Mead and the Art of Trash Talking: I Got Your Gesture Right Here

Abstract

Trash talking has rarely been studied within sociology at a time when the behavior itself has been flourishing in amateur and professional sports. George Herbert Mead's ideas on gestures, symbols, and language, in conjunction with the overarching transcendency of the community aid in understanding the development of self and the subsequent behaviors that emanate from and within trash talking in college athletics. Here a Meadian perspective is used to explain the act of trash talking at both macro-and micro-levels. Three areas were identified where Meadian philosophy applies: (1) the game and the role of the generalized other;(2) play and significant communication; and (3) self-development.The phenomenon of trash talking, talking smack, woofin', crackin' or jackin' has been gaining popularity and frequency in sports since the mid 1980s. The prevalence of such behaviors is seen on TV daily. It is a phenomenon that is not only common, but expected. The goal is to demean opponents and cause enough imbalance to diminish their performance. This allows athletes to have an upper hand during encounters. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA)

Brand love and brand addiction and their effects on consumers' negative behaviors

“…Trash-talking is different, as it describes talking negatively about a rival brand, characterized by some authors (Ewing et al, 2013) as verbal abuse of rival brands. Trash-talking is considered an essential phenomenon in sociology and sports (Dixon, 2007;Kniffin and Palacio, 2018;LoConto and Roth, 2005;Simons, 2003), and it has also attracted attention in the marketing literature (Japutra et al, 2014(Japutra et al, , 2018. Simons (2003) defined trash-talking as a verbal offense against rival brands, where trash-talking is uncivil and aggressive communication intended to malign and harm the competitor, either by its presence or its absence (Yip et al, 2018).…”

Cute, cuddly and completely crushable: Plushies as avatars in video games

“…Given the broad definitions and differing perspectives of trash talking, it is difficult to understand the social norms around its use, thus a better understanding of its practice in esports is needed. Cook et al 2017;Cote 2017;Dixon 2007Dixon , 2008; Eveslage and Delaney 1998;Feezell 2008;Howe 2004;Johnson and Taylor 2020;Kershnar 2015;Kniffin and Palacio 2018;LoConto and Roth 2005;Nakamura 2012;Nguyen and Zagal 2016;Rainey and Granito 2010;Summers 2007;Trammel et al 2017).…”

“…Figure 1: Key aspects of the definitions of trash talk across the sporting and video gaming literature from 1998 to 2020, visualized and unpacked as a phrase-cloud. The size of the text depicts prominence while superscripts indicate frequency counts (definitions obtained fromCook et al 2017;Cote 2017;Dixon 2007Dixon , 2008;Eveslage and Delaney 1998;Feezell 2008;Howe 2004;Johnson and Taylor 2020;Kershnar 2015;Kniffin and Palacio 2018;LoConto and Roth 2005;Nakamura 2012;Nguyen and Zagal 2016;Rainey and Granito 2010;Summers 2007;Trammel et al 2017). …”