Alright so I know that one time or another you all have been introduced to the concept of popularity and cliques. Have you ever wondered why certain kids seem at the top of the pecking order and are dominant figures in the high school hierarchy? Well, I read an article by Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler describing how boys and girls go to the top of the social ladder.
There are certain elements that make boys and girls more prone to popularity and in the study, the aspects that were found in girls were more consistent than those found with boys. Boys were considered popular if they had some athletic ability or at least an interest in sports (you know you're stereotypical jock). Boys were also considered popular if they displayed trouble and toughness and were rebellious to authority (the bad boy). Boys along the middle of the intellect spectrum and who were "ladies men" were also considered popular.
Girls, however, focused on different aspects. One was socio-economic status. The richest girls could afford the coolest clothes and therefore were more popular. Also, girls with more lenient parents who would allow them to go to sleep overs and boy girl parties were more popular. Girls also focused more on attractiveness than boys.
What I conclude is that these are all true, but popularity is a k-12 phenomenon. Honestly, in college, everyone is so wrapped up with their own lives that no one really has time to care who is cool or who is a nerd. So if you're not the bell of the ball in high school, who cares, there's way more to offer in college.
Well that is good to know about for college because it is WAY to promenant in highschool. Instead of getting better it's getting worse. The popular kids are scorning the others and sometimes there are even guns involved. (ie: some reasons for school shootings...well one of the reasons anyway)
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popularity really doesn't exist in life after school either nor in the military. It just seems to fizzle away. Also not sure if this is true for all people or not, but I lot of the more popular kids in school, are not that successful out in the real world. I least for some people who I have ran into recently. You can also have the "reversal" jock turned computer geek, the computer geek turned ladies man because of certian roads that were opened up. The cheerleader turn at home mommy.
Pretty much your saying popularity has nothing to do with personality but the ability to put yourself out there. As for college, I hope it's really like that. I can't concentrate if it's highschool drama all over again...
Popularity is not a K-12 phenomenon. It even happens at art school. Granted, my senior class consists of 42 people, and we all know each other, but the rich kids are the ones everyone knows and likes -- in theory. Whereas, I have managed to maintain my social infamy by being a total bitch. (I don't care, really. My friends love me.) But popularity exists everywhere in human societies where many humans are forced to be together.
In your college you must notice, that there are people who EVERYONE knows, it might not be the same as high school but its there, and in workplaces, especcially those who have coworker voted employees of the month, you see it, and when you enter the corporate world well that is one HUGE populartiy contest, and as parents, lets use elementry kids parents as the example: they want to throw the best birthday parties, and be the most active in the PTA, its there till death, heck, even our funerals are going to be the last populartiy contest(how many people show up)
Another reason why boys and girls are popular is because they might have an outgoing personality because when I was a sophomore in high school, I became popular because I was outgoing because I hung out with other people at my high school that were of different races.
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usually the jocks and cheerleaders are at the very top and the wannabes are at the bottom. in between are the band geeks, drama geeks, art geeks, goths, preps and everybody else who doesnt fit in a clique or they fit in more than one
thats not always true....what if a school doesnt have a sports program, or they are no good?
Usually from my obsevations, it is about money, and ability.
If you have more money than most, or you are able to do things that others envy, then most likely you will be popular. outgoing personalities also go a long way....
most of the time people are more popular than they think....there are people who like you or your style and you dont even know.
From my own knowledge and from what I have realized is that, you can have good looks, you can be a cheerleader, you can be very style-ish .. but the key of popularity is hanging out with the RIGHT people, and pretty much being a clone. Honestly, I do NOT want to sound conceited but I do think I'm pretty, shit, I'm even tan and I am a cheerleader aswell and I dress cute and even have the "In" style if you wanna get that into detail.. but I don't exactly hang out with the popular girls and wouldn't want to because like I said .. you have to be like a clone. All the popular girls are the same, literally! They all are ditzy, try to act like a dumb blonde, always touchy touchy, act sluty, and they even dress sluty. Not to mention they all talk shit about each other, yay for popularity? I'm not that popular with them, but my boyfriend is in that "popular" group .. and when me and my boyfriend first started dating (we've been dating now for about 2 years now.) they were all like "omgz, whaa! why is he dating her? *pinches own nipples*" Seriously, its redic. I have one more year to go, and I'm out of this stereotypical immature cycle called "being popular in highschool."
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