Jock (stereotype)

Last updated
Harold Lloyd at the bottom of a pile on in the 1925 comedy film The Freshman, about a college student trying to become popular by joining the football team Speedy.jpg
Harold Lloyd at the bottom of a pile on in the 1925 comedy film The Freshman , about a college student trying to become popular by joining the football team

In the United States and Canada, a jock is a stereotype of an athlete, or someone who is consumed by sports and sports culture, and does not take much interest in intellectual pursuits or other activities. [1] [2] It is generally applied mostly to high school and college athletics participants who form a distinct youth subculture. As a blanket term, jock can be considered synonymous with athlete. [3] Jocks are usually presented as male practitioners of team sports such as American football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and ice hockey.

Contents

Origin

The use of the term "jock" to refer to an athletic man is thought to have emerged around 1963. [2] It is believed to be derived from the word "jockstrap", which is an undergarment worn to support/protect the male genitals while playing sports. [4] In the 1960s, someone who liked sports was sometimes jokingly called an "athletic supporter", which is the actual name for a jockstrap.[ citation needed ]

Jocks are often contrasted with another stereotype: nerds. This dichotomy is a theme in many American movies, television shows, and books.[ citation needed ]

Characteristics

Various characteristics of the jock stereotype include:

Portrayal in the media

Jocks are often present in books, movies, and television shows involving high school, middle school, and college. The stereotype is most prevalent in movies for teenagers such as College , American Pie , and the Revenge of the Nerds movies; and the video game Bully . The stereotype extends beyond the high-school and collegiate age group into media intended for younger audiences. Examples include the high school football quarterback Dash Baxter in the Nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom, and Kevin from the Cartoon Network series Ed, Edd n Eddy . Other notable portrayals of the stereotype include the popular athlete and love interest Tommy Ross in Carrie , the spoiled bullying antagonist Luke Ward in the first season of The O.C. , Johnny Lawrence the ex-boyfriend of Ali Mills in The Karate Kid , and Kim's wealthy and athletic boyfriend Jim in Edward Scissorhands .

Mass media commonly use stereotypical characteristics of athletes to portray a character who is relatively unintelligent and unenlightened, but nonetheless socially and physically well-endowed. Usually, jocks play aggressive sports such as football or basketball. Examples from television shows include Ryan Shay (Parker Young) in the sitcom Suburgatory, Reggie Mantle in Riverdale, and Jimmy Armstrong (Dan Cortese) in the sitcom Hot in Cleveland . The main jock character often occupies a high position, such as the quarterback or captain of the football team. In many cases, the jock is shown to come from a wealthy family, driving a fancy, expensive sports car or SUV, and wearing expensive, name-brand clothing. However, this is not always the case. In this regard, there may be significant overlap with the preppie stereotype.

As a protagonist, the jock is often a dynamic character who has an epiphany or develops a new understanding, and changes his values. This change often leads to a cessation of athletics or some other equivalent social sacrifice, and the character is then no longer being considered a jock. Examples in movies include Randall "Pink" Floyd in Dazed and Confused and Andrew Clark in The Breakfast Club . Examples in television shows include Nathan Scott in the teen drama series One Tree Hill , Whitney Fordman in Smallville and Luke Ward in The O.C. .

As antagonists, jocks can be stock characters, shown as lacking compassion for the protagonist, and are generally flat and static. Often in high school comedies or dramas where the main characters are not popular, the jock is the chief antagonist and cruel to the main characters. He is disliked by the nerds and other people who are considered unpopular, and usually comes to an unfortunate (and in some cases, violent or fatal) end. Heathers ' "Kurt" and "Ram" roles, the Spider-Man character Flash Thompson, high school football jocks and Connie D'Amico's cronies Scott and Doug in Family Guy , high school football captain Oliver Wilkerson in The Cleveland Show , Jean Grey's first boyfriend Duncan Matthews in X-Men: Evolution , middle school bully and "Crush Ball" quarterback Rodney Glaxer from Lloyd in Space , and Massimo Lenzetti (Justin Chambers) in the film The Wedding Planner are examples. There are also numerous jock antagonists found in teen dramas, such as the rapist Dean Walton in Degrassi .

