Is Goku an Alpha-male?

[CTAkuma]

You want an alpha male character from the Dragon Ball universe? Broly.

Nope. Broly isn't an alpha male at all, and a lot of this discussion seems to be fundamentally misunderstanding what these terms mean and are relying on the alt-right's memetic perversion of them (a misunderstanding driven by looking at non-human animals and retrofitting us to fit these definitions). As a result, there's this idea that an alpha male is someone who lacks emotions except for masculine bravado and anger, kills grizzly bears and crocodiles for fun, has mountains for abs, eats raw meat, and wouldn't take his own shit's shit. Basically a caveman.

Well the strongest, skilled and most dominant humans are alpha males, which would apply to Broli since that's his entire schtick, to be this dominant almost unstoppable force. Though i myself don't like that term either, i think people generally call Broli a Chad which i think fits better

[Polyphase Avatron]

You want an alpha male character from the Dragon Ball universe? Broly.

Nope. Broly isn't an alpha male at all, and a lot of this discussion seems to be fundamentally misunderstanding what these terms mean and are relying on the alt-right's memetic perversion of them (a misunderstanding driven by looking at non-human animals and retrofitting us to fit these definitions).

Well to be fair, Saiyans aren't human.

[Fizzer]

An alpha male has the confidence and self-assuredness to lead naturally without thinking about it, and to raise up, praise and protect other members of the group like a parent or teacher, rather than dominate, bully or demean them, which is more of an omega trait. The alpha makes sure the weaker members of the pack eat before he does, at least in many animals including humans and other primates.

I'd say that that's a pretty good fit for Goku to an extent, the problem being that he doesn't take responsibility for his group as much as an alpha traditionally would and is more self-centered.

[Attitudefan]

Problem here is, we humans love to put everything in neat and orderly boxes with specific patterns. However, reality is not the case. The world would be a boring place if everything fit specific check boxes. We can take a guess and have things close to a relative ideal but nothing will fit entirely.

With that said, Goku does showcase alpha male traits: he has his undying will to better himself (in fighting) and people look up to him as a leader. But he also exhibits traits that are not traditionally alpha male. Goku doesn't jockey himself into a position of power and is even domineered by his wife (which is something that is not alpha male at all). Goku can be ignorant to social situations and doesn't care to change that. Hence, Goku's dismissiveness to social settings are an irritant to Vegeta, who sees Goku as more of a joke of a Saiyan. Letting the humans remove Goku's tail is showcased to be something a submissive person would do, as Goku is blending into the social hierarchy rather than taking control of it and establishing his traits as something to follow. Plus, throughout Dragon Ball, Goku is the trainee working under a mentor. In these cases, again, Goku is not the leader.

Vegeta and Piccolo showcase more alpha traits, especially in their humble beginnings, whereas Goku does not. I could see Super Saiyan Goku being showcasing more alpha male traits, especially when he couldn't control it (See: Goku's first transformation and taking no guff from Gohan).

But hey, that's just my opinion and I am no sociologist.

[MasenkoHA]

God I hope this thread is a joke

[Zillamon51]

I was just going to say that Vegeta is an alpha male, Goku is not, but then I see that modern political bullshit has completely mucked-up the definitions of things.

[Attitudefan]

I was just going to say that Vegeta is an alpha male, Goku is not, but then I see that modern political bullshit has completely mucked-up the definitions of things.

To be fair I was just