom of the social hierarchy that included many impoverished people among them.In common usage, the term can also be used for people associated with adhering to low culture, or used to describe a crass, overly casual person who exhibits a lack of grace and refinement.In this sense, individuals do not necessarily need to be criminally destructive or hold ethically questionable views to qualify for the term.[3] The lure of the low-life for those in established social strata has been a perennial feature of western history: it can be traced from the Neronian aristocrat described by Juvenal as only at home in stables and taverns–"you'll find him near a gangster, cheek by jowl, mingling with lascars, thieves and convicts on the run"[4]–through the Elizabethan interest in cony-catching,[5] up to William Burroughs' obsession with the hobo, bum, or urban outlaw,[6] and through to the anti-heroes of Cyberpunk.