The outsider phenomenon is part of everyday pedagogical school life. Since the 1970s, it has advanced to become a central subject area of ​​religious education and at the same time forms a prominent subject of sociological and social-psychological research. The focus of the present study is the empirical investigation of the outsider phenomenon in adolescence. In intensive field research, the author conducted biographical interviews with adolescents and young adults who describe themselves as outsiders. Based on the system-theoretical-constructivist approach of qualitative social research, the author develops an innovative methodology for religious education, which makes the communicative and biographical genesis of outsiderdom the subject of research. A critical analysis of current lesson plans on the topic of outsiders is linked to the empirical investigation.