The term soccer mom broadly refers to an American,
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...
, suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her
school-age children to youth
sporting events
Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...
or other
activities, whether or not they are
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
related. It came into widespread use during the
1996 United States presidential election and over time has come to take on an unfavorable connotation.
History
![Met Oval snack bar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Met_Oval_snack_bar.jpg)
The phrase "soccer mom" generally refers to a married, American, middle-class woman who lives in the suburbs and has school-age children.
She is sometimes portrayed in the media as busy or overburdened and driving a
minivan
Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe is ...
or
SUV
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...
.
She is also described as putting the interests of her family, and most importantly her children,
ahead of her own.
The phrase derives from the literal, specific description of a mother who transports and watches her children play soccer.
It was also used in names of organizations of mothers who raised money to support their children's soccer teams.
The first reference to the term "soccer mom" in the
United States national media has been traced to 1982. In that year, the husband of the treasurer of the "Soccer Moms booster club" of
Ludlow, Massachusetts
Ludlow is a New England town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,002 as of the 2020 census, and it is considered part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located just northeast of Springfield a ...
, stole $3,150
raised for the benefit of a local soccer league ().
Indices of American magazines and newspapers show relatively little usage of the term until 1995,
when, during an
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
for
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
,
Susan B. Casey ran with the slogan: "A Soccer Mom for City Council."
Casey, who held a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
and managed presidential election campaigns, used the slogan as a way of assuring voters they could trust her to be "just like them,"
denoting herself as "
everyneighbor."
The phrase addressed anxiety about women's achievements, and the stereotype that smart, accomplished women were not able to manage professional careers while showing love for their family.
Casey won the election with 51 percent of the vote.
The term came into widespread use around the time of the
1996 Republican National Convention.
Its first use in a news article about that election appeared in the July 21, 1996 edition of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
E. J. Dionne
Eugene Joseph Dionne Jr. (; born April 23, 1952) is an American journalist, political commentator, and long-time op-ed columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He is also a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a profes ...
, the article's author, quoted
Alex Castellanos (at the time a senior
media advisor
A media consultant is a marketing agent or public relations executive that is hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage. Media consultants usually draft press releases to highlight positive achievements of a ...
to
Bob Dole) as suggesting that
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
was targeting a voting
demographic
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
whom Castellanos called the "soccer mom". The soccer mom was described in the article as "the overburdened middle income working mother who ferries her kids from soccer practice to scouts to school." The article suggested that the term "soccer mom" was a creation of
political consultants. Castellanos was later quoted in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' as saying: "She's the key swing consumer in the marketplace, and the key
swing voter who will decide the election."
Media interest in soccer moms picked up as the election approached. The number of articles on soccer moms in major newspapers increased from a combined total of 12 for the months of August and September to a total of 198 for October and November.
The intense media focus stemmed in large part from the media's belief that soccer moms had become the most sought-after group of swing voters in the 1996 elections. In the end, suburban women favored Clinton by 53 to 39 percent, while suburban men voted for Dole.
During the election, the soccer mom's most frequently mentioned attribute cited in major newspaper articles was that she was a mother or a woman who had children.
The soccer mom's next most frequently mentioned characteristics were that "she lives in the suburbs (41.2% of the articles); is a swing voter (30.8%); is busy, harried,
stressed out
"Stressed Out" is a song written and recorded by American musical duo Twenty One Pilots. It was released as a promotional single from their fourth studio album, '' Blurryface'' (2015). Produced by Mike Elizondo and recorded at studios in Los A ...
, or overburdened (28.4%); works outside the home (24.6%); drives a minivan, (usually a
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
)
station wagon
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
or sport utility vehicle (20.9%); is middle-class (17.1%); is married (13.7%); and is
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
(13.3%)."
Soccer moms received so much attention during the election that the
American Dialect Society
The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society ...
voted ''soccer mom''
Word of the Year
The word(s) of the year, sometimes capitalized as "Word(s) of the Year" and abbreviated "WOTY" (or "WotY"), refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word(s) or expression(s) in the public sphere
The public sphere (german: Ö ...
for 1996.
Columnist
Ellen Goodman
Ellen Goodman (née Holtz; born April 11, 1941) is an American journalist and syndicated columnist. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980. She is also a speaker and commentator.
Career
Goodman's career began as a researcher and reporter for ''Newsweek ...
of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' called 1996 "the Year of the Soccer Mom."
The Associated Press named soccer moms, along with the
Macarena
"Macarena" is a dance song by Spanish pop duo Los del Río, about a woman of the same name. The song uses a type of clave rhythm. Originally appearing on the 1993 album '' A mí me gusta'', a subsequent remix by Miami-based producers The Bays ...
,
Bob Dole, and "
Rules Girls" as four phenomena that would be forever associated with the year 1996.
Criticism
Soccer moms have been accused of
forcing their children to participate in too many
after-school activities,
overparenting
A helicopter parent (also called a cosseting parent or simply a cosseter) is a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. Helicopter parents are so named ...
them in
concerted cultivation
Concerted cultivation is a style of parenting. The expression is attributed to Annette Lareau. This parenting style or parenting practice is marked by a parent's attempts to foster their child's talents by incorporating organized activities in th ...
rather than letting them
enjoy their childhood.
