Why Girls Join Cliques

In-groups are not just limited to large, broad generalizations but each one can have individual sub-groups as Allport states: “Thus, in-groups are often recreated to fit the needs of individuals,”(4). In-groups are not limited to their broadest points, but each have subcultures based on different circumstances. The punk in-group promotes a sense of discord and is a clique that has oppressing

The film is based around Cady, she is the new student at the school who ends up meeting Janet and Damian. They become her first friends, however, the Plastics (Regina, Karen, and Gretchen) get her to become part of their group. The Plastics are the popular mean girls, who everyone is afraid to stand up to. Janet and Cady come up with this plan to ruin Regina’s popularity and reputation through several different ideas. Cady ends up crushing on Aaron, who is Regina’s ex causing a secret anger in Cady.

From rock climbing club to chemistry club, most colleges offer it all. Colleges would claim that the purpose of these groups is to give students the chance to try new things and to meet new people. This exposes students to new cultures, religions, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, all while broadening their social networks. I would argue that the plethora of organizations actually adds segregation to college campuses. According to Boyd, people, “look for ‘safe spaces’ and ‘culture fit.’

Hello everyone, While sitting on the lunch table, plastics explain Cady how she will be able to fit into their group. I choose the ethnocentrism anthropological core concept in this particular scenario of the movie “Mean Girls”. “Ethnocentrism is the attitude or opinion that the norms, values, and customs of one’s own culture are superior to those of others’ cultures”. As per the rules of plastics, Cady can wear ponytail only once a week, everyone has to wear pink on Wednesday, Cady can not wear skirt without informing other girls. If anyone breaks the rule, that person can not sit with the other girls at lunch table.

The two compiled a map of North Shore High and how Cady will survive it. A big part of the map was the cafeteria and where all the different cliques sat. Cady was warned about a certain clique called “the Plastics”, she was told they are the worst people she would ever meet. The Plastics are the popular clique at Cady’s new

Caty begins the movie with a real genuine friendship with Janis and Damien, two individuals who struggled with popularity because they were considered the “outside” group. However, the popular girls, infamously called the “Plastics” try to recruit Caty into their popular group, but only because she is considered one of the prettier girls in the school. The ring leader, Regina George, of the Plastics is the most popular girl in school who is really hated by alot of peers because of her horrible attitude and how she

Some peer groups can be good and some can be bad. The peer group that I was a part of in high school was bad. In high school I was always a little different and did not have many fiends because the clique or peer group in my high school used the Social Typing which is a “labeling process that begins when a person violates a norm. Negate sanctions are applied to norm violates in the form of criticisms, punishments, and/or labels.” They labeled me as a “dorky weird girl.”

Even seemingly barbaric gangs search for order in society and provide security and comfort for the impoverished. People are naturally inclined to help others and act socially, especially

In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.

“The plastics” were the leading group of the school, consisting of three popular, attractive girls, Regina, the leader of the group and two other girls, Karen, and Gretchen. “The Plastics” then scouted Cady since she had been attractive, and got the attention of popular boys, in which Janis and Damien originally supported in order to manipulate and plan to destroy “the plastics” through Cady. Cady’s exploration with social psychology is shown through her being unaware of everything at her new high school; social psychology concepts that are shown throughout this storyline are implicit personality theory, norms and group schemas, gender roles. Implicit personality theory is the inference of co-occurrence of personality traits based on another personality trait. This can be shown by the halo effect, where one infers that someone is generally good based on a few RUNNING

In Mean Girls, the students are divided into very defined cliques, like the band nerds, jocks, popular girls, and math geeks. In real high schools, the cliques are not that defined. They still have cliques like those, but many of the students are in more than one clique and some of the cliques group together. Most of the of the students like to spend time with the people they like, so in many cases groups have a variety of people in it. An example of this would be a group that has a band nerd, a jock, and a math geek.

Middle class would be Cady before she became a “Plastic” and low class would be Damian and Janis and the rest of the school. In the eyes of “The Plastics” everyone is low class and they are the only upper class. According to Jeff Manza, author of The Sociology Pproject 2.0: introducing the sociological imagination conflict theory is “a type of social theory that emerged out of dissatisfaction with structural functionalism and held that all societies are characterized by conflicts that arise from the uneven distribution of power and wealth between groups” (Manza, 2016). Bullies are not always at the top of the class chain but they often feel the need to put other lower them. Bullies often feel stronger and tougher when they are on top

The film displays these issues in order to satirize them, and therefore, certain behaviour may be exaggerated to make it more obvious for the audience. As can be seen from the Plastics’ “rules”, there is a common theme present in what the “popular” girls hold valuable. From the iconic quote of “on Wednesdays, we wear pink”, to downright odd restrictions such as “we only wear jeans or trackpants on Fridays” (Michaels & Waters, 2004), the prevalent thing these well-liked, “flawless” girls seem to be concerned about is appearance. Intelligence is undesirable and unneeded in order to stand out and rule in this teenage social hierarchy. For example, when Cady says she wants to join the Mathletes, both Regina and Damien—who have very different personalities—say that it would be “social suicide” (Michaels & Waters, 2004).

As brand communities are based on the collective appreciation of a certain brand we could not view the Plastics as a part of this kind of community since there is no focus on a brand, rather a lifestyle. To label the Plastics as a subculture did not suit either since it is experience based and are escapist from mainstream norms which is the opposite of what the Plastics are since the High school subculture identities that are shown in Mean Girls (2004) reflect popular culture. Referring to Figure 1 in de Burgh-Woodman’s (2007) article, the subculture of consumption is comprised of the following eight

The movie Mean Girls is a perfect example of many social-psychological principles. Three of the major principles that are seen in the film include: conformity, in-groups and out-groups and prejudice. Cady Herron, a naïve sixteen-year-old who has been homeschooled her entire life, is forced to start as a junior at North Shore High School because of her family’s job relocation. Throughout the movie, you see Cady struggling to maintain acceptance in the school’s in-group known as The Plastics. The Plastics, who represent popularity, high economic status and the acclaimed standard of beauty, are one of the meanest cliques at North Shore.