In her book, Alexandra Robbins explores the ways group identity theories play out among cliques - and the students they exclude. She reveals the new labels students stick onto each other today, the long-term effects of this marginalization, and the reasons students falling under these categories are often shunned.

Meet the cafeteria fringe -- Late summer to early fall: the popularity myth. Quirk theory and the secret of popularity -- Why are popular people mean? -- Fall: why quirk theory works. In the shadow of the freak tree -- It's good to be the cafeteria fringe -- Winter: outcast profiling and other dangers. Challenges -- Misperceptions -- Late winter to early spring: being excluded doesn't mean that anything's wrong with you. A brief introduction to group psychology -- Why labels stick: the motivations of the normal police -- Spring: quirk theory's origins: why these issues are hardest in school. Changing perceptions -- Two steps forward, one step back -- Late spring to early summer: popular vs. outcast. Popularity doesn't lead to happiness -- The rise of the cafeteria fringe -- Cafeteria fringe: lucky and free.