Freaks And Geeks Sociology

Not many classes have topics of which students can relate to easily and can find something to help them understand the ideas better. In our class we watch the show Freaks and Geeks to help us better understand sociology. At first, I wasn’t quite sure how this show set back in the 1980s would help me understand what we were discussing in class, but it turned out to really be a valuable asset in helping the class. The show perfectly displays the themes of the self, the looking-glass self, and in and out groups which we confered about.
Lindsey is the main character of the show and she is currently struggling with understanding who she is. She constantly tries to fit in with the “freak” crowd which consists of the likes of Daniel and Kim Kelly. Lindsey wants to assimilate into their social group, but sometimes she still finds herself drawn back to her family and her old friend Millie. Right now, Lindsey is struggling with the idea of the self. We

learned that the self is the awareness of our identity which makes us unique in society. It is evident to see this is something Lindsey wrestles with. She is unsure as to who she is in her conscious self and wants to change who she identifies as. This transition from being a “nerd” with Millie to a “freak” with Daniel is proving to be difficult for her. Which is primarily what the show focuses on.
Lindsey may be the main character of the show, but the show wouldn’t be as it is without her younger brother Sam.

Sam serves as the secondary protagonist of the show, and fits into the “geek” side of the cast. Sam does not fight with his identity as his older sister does, but he does grapple with his self-confidence. This eventually leads him to want to change his looks. After going to a store and being told by an employee that a jumpsuit is going to be the new trend and Sam looks fashionable in it, Sam purchases it and wears it to school. This perfectly demonstrates the concept of the looking-glass self. The looking-glass self is what we see ourselves as based upon what we think others think of us. Sam struts into school in the jumpsuit believing he looks good because the man told him he did. However, it looks terrible on him, and Sam gets made fun of for the whole day at school. Sam fell into the the salesman’s trap and paid the price for thinking too highly of himself just from a simple compliment from someone

else.
While both Sam and Lindsey have their own individual struggles, they both are tangled up in the ideas of in and outgroups. Sam is cemented into his ingroup. He seems to know nothing about anyone but those who are in his “ingroup.” An ingroup, as we learned it, is a group to where a person feels they belong to. Sam definitely has no problems with Bill and Neil. On the other hand, Lindsey feels as if she is apart of an ingroup when in reality it is the opposite: an outgroup. She tries so hard to do the things Kim Kelly likes and does, but she can’t seem to bring herself to enjoy them. An outgroup is the exact opposite of an ingroup. A group where one feels they do not belong. She tries to conform, but ultimately fails to be fully accepted both by everyone in the group, and by herself. Lindsey, should not have left her primary group with Millie. Now she has no specific in or outgroup. She is caught and stuck in the middle.
It’s a shame this show was canceled so early. It would have been interesting to see where all of the characters would end up at the end of the show. See Lindsey finally come to terms with who she is. See Sam gain some self-confidence in himself. Not only those two, but for all of the other characters as well. But while this show was short-lived, it did provide a great representation of the concepts we learned about. The concepts of the self, looking-glass self, and in and outgroups were shown to us to better our understanding of them all the while providing fun entertainment. After I’m done with this class and graduate, I plan to watch the rest of the episodes we didn’t get to. I really wish to see what else I can learn from the cast which we didn’t get time to discuss in class.