The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

Robbins defines the “Cafeteria Fringe” as the “people who are not part of or who are excluded from school or societies in crowd” (6). Typically in schools, these are the people who do not occupy the central tables in the cafeteria, where the “popular” students congregate. 

Robbins defines “crowd contagion” as “[t]he controversial theory that in the midst of a crowd, an individual’s layers of restraint peel away, revealing potentially barbaric instincts” (136). Primatologist Richard Wrangham has theorized that the individual can dissolve “mindlessly” into the collective. The group can take a higher risk position, because personal responsibility is also dissolved.

Robbins cites the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of “groupthink”: “a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics” (136). Robbins links “groupthink” with “group polarization” since both dynamics involve the alleviation of the burden of independent thought from the individual.

The tendency for groups to form judgements that are more extreme than individuals’ personal opinions (134). Researchers theorize that polarization occurs because people are exposed to the group’s rationale, feel pressure to conform, and believe a more extreme opinion will secure popularity within the group. This dynamic can foster prejudice. 

A phrase from social psychology, the “halo effect” is the tendency for people to judge the whole of something based upon partial knowledge, in some cases just one characteristic.

A psychological descriptor for the false assumption that others are as attuned to our appearance and behavior as we ourselves are. The effect can cause an individual’s self-perception and consequent behaviour to warp.

Robbins’ own coinage describes the discriminatory profiling of nonconformist students in the wake of disasters such as the Columbine school shootings. Robbins argues that labeling students “at risk” is itself a kind of violence and does not serve the purpose of protecting against such atrocities because she points out, the Columbine killers were popular.

This coinage refers to the controversial stance taken by the Renaissance politician Niccolò Machiavelli, who advised rulers to maintain power through force, guile, and elaborate strategies. Robbins argues that “popular” students are more comfortable using Machiavellian methods “to climb into and then cling to the popular label” (56).

Robbins coins the phrase “outcast profiling” to describe discrimination against nonconformist students in the wake of tragic school shootings: “[I]t is counter-productive, it is bad policy, and it is discriminatory” (206).

Robbins defines popularity as “[a] shared recognition among peers that a particular youth has achieved prestige, visibility, or high social status.” (57) Robbins further distinguished between “perceived popular” and “sociometrically popular” individuals. The former group are considered dominant and conceited, the latter considered kind and trustworthy. 

Robbins defines Quirk Theory as the observation that the differences that cause a student to be excluded at school are often the same qualities and abilities for which they are valued in the wider world (8).