Robert Lipsyte's Jock Culture

In Robert Lipsyte’s essay “Jock Culture,” he defines a societal standard he refers to as Jock Culture and relates it to political, judicial, and societal actions. Lipsyte defines Jock Culture as a warped version of sports, in which individuals will intentionally do anything to win even if it includes jeopardizing one’s health, intelligence, or family. Due to this win-at-all-costs mentality, Lipsyte states that the Jocks who participate in Jock Culture are more likely to be hired and treated with celebrity-like status than their lesser counterparts, the Pukes. At the beginning of the essay, Lipsyte says the Pukes are those who do not have the win-at-all-costs attitude and are just normal individuals such as himself; the Pukes, however, are disrespected and belittled because of their disinterest in Jock Culture. Throughout the essay, Lipsyte’s consistent proposition that Jock Culture will never be changed and a change for the better is futile, supplies a melancholy tone. Pukes are subordinate to Jocks in the social hierarchy and nothing can be done to change it. Many of the individuals killed during the 9/11 incident, according to …show more content…
From 2011, the year “Jock Culture” was published, to 2016, Jock Culture is still predominating today’s society and has no sign of stopping. Lipsyte’s essay can be seen as a pessimistic approach to this inequity between Jocks and Pukes, but light is shown at the end of his essay with Bill Stowe. Bill Stowe, a former Jock, is able to see Jock Culture the way Lipsyte, a Puke, sees it, meaning there is still hope for some change. When Lipsyte says “We’re on the same page, the coach [Bill Stowe] and I. There’s hope.,” he is professing that Jock Culture may never change, but the attitude of Jocks may. Therefore, society can expect a world where Jock Culture continues, but Jocks do not misuse their power and status to participate in amoral, unjust, and illegal