Trek Within: Sociology And Star Trek

For the past 20-plus years, I have been teaching sociology courses for most of the colleges and universities in my area. Even though I thought sociology was fascinating since I was about 13, all my best friends’ parents were either sociology or physics professors at Stony Brook University. I didn’t plan on being a sociologist (or a physicist). I figured I would never find work in the field, so I never even tried. I just sort of stumbled into it.

I’ve been a fan of Star Trek since I was 8 years old. I watched the original series when it was in first-run on NBC starting in 1966. I grew up in the first generation to live with Star Trek.

I would be lying if I said it didn’t influence me. As some people on this site know, I became an avid fan of Spock, and was strongly influenced by the character. I became a vegetarian at the age of 13 – which was a first in my family. To this day, I am still a vegetarian.

I also married a man who is reminiscent of Spock. He’s of the same general build and appearance (though my husband is better looking), he was a physics major in college, with a minor in astronomy, and went on to be a science teacher and then a mathematics professor. He’s more-or-less even-tempered, and often takes on the logical, unemotional demeanor of, well, Spock.

Of course, Spock wasn’t the only reason I married my husband or became a vegetarian, but the example was established for me to seek out science-oriented men, be studious and value intellect and academic achievement, to follow up on my own misgivings about eating animals, and to do what Spock did best – look at humanity and human history from the point of view of an outsider.

I grew up in a time of social upheaval and turmoil. The war in Vietnam started when I was in first grade, and ended when I was an adult. We witnessed assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy during the Star Trek years. The Civil Rights movement, the women’s movement, the anti-war movement, the farm workers’ movement, and so many more, got their starts or were in full bloom during the original Star Trek years.

While growing up, I often wondered about my choices. I was a painfully serious person, an activist in many causes, who often devoted 24/7 to a cause, and yet, I still loved Star Trek. I often thought I was being frivolous, because Trek and other science fiction shows and movies, caused me to abandon reality for a while, and I sometimes felt wrong for dabbling in the fantasies they would allow.

At the same time, though, it all made sense – and most of my comrades in the organizations I worked for or with, were also fans of Star Trek. All the years of experience working within a major social movement which coincidentally allowed me to meet and work with a supportive Trek actor, led me to settle into working and teaching in the field of sociology, which is what I’ve been doing for the past 23 years.

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