On the show Pretty Little Liars , Emily Fields is the athletic one of the group. In the 1978 movie Grease , Danny Zuko changed his greaser look for a jock to impress his lover Sandy. The character of Buzz McCallister in the 1990 film Home Alone and its 1992 sequel, Lost in New York , appears to be a jock due to his love for basketball and his being a fan of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls as well as his bullying of the protagonist character, Kevin McCallister. In the 2006, hit movie High School Musical , Troy Bolton was a star jock of East High School in addition to other characters Chad Danforth, Zeke Baylor, and also Troy's father Jack Bolton. In 2013's Monsters University , Johnny Worthington is the proud leader of Roar Omega Roar (RΩR). Additionally, Kevin Thompson of Daria , which satirized high school life, conformed to the "dumb" athlete stereotype, though was never mean towards lead character Daria Morgendorffer and her friend Jane Lane; another jock character, Mac Mackenzie, was depicted as intelligent and cordial to the main characters, and was never shown to be a bully even though he was often disturbed by Kevin's dimness.

Other jock characters in media

TitleCharacterActor
13 Reasons Why Montgomery de la Cruz Timothy Granaderos
Back to School Chas Osborne William Zabka
Back to the Future Biff Tannen Thomas F. Wilson
Cobra Kai Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz Jacob Bertrand
Euphoria Nate Jacobs Jacob Elordi
Ghostbusters Kevin Beckman Chris Hemsworth
Glee Noah Puckerman Mark Salling
I Am Not Okay With This Brad LewisRichard Ellis
John Tucker Must Die John Tucker Jesse Metcalfe
Love, Victor Andrew Spencer Mason Gooding
ParaNorman Mitch Downe Casey Affleck
She's the Man Duke Orsino Channing Tatum
Stranger Things Jason Carver Mason Dye
Teen Wolf Jackson Whittemore Colton Haynes
The DUFF Wesley Rush Robbie Amell
Trinkets (TV series) Brady Finch Brandon Butler

Academics and athletics

The general perception that athletes are unintelligent is derived from the idea that athletic and academic success are mutually exclusive. Prior to 1990, many researchers were critical with respect to the impact of extracurricular activities and athletics in particular on education. According to the so-called "Zero Sum Model", education and extracurriculars compete for student's time. However, later studies present a strong evidence that athletic or cultural extracurricular activities in school would increase school attendance, self-confidence, grade (in some instance), and college attendance but would reduce performance in standardized test. [7] [8]

Despite the fact that many schools recruit for sports, they put stipulations in place that require student athletes to maintain minimum academic grade in order to maintain their scholarships. Schools recruit students to their athletic teams, but require a student maintain a certain grade-point average (GPA) in order to have the scholarship renewed. For many young athletes, this is imperative as they could not afford higher education on their own. Therefore, they balance enough study to remain eligible with the demands of their sport. [9]

At the college level in the United States, the NCAA does have some education requirements that must be met for high school students to play in a Division I school, and to be eligible for a scholarship. The most recent standards passed by the NCAA, which will apply to all incoming college freshmen beginning with the class of 2016, requires that 16 core high school courses be completed by the student-athlete, 7 of which must be either math, science, or English, and 10 of those 16 classes must be completed prior to their senior year of high school. As well, the students must graduate high school with a minimum 2.3 GPA (up from the 2.0 GPA requirement that was in place prior to these new standards). [10] Such requirements have been debated for years, however. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, abstract, or relating to niche topics such as science fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Additionally, many so-called nerds are described as being shy, quirky, pedantic, and unattractive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scholarship</span> Financial aid for a students education

A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need, research experience or specific professional experience.

Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers, preteens and/or young adults by the plot being based on their special interests, such as coming of age, attempting to fit in, bullying, peer pressure, first love, teen rebellion, conflict with parents, and teen angst or alienation. Often these normally serious subject matters are presented in a glossy, stereotyped or trivialized way. Many teenage characters are portrayed by young adult actors in their 20s. Some teen films appeal to young males, while others appeal to young females.

