Freaks, Geeks, and Cool Kids: American Teenagers, Schools, and the Culture of Consumption

Front Cover
Taylor & Francis, Apr 2, 2004 - Social Science - 320 pages
In this timely and insightful book, award-winning sociologist Murray Milner tries to understand why teenagers behave the way they do. Drawing upon two years of intensive fieldwork in one high school and 300 written interviews about high schools across the country, he argues that consumer culture has greatly impacted the way our youth relate to one another and understand themselves and society. He also suggests that the status systems in high schools are in and of themselves an important contributing factor to the creation and maintenance of consumer capitalism explaining the importance of designer jeans and designer drugs in an effort to be the coolest kid in the class.

About the author (2004)

Murray Milner, Jr. is Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia. His book, Status and Sacredness, won the 1996 Distinguished Publication Award from the American Sociological Association.

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