The Sociology of Nerds
Regular readers might remember my first "Moose Lexicon" entry from a couple of years ago, in which I attempted to nail down a definition for the words "geek" and "nerd," with some commentary on the position of the two within a social context.
Thanks to
kingseyeland, I've now read a very interesting essay on the idea of popularity, nerds, and the nature of the caste system of the American high school's captive social world - specifically, how "nerds" get to be at the bottom of the hierarchy. It brought up lots of memories of the way high school was for me. (Things were slighly different at Park Tudor, since there were some social incentives for academic achievement within the college prep school environment - so some of the "popular" kids were pretty academically successful, and football players, for instance, didn't necessarily enjoy top positions in the pecking order. But this is similar enough to feel familiar.)
Here's the essay: Why Nerds are Unpopular
(By the way,
kingseyeland, speaking of nerdy things, I discovered that one of
stockholmvictim's friends, a young fellow who's only 21, is a big Rush fan. Just letting you know that there's someone to pick up the torch. ;-))
Thanks to
kingseyeland, I've now read a very interesting essay on the idea of popularity, nerds, and the nature of the caste system of the American high school's captive social world - specifically, how "nerds" get to be at the bottom of the hierarchy. It brought up lots of memories of the way high school was for me. (Things were slighly different at Park Tudor, since there were some social incentives for academic achievement within the college prep school environment - so some of the "popular" kids were pretty academically successful, and football players, for instance, didn't necessarily enjoy top positions in the pecking order. But this is similar enough to feel familiar.)
Here's the essay: Why Nerds are Unpopular
(By the way,
kingseyeland, speaking of nerdy things, I discovered that one of
stockholmvictim's friends, a young fellow who's only 21, is a big Rush fan. Just letting you know that there's someone to pick up the torch. ;-))