And the geeks freaks will inherit the earth

pp. 91-109

in: Jan Jagodzinski, Television and youth culture, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008

Abstract

All of the categorical descriptions discussed in the previous chapter, with exception of the closing music section, rely on the dichotomy of identity and difference as such—difference being in the first instance negation. Freaks are separated from Geeks, and both are separated from Jocks/Cheerleaders. Friend and enemy are spaced apart. In post-subcultural studies (Muggleton and Weinzierl 2003; Hodkinson and Deicke 2007), there is recognition of the increased complexity and pluralism that has emerged among youth subgroups, but identity politics continues to assert itself; boundaries are redrawn in clever ways through new media technologies, the Internet being the most prominent, to secure cybercom-munities like Goth sites (Hodkinson, 2003) and sprout various forms of subcultures of cyberactivists, as well as of right-wing militia groups (Kahn and Kellner 2003). A structural plurality is presented with demarcated territories, which establish identities as precariously bounded collectivities.