I've gathered some material for you on the subject of geek cliques,
nerd herds, and other forms of bonding behavior among those of us who
have metaphorical adhesive tape on our metaphorical glasses.
The website of the Silicon Valley Cultures Project provides a juicy
essay that I think you'll find useful. For reasons of copyright, I'm
only posting brief excerpts here. I suggest that you read the entire
article: it's a goodie.
"The Gaming Geeks did not hold the best reputation within the school
society. Normal students even avoided them for their various quirks.
Through my research, I have found that the Geeks were fully aware of
this, and that they had matured to that stage where they were
dismissive about acceptance from others outside their own group.
Things which had meaning to others, outside of their group, were not
valued by them. In a way, the Gaming Geeks did not have the same
desires and outlooks about things that were generally standard to most
regular students, such as: being accepted by others, being liked, and
being a part of the general student body. None of these things were of
importance to the Nerd group. As a result, they were set apart from
others. Of course there were other groups of students, but there are
basic principals, that all of the groups followed. The Geeks did not
seem to be ruled by these principals. While every group is different,
the Gaming Geeks seemed to have taken this concept to the next level.
This idea, that the Gaming Geeks were shunned by the normal students
because they were different to a level of being strange, 'too
different' if you will, also goes another way. The members of the
Geek group were fully aware of what the others thought of them. They
not only did not care, they almost embraced the title that they were
given. They basically said, 'We are Nerds, and we are proud!' The
image that they portrayed was their identity marker, who they were
known to be. While before they were generally thought to not fit in
anywhere, the Gaming Geeks now fit in because they had their own
identity."
The Silicon Valley Cultures Project: The Gaming Geek Culture
http://www2.sjsu.edu/depts/anthropology/svcp/SVCPsvcl.html
This humorous piece makes some interesting points amid the jokes:
"It was found that few Geek social groups contained only one Alpha
Geek. Those that did concerned themselves with one very limited area
of specialization. Most other Homo Techie-Nerdus habitats are more
generalized, and can be divided into smaller special interest zones.
For each of these zones there are typically one or two Alpha Geeks.
These Alpha Geeks have, through time, repeatedly demonstrated superior
knowledge within their specialty, coupled with the ability to
communicate this knowledge to other members of the group. When these
Alpha Geeks speak, their pronouncements are rarely questioned, except
when a particularly aggressive challenger for Alpha Geek status is
attempting to increase their status. Alpha Geek pronouncements may,
however, be dissected and commented on, and in the case of the issues
with multiple possible solutions, alternatives suggested. Much of the
commentary on Alpha Geek pronouncements is what is known as
"nit-picking" and seems to serve to remind the Alpha Geeks of their
basic humanity, or rather Nerdity."
Otter Necessities: Investigation into the Group Behavioral Dynamics of
the Species Homo Techie-Nerdus
http://www.otternecessities.com/Projects/TechiNerdus.html
A well-written, sensible rebuttal of the charge that geeks are anti-social:
"Geeky interests are generally personal in nature, such as comic
books, movies, and programming. Interests that don't fall into this
category (gaming, etc) almost all involve interactions with people
with the same interests, and are usually time consuming and sedentary.
Therefore, when someone outside of the geek culture sees these
solitary and sedentary interests, a connection is made with
anti-social behavior. In addition to that, when geeks are brought out
of their realm of interest and interact with people who are not-geeks,
culture shock is likely unless the geek in question has interests
outside of the geek culture. For instance, if you take someone who's
a gamer and introduce him or her to a situation where everyone is
talking about baseball or celebrity gossip, unless the geek is also a
baseball fan or reads Star magazine, they won't have much to add to
the conversation. This is true of any person that finds themselves
out of their element. Try tossing a craft person into a group of
people discussing quantum physics, and you will have similar results.
This is not indicative of anti-social behavior, it's indicative of
someone being out of their element. It can happen to anyone.
People with similar interests tend to congregate together. Geeks do
this via online communities, gaming sessions, or instant messenger.
Non-geeks tend to use social gatherings with people of varied interest
to meet people, where as geeks tend to use gatherings that are more
focused to their interests."
TwoHeadedCat: Buddha and the Beast - The Geek Myth
http://www.twoheadedcat.com/content/article.php?articleID=1129
This article notes that the movie "Revenge of the Nerds" had an
influence in building bonds between geeks, and notes the importance of
women in shaping the geek subculture:
"The heroes of Revenge of the Nerds were people who created a
fraternity of their own, who bootstrapped a niche for themselves in
Grant McCracken?s culture of plenitude. The movie was an extended
joke, but it described and perhaps helped create a real phenomenon...
The term ?geek? didn?t emerge as a common label, displacing the older
and much more sporadically-used ?nerd?, until around the time of the
Internet explosion of 1993-1994. I noticed this development because I
didn?t like it; I still prefer to tell people I hang out with hackers
(all hackers are geeks, but not all geeks are hackers). Another index
of the success of the emerging geek culture is that around that time
it stopped being an almost exclusively male phenomenon...
The loner/obsessive/perfectionist tendencies of your archetypal geek
are rare in women, who are culturally encouraged (and perhaps
instinct-wired) to value social support and conformity more. Thus,
women entering the geek subculture was a strong sign that it had
joined the set of social identities that people think of as ?normal?.
This is still a very recent development; I can?t recall the term
?geekgirl? being used at all before 1998, and I don?t think it became
commonly self-applied until 2000 or so...
Interestingly, the dot.com bust does not seem to have slowed down or
discredited the geek subculture at all. Websites like
http://geekculture.com and http://thinkgeek.com do a flourishing
business, successfully betting investment capital on the theory that
there is in fact a common subculture or community embracing computer
hackers, SF fans, strategy gamers, aficionados of logic puzzles, radio
hams, and technology hobbyists of all sorts. Just the fact that a
website can advertise The World?s Coolest Propeller Beanies! is
indication of how far we?ve come."
Armed and Dangerous: The Revenge of the Nerds is Living Well
http://esr.ibiblio.org/index.php?p=173
These pages may also be of some use to you:
Salon.com: Don't tweak the geeks!
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/28/kakutani/index.html
The Register: O geeks, what has become of us?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/10/04/o_geeks_what_has_become/
Plausibly Deniable: Five Geek Social Fallacies
http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html
HeathHacker: Sato Roams
http://healthhacker.org/satoroams/archives/000175.html
Reconstruction: Geek Culture: An Annotated Interdisciplinary Bibliography
http://www.reconstruction.ws/011/GeekCulture.htm
Google Directory: Society > Subcultures > Geeks and Nerds
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Subcultures/Geeks_and_Nerds/
My Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "geek OR nerd culture"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22geek+OR+nerd+culture
Google Web Search: "geek OR nerd subculture"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22geek+OR+nerd+subculture
Google Web Search: "geek OR nerd groups"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22geek+OR+nerd+groups
Thanks for a great question. As a lifelong geek, I found this project
to be very enjoyable. Almost as good as spending three days at a Star
Trek convention! :-D
If anything is unclear or incomplete, please request clarification;
I'll be glad to offer further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
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