A jockstrap, also a jock (male), jill (female), strap, cup, groin guard, pelvic protector (female), supporter, or athletic supporter, is an undergarment for protecting the scrotum and penis or vulva during contact sports or other vigorous physical activity. This article deals chiefly with the genital protective sports gear designed for the male body, colloquially known as a "jock".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greaser (subculture)</span> 1950s and 60s youth subculture in the United States

Greasers are a youth subculture that emerged in the 1950s and early 1960s from predominantly working class and lower-class teenagers and young adults in the United States and Canada. The subculture remained prominent into the mid-1960s and was particularly embraced by certain ethnic groups in urban areas, particularly Italian Americans and Hispanic Americans.

Adolescent cliques are cliques that develop amongst adolescents. In the social sciences, the word "clique" is used to describe a group of 3 to 12 "who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting". Cliques are distinguished from "crowds" in that their members socially interact with one another more than the typical crowd. Crowds, on the other hand, are defined by reputation. Although the word 'clique' or 'cliquey' is often used in day-to-day conversation to describe relational aggression or snarky, gossipy behaviors of groups of socially dominant teenage girls, that is not always accurate. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popularity. Although cliques are most commonly studied during adolescence and in educational settings, they can exist in all age groups and settings.

<i>Bully</i> (video game) 2006 action-adventure video game

Bully is a 2006 action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 October 2006 for the PlayStation 2. A remastered version of the game, subtitled Scholarship Edition, was developed by Mad Doc Software and released on 4 March 2008 for Xbox 360 and Wii, and on 21 October 2008 for Windows. Bully was re-released for PlayStation 4 available via PlayStation Network on 22 March 2016. An updated version of the Scholarship Edition, titled Anniversary Edition, was developed by War Drum Studios and released for Android and iOS on 8 December 2016.

An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United States and to a certain extent in Canada, but in the vast majority of countries in the world they are rare or non-existent.

Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the four years of academic classes typically required to earn a bachelor's degree at an American college or university. However, in a redshirt year, student athletes may attend classes at the college or university, practice with an athletic team, and "suit up" for play – but they may compete in only a limited number of games. Using this mechanism, a student athlete (traditionally) has at most five academic years to use the four years of eligibility, thus becoming what is termed a fifth-year senior. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional year of eligibility was granted by the NCAA to student athletes who met certain criteria. Student athletes who qualified had up to six academic years to make use of their four years of eligibility, taking into consideration the extra year provided due to exceptional circumstances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College recruiting</span> Entry process for US college athletes

In college athletics in the United States, recruiting is the process in which college coaches add prospective student athletes to their roster each off-season. This process typically culminates in a coach extending an athletic scholarship offer to a player who is about to be a junior in high school or higher. There are instances, mostly at lower division universities, where no athletic scholarship can be awarded and where the player pays for tuition, housing, and textbook costs out of pocket or from financial aid. During this recruiting process, schools must comply with rules that define who may be involved in the recruiting process, when recruiting may occur and the conditions under which recruiting may be conducted. Recruiting rules seek, as much as possible, to control intrusions into the lives of prospective student-athletes. The NCAA defines recruiting as “any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pompadour (hairstyle)</span> Hairstyle

The pompadour is a hairstyle named after Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), a mistress of King Louis XV of France. Although there are numerous variations of the style for men, women, and children, the basic concept is having a large volume of hair swept upwards from the face and worn high over the forehead, and sometimes upswept around the sides and back as well.

Student athlete is a term used principally in universities in the United States and Canada to describe students enrolled at postsecondary educational institutions, principally colleges and universities, but also at secondary schools, who participate in an organized competitive sport sponsored by that educational institution or school. The term student-athlete was coined in 1964 by Walter Byers, the first executive director of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The term is also interchangeable with the synonymous term “varsity athlete”.

