Eckert Jocks and Burnouts

Within the world of English Language and linguistics, many linguistic studies look at the link between language and social groups. Social factors such as age, gender, class, occupation, ethnicity, and geographical region can greatly affect a person’s language use. Linguist Penelope Eckert has conducted many studies into the link between such social factors and language. One of her most notable studies is her 1989 work on the ‘Jocks and BurnoutsL Social Categories and Identity in the High School’.¹

The study revolves around the examination of two distinct social groups in a typical American high school: the 'Jocks' and the 'Burnouts'. Eckert observes their distinct behaviours, language usage, social norms, attitudes towards school and future aspirations, highlighting how social identity influences language variation and change.

In this article, we’ll first familiarise ourselves with the work of Eckert. We’ll then look at the Jocks and Burnouts study and link it to the broader field of social groups, exploring how the study relates to other linguists’ findings.

Penelope Eckert: background

Penelope Eckert is a professor of linguistics at Stanford University in California. She is well known for her work in variationist sociolinguistics and primarily focuses her research on language and gender. She has significantly contributed to our understanding of the relationship between language and social dynamics, particularly in youth culture. Her work, including the "Jocks and Burnouts" study, provides valuable insights into how social identities and categories are reflected and reinforced through language use.

You may have come across Eckert’s name within your English Language studies. We’ll have a quick look at the four years that are most often associated with Eckert’s work (1989, 1990, 1997, and 2003) before focusing on her Jocks and Burnouts study.

Penelope Eckert: 1989

1989 is the year we’re most interested in in this article. In 1989, Eckert released her study 'Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School' ¹, which looks at communities of practice and their language habits.

Fig. 1 - People with similar interests and hobbies will likely belong to the same communities of practice.

As this is the study we’re looking at in this article, we’ll leave it here and come back to it later on.

Penelope Eckert: 1990

In 1990, Eckert released an article called Cooperative Competition in Adolescent Girl Talk,² where she looked at different social factors and their corresponding language patterns – particularly with the occurrence of gendered language. Eckert is well-known for her views on language and gender, noting how other social factors such as class and communities of practice are equally important as gender in influencing a person’s language use.

Penelope Eckert: 1997

In 1997, Eckert released some works that discuss a range of social aspects of language use. One of her articles, ‘Gender and Sociolinguistic Variation',³ focuses on how gender affects language use.

A different publication, ‘Gender, Race, and Class in the Preadolescent Marketplace of Identities’,⁴ looks at a broader range of social factors and how they relate to people creating identities for themselves through their language use.

Penelope Eckert: 2003

In 2003, Eckert co-authored a book, alongside Sally McConnell-Ginet, focusing on gender, aptly named Language and Gender.⁵ This book looked at the use of different language features such as slang in youth culture and how teens use these features to differentiate themselves from older generations.

Penelope Eckert - Jocks and Burnouts summary

In 'Jocks and Burnouts,' Eckert presents a detailed analysis of the relationship between social identity and linguistic behaviour in a suburban Detroit high school. 'Jocks' are generally associated with school-sponsored activities, higher social status, and adherence to school norms, while 'Burnouts' are associated with resistance to school culture, lower social status, and non-school activities.

Eckert found that these social categories influenced not only the students' behaviour and attitudes but also their linguistic choices. This study highlights how language can both reflect and reinforce social group identities. Eckert’s Jocks and Burnouts study is, therefore, an ethnographic study of social class in Detroit high schools.

Eckert was motivated to conduct her Jocks and Burnouts study as most prior studies of language and class focussed on the speech of adults. Instead of this, Eckert wanted to look at the link between class and language from the perspective of teenagers.

Within this study, Eckert looked at communities of practice in schools and defined two prominent groups of teens. These were split into the jocks and the burnouts. We’ll look at these two groups in more detail and then at the language patterns associated with each group.

The Jocks

The first community of practice defined by Eckert was the Jocks. These students embodied middle-class culture and were keen to integrate into school life. They played an active part in school activities such as sports clubs, choir, and other clubs. These people also respected authority, aiming to gain praise and recognition for their actions.

Fig. 2 - The Jocks in Eckert's study were generally involved in school activities such as sports and other clubs.

The Burnouts

The Burnouts were the opposite of the Jocks. They typically embodied the working-class culture and did not actively involve themselves in any school-life activities. Instead, the Burnouts tended to engage in more rebellious behaviour and had a general anti-school point of view, which also meant that they were generally against authority and did not seek the approval or praise of their superiors.

Fig. 3 - The Burnouts in Eckert's study didn't really care for school and tended to rebel against authority.

Penelope Eckert - Jocks and Burnouts findings

Eckert found that language differences were more closely linked to communities of practice rather than to specific social differences (class, ethnicity, gender etc.). Regardless of someone’s background, they were more likely to speak like someone who shared an interest or activity with them than with someone who didn’t.

This finding shows a more human approach to sociolinguistics, showing that people are more likely to speak like their friends (regardless of differing social factors) than those with whom they share a social demographic.

Within Eckert’s findings, she saw a difference in vowel variation amongst the teenagers. This variation correlated with the social categories (such as gender, age, ethnicity, and class) and the communities of practice associated with these categories.

This aligns with many other sociolinguistic studies where it is found that social factors such as age, class, ethnicity, occupation, or gender can have a significant impact on a person’s language use.

Eckert’s work goes one step further, looking at the communities of practice that people belong to in conjunction with their language differences. People were more likely to have differing language use (vowel variation in this study) if they belonged to different communities of practice. Thus, two students who are alike in every social aspect – same age, gender, ethnicity, class, and parent’s income – could still have different vowel pronunciations if they belonged to different communities of practice.

Fig. 4 - Communities of practice are based on shared interests rather than other social factors.