There have also been numerous unflattering stories about soccer moms going to extremes to help their children, such as
cutting in line
Cutting in line, also known as line/queue jumping, butting, barging, budging, bunking, skipping, breaking, ditching, shorting, pushing in, or cutsies, is the act of entering a queue or line at any position other than the end. The act is extremely ...
at restaurants or arguing with the referee.
In 2003, the car manufacturer
Nissan
, trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
, who had for several years courted the "soccer-mom" image, started marketing their
Quest minivan as "stylish, sexy and desirable".
Related terms
Security moms
During the
2004 presidential campaign, pundits started talking about the security mom, which was deemed to be a powerful
voting bloc A voting bloc is a group of voters that are strongly motivated by a specific common concern or group of concerns to the point that such specific concerns tend to dominate their voting patterns, causing them to vote together in elections. For exampl ...
. Security moms were supposed to be concerned primarily with issues such as the
war in Iraq
This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states.
Other armed conflicts involving Iraq
* Wars during Mandatory Iraq
** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921
* Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...
,
domestic terrorism
Domestic terrorism or homegrown terrorism is a form of terrorism in which victims "within a country are targeted by a perpetrator with the same citizenship" as the victims.Gary M. Jackson, ''Predicting Malicious Behavior: Tools and Techniques ...
, and the security of their children.
There is evidence, however, that security moms did not exist in great enough numbers to influence the 2004 election outcome.
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
ic women tended to be most interested in
healthcare, which Democratic front runner
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
abandoned as a
talking point
A talking point, often used in the plural, is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial or advertising communication. The message is coordinated ''a priori'' to remain more or less inv ...
, and may explain Kerry's difficulty in garnering their support.
Hockey mom
Hockey mom is a term widely used in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
northern United States
The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States.
History Early history
Before the 19th century westward expansion, the "N ...
(including
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
), in which mothers often take their children to
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
rinks. The first article in ''The New York Times'' that used "hockey mom" as a demographic term was a 1999 review of the
Chevrolet Silverado, a
full-size
Full-size car—also known as large car—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than mid-size cars, it is the largest size class for cars. In Europe, it is known as E-segment or F-segment.
...
pickup truck. In the article, the truck is described as a "smooth and gutsy" vehicle that "ought to please everyone from hockey mom to cattle hauler".
Former Alaska governor
Sarah Palin, the US
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
vice-presidential candidate in 2008, described herself as a "hockey mom" as far back as her
2006 gubernatorial race.
In her speech at the
2008 Republican National Convention and in
stump speeches following the
convention, she joked that the only difference between a hockey mom and a
pit bull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
was lipstick,
suggesting that hockey moms are tough.
"Hockey partisans" on the Internet claim that hockey moms are "a bit more intense than their soccer counterparts, both in terms of the commitments they make to the sport and the intensity with which they cheer their kids."
See also
*
Karen (slang)
Karen is a pejorative term for a white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal. The term is often portrayed in memes depicting white women who use their white privilege to demand their own way. Depictions ...
*
After-school activity
After-school activities, also known as after-school programs or after-school care, started in the early 1900s mainly just as supervision of students after the final school bell. Today, after-school programs do much more. There is a focus on helping ...
* ''
Angry white man
The "angry white man" or "angry white male" is a cultural stereotype of white men holding conservative or right-wing views in the context of U.S. and Australian politics, often characterized by "opposition to liberal anti-discriminatory poli ...
''
*
Concerted cultivation
Concerted cultivation is a style of parenting. The expression is attributed to Annette Lareau. This parenting style or parenting practice is marked by a parent's attempts to foster their child's talents by incorporating organized activities in th ...
*
Helicopter parent
A helicopter parent (also called a cosseting parent or simply a cosseter) is a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions. Helicopter parents are so named ...
* ''
Kyoiku mama''
* ''
Mama grizzly
''Mama grizzly'' is a term that former U.S. vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin coined to refer to herself that has since been applied to female candidates she supported or endorsed in the 2010 U.S. midterm elections (co ...
''
* ''
NASCAR dad''
*
Stage mother
*
Tiger mom
Tiger parenting is a form of strict parenting, whereby parents are highly invested in ensuring their children's success. Specifically, tiger parents push their children to attain high levels of academic achievement or success in high-status extr ...
* ''
Will it play in Peoria?
''Will it play in Peoria?'' is an American English figure of speech that is traditionally used to ask whether a given product, person, promotional theme, or event will appeal to mainstream United States audiences or across a broad range of demo ...
''
* ''
Worcester woman
''Worcester woman'' is a political term used by polling companies in the United Kingdom. It profiles or describes a type of median voter, a working class woman in her 30s with two children who worries about quality of life issues and has little ...
''
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
"Soccer Mom," Photographs by Dona Schwartz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soccer Mom
Slang terms for women
Motherhood
Family
American phraseology
Political terminology of the United States
American political neologisms
Stereotypes of middle class women
Stereotypes of suburban people
Youth soccer in the United States
Stereotypes of white Americans
Stereotypes of white women
1982 neologisms
Socioeconomic stereotypes