The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [192]
“smart Asian nerds”: Interview.
Jew Crew, Superjews: Interviews, group discussions. Thank you to Rani Schlenoff, Hava Shirazi Anderson, and their students for a fun and interesting discussion.
church girls: Interviews.
“they wear alternative clothes”: Interview.
“underground concepts”: Interview.
global warming: Interview.
who are weird on purpose: Interview.
descended from beatniks: Interviews.
“It makes me more sure about myself”: Interview.
“I’m not going to eat them”: Interview.
“bros”: Interviews.
student bullying is up: See, for example, Elkind, David. “Playtime is over,” The International Herald Tribune, March 30, 2010.
concept of “normal” has narrowed: This trend is occurring among labels for mental health characterizations as well. See, for example, Lane, Christopher. Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, New Haven: Yale University Press: 2008. As Lane wrote, “We’ve narrowed healthy behavior so dramatically that our quirks and eccentricities—the normal emotional range of adolescence and adulthood—have become problems we fear and expect drugs to fix.”
CHAPTER 2
“I’ve been able to use that”: Interview.
Blue’s mother: Readers of The Overachievers will recognize some similarities between Blue and AP Frank. I was not aware of Blue’s issues with his mother when I began following him. Blue, who told me he could relate to Frank, noted that in response to the pressure, Frank completed his schoolwork to escape while Blue abandoned his schoolwork to rebel.
students’ involvement in extracurricular activities: See, for example, Eder, Donna and Kinney, David. “The effect of middle school extracurricular activities on adolescents’ popularity and peer status,” Youth and Society, Vol. 26, 1995.
route to popularity: Ibid.
factor that brings cheerleaders prestige: See, for example, Merten, Don E. “The Meaning of Meanness: Popularity, Competition and Conflict among Junior High School Girls,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 70, No. 3, July 1997.
visibility: See, for example, LaFontana, Kathryn M. and Cillessen, Antonius H. N. “Children’s Perceptions of Popular and Unpopular Peers. A Multimethod Assessment,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 38, No. 5, 2002.
nerds or geeks might not be popular: See, for example, Brekke, Kjell Arne; Nyborg, Karine; and Rege, Mari. “The Fear of Exclusion: Individual Effort when Group Formation is Endogenous,” Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2007.
being recognizable: See, for example, Merten.
the most frequent interaction: See, for example, LaFontana.
“children focus on the quantity”: Ibid.
to be popular means to be influential: See, for example, Xie, Hongling; Li, Yan; Boucher, Signe; Hutchins, Bryan C.; and Cairns, Beverley D. “What Makes a Girl (or a Boy) Popular (or Unpopular)? African American Children’s Perceptions and Developmental Differences,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2006.
prefer the things they see: See, for example, Berger, Jonah; Heath, Chip; and Ho, Ben. “Divergence in Cultural Practices—Tastes as Signals of Identity,” Stanford University unpublished paper, March 2005.
often able to actively maneuver their position in the social hierarchy: See, for example, Mayeaux, Lara; Sandstrom, Marlene J; and Cillessen, Antonius H. N. “Is Being Popular a Risky Proposition?” Journal of Research on Adolescence, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2008.
savvy about the Machiavellian methods: See, for example, LaFontana.
viewed as lacking skills: See, for example, LaFontana.
The Exclusives: Interview.
“Hair color has to be blonde”: Interview.
dictionary definition of popularity: Merriam Webster defines popular as “commonly liked or approved.” See Merriam-webster.com.
“a shared recognition among peers”: See Schwartz, David; Nakamoto, Jonathan; Gorman, Andrea Hopmeyer; and McKay, Tara. “Popularity, Social Acceptance, and Aggression in Adolescent Peer Groups: Links with Academic Performance and School Attendance,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 42, No. 6, 2006.