The anti-jock movement is a loosely organized cyber-movement consisting of similarly themed websites, whose goal is to challenge the perceived cultural dominance of institutionalized competitive sports and to raise issues of the perceived detrimental effects of such a dominance. In this regard, the term "jock" is used in its sense of "stereotypical athlete," although websites that are constituent of the Anti-jock Movement often use the term to distinguish negative or excessive interest in sports, from common or positive athletic endeavor. The stereotypical athlete can be defined as an individual who uses his or her athletic ability or abilities in an effort to gain social capital. His or her identity is intertwined with their athletic endeavor and as a result they are unable to connect with individuals who do not participate in athletics. In the decade following the year 2000, increasing recognition has been given to the existence of a movement consisting of "a group of self-described marginalized youth [who] constructed and sustained anti-jock websites, where they articulated 'dissatisfaction with and anger toward institutions that uncritically adulate hyper-masculine/high contact sport culture and the athletes who are part of this culture '”. This "group of self-described marginalized youth" identify with the individuals who feel as though they have been marginalized by "stereotypical athlete". As a whole, the group of young people who created the anti-jock cyber movement were not students who participated in athletics but rather, the anti-jock cyber-movement was created as support to those who feel as though they have been tormented by the 'jocks' and was initially created as a support group. As the anti-jock movement gained support, it took on a more negative perspective against the "stereotypical athlete". Such has been cited as an act of resistance against the dominant media and cultural paradigm.

<i>The Troop</i> Comedy television series

The Troop is an action-comedy children's television series centered around a trio of teenagers who fight monsters that invade the fictional town of Lakewood. Created and executive produced by Max Burnett, Greg Coolidge and Chris Morgan, the series premiered on Nickelodeon on September 12, 2009.

Grace Preparatory Academy (GPA) is a private, college-preparatory Christian school located in Arlington, Texas, United States. Founded in 1992, it offers programs for Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade students drawn from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. It is the founding member of the National Association of University-Model Schools and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

<i>Lloyd in Space</i> 2001 American TV series or program

Lloyd in Space is an American animated television series, created by Recess co-creators Joe Ansolabehere and Paul Germain. It premiered on February 3, 2001, on ABC on Saturday mornings. The pilot was written by Ansolabehere, Germain and Mark Drop, with the characters designed by Eric Keyes. The series ran for four seasons, airing its final episode on February 27, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protective gear in sports</span>

Personal protective equipment serves an integral role in maintaining the safety of an athlete participating in a sport. The usage and development of protective gear in sports has evolved through time, and continues to advance over time. Many sports league or professional sports mandate the provision and usage of protective gear for athletes in the sport. Usage of protective gear is also mandated in college athletics and occasionally in amateur sports.

West Boylston Middle/High School is a public high school located in West Boylston, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2012 rankings of U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools, West Boylston Middle/High School ranked at #41 within Massachusetts. The school serves grades 6-12 with a student to teacher ratio of 13:1.

"Basic" is a slang term in American popular culture, used pejoratively to describe culturally unoriginal people, particularly young women, who are perceived to prefer products, trends, and music that will make them look upper class even though they are not. "Basic bitch" originated in hip hop culture and rose in popularity through rap music, songs, blogs, and videos from 2011 to 2014. The male counterpart can often be put under the "bro" label.

The U-League, officially KUSF College Sports U-League, is operated by the Korea University Sports Federation (KUSF), the organization which oversees college sports in South Korea. The KUSF U-League operates in six different sports which students from member institutions participate in.

References

  1. "Jock: definition of Jock in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)". Archived from the original on December 23, 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Online Etymology Dictionary on Jock". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. "Princeton's WordNet entry on Jock". Wordnetweb.princeton.edu. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  4. Mattiello, Elisa (2008). An Introduction to English Slang. Polimetrica. ISBN   9788876991134 . Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Jocks as a Youth Subculture" (PDF). Center for Mental Health in Schools, School Mental Health Project, Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Anderson, Eric (2014). 21st century jocks : sporting men and contemporary heterosexuality. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781137550668.
  7. Klein, Tim (2011). Correlations Between High School Athletic Participation and Academic Performance (Master of Education). Dordt College.
  8. Herbert W. Marsh; Sabina Kleitman (2003). "School Athletic Participation: Mostly Gain With Little Pain" (PDF). Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 25 (2): 205–228. doi:10.1123/jsep.25.2.205.
  9. "Black Voices Online". September 21, 2008. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  10. O'Neil, Dana (6 August 2012). "Eligibility vs. academic preparedness". ESPN.com. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  11. Smith, Ronald A. (2011). Pay for Play: A History of Big-Time College Athletic Reform. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.