Freaks, Geeks and Cool Kids, Milner Provides Essay

Freaks, Geeks and Cool Kids, Milner provides a number of provocative statements that are worth contemplating and reacting to. Write a reaction essay to these two arguments. Illustrate knowledge of the Sociological Imagination by reflecting on the connection between the larger macro structure and youth behavior. Use arguments from the readings.

"My argument is that the structure of American secondary education - keeping teenagers in their own isolated world with little economic and political power of few non-school responsibilities - results in the status preoccupation of teenagers. The status concerns, in turn, play a significant contributing role in the development and maintenance of consumer capitalism." (pg. 156)

After reading this, I can't help but to ask the question, when wasn't status a preoccupation of teenagers and adults? I think as long as humans have been around "status" was an integral factor in determining the de facto hierarchy of society. Of course, status wasn't always something that was "determined" by the conscious volition of a community or "opinion leaders," rather, at times, throughout our history status was -or a hierarchical structure was - enforced on a community, i.e. monarchical rule, a caste system. But "status" has always been a critical preoccupation that governs the ebb and flow of the mores of a society.

That said, what constitutes "high" status has evolved over time. In Victorian days "status" in terms of beauty was pale aristocrats with high foreheads, vis a vis Queen Elizabeth, in today's times it's rail-skinny Latinas with bubble-butts. The thing is status has many components to it, not just economical. And as society grows more and more fragmented, each subgroup will define its own unique criteria for what constitutes high or desired status. And that's one thing the author only tangentially addresses, the fact that society is becoming increasingly fractured and heterogeneous.

That said, certain things will always remain the same. The rich will always rule and enforce their will upon the poor. The only difference is now the (shrinking) middle class and the poor are more conscious of their exploitation at the behest of the rich. Yet, what's ironic is, despite knowing how much they're being taken advantage of, the poor and the middle class do not want to defeat the rich, or even negotiate with them to work towards a more egalitarian society, the want to…