Soccer Mom
The term soccer mom ( pronunciation: [ sɒkə mɒm ], [ sɑkɚ mɑm ] ) refers to the social, cultural and political discourse in North America with little or no professional women of the American middle class who live in suburbs and spend a considerable part of their time their children to recreational activities such as football (American English: soccer) to drive or music lessons. The term soccer mom gained during the U.S. presidential campaign in 1996 great popularity as a buzzword for a population group of potential swing voters, which was then seen as probably either critical target group and the task was therefore to advertise special.
Mothers of young and school-age children working full time in the U.S. far more common than in the German-speaking countries; consequently accompany there also many fathers their children to extracurricular lessons or sports training. The male counterpart of the Soccer Mom - the Soccer Dad - but plays only a minor role in the social discourse of the United States.
Use and history
The term " soccer mom " refers generally to a white, married, well- educated woman from the middle class, who lives in the suburbs and has children of school age. It is sometimes portrayed in the media as busy and driving a minivan. It is also shown as someone who represents the interests of the family, especially their children on their own.
The term " soccer mom " is derived from the job description of a mother who drives her kids to soccer and then watching them playing football. The term was also used in the names of organizations of mothers who collected the money to support the football teams of their children. The first mention of the term " Soccer Mom " in the U.S. media goes back to the year 1982. This year, Joseph Decosta steel, the husband of the treasurer of the booster club soccer moms from Ludlow, Massachusetts, 3150 U.S. dollars, which had been collected for a local football league.
Importance of the term in political discourse
The term got its demographic importance in 1995 in an election to the City Council of Denver, as Susan B. Casey is applied with the slogan "A Soccer Mom for City Council ." Casey, who has a PhD and had led presidential campaigns, used to insure the slogan to their voters that they are " one of them was" and they could trust her. The term aimed and on the cliché of the concern that wise and capable women do not make a career at the same time and can lovingly care for their family. Casey won the election with 51 percent of the vote.
The term was used in 1996 reinforced at the Republican National Convention. For the first time the term was used in a newspaper article about the election, which appeared in the Washington Post on 21 July 1996. EJ Dionne, the article's author, quoted Alex Castellanos ( at that time a PR advisor for Bob Dole ), who claimed that Bill Clinton spoke to a target demographic group called Castellanos " 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 claimed that the term " Soccer Mom " was an invention of the political consultant. Castellanos was later in the Wall Street Journal quoted as saying: ". She's the key swing consumer in the marketplace, and the key swing voter who will decide the election" The media interest in " soccer moms " took to the closer the election came. The number of articles about " Soccer Moms " in newspapers increased from 12 together in the months of August and September to 198 in October and November. To a large extent stemmed media interest from the faith of the media that " soccer moms " the most important group of swing voters to be addressed in 1996 accounted for. In the end, these women Bill Clinton favored with 53% to 39%, while the men of the suburbs voted for Dole.
During the election campaign and by commentators, the term has been used so often that the American Dialect Society " Soccer Mom " voted word of the year 1996. The columnist Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe called 1996 the "Year of Soccer Mom ". An article from the Associated Press was one of " soccer moms " (with Macarena, Bob Dole, and Rules Girls) to the central phenomena of 1996.
In the election campaign of 2004 occurred in the discourse of the American media to replace the stereotype of soccer mom that the Security Mom ( German: "Safety Mom" ), a woman whose concern allegedly primarily issues such as the war in Iraq, terrorism applies in their own country and the safety of their children. This usage immediately found many critics who doubted that such a type of woman existed in the U.S. at all. The stereotype of the Security mom also never gained the prominence which had owned the stereotype of soccer mom eight years earlier.
Hockey Mom
Hockey Mom is a term which is mainly used in Canada, where mothers ( and fathers ) often drive their children to hockey halls.
Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and U.S. vice-presidential candidate in 2008, described himself in 2006 during his campaign for the governorship as a " hockey mom ". In her speech at the National Convention of the Republicans in 2008 and in speeches after she joked, mom, the only difference between a hockey and a pit bull is lipstick. So they wanted to express that Hockey Moms "tough" are.
The first article in the New York Times, who used a hockey mom as a demographic term, in 1999, was a review of the Chevrolet Silverado, a pickup truck. In it, the truck is described as "smooth and gutsy vehicle" and "ought to please everyone from hockey mom to cattle hauler ".
Soccer Mom in the Media
Meanwhile, the image or the term " soccer mom " is also considered a time spiritual phenomenon, and be found in many different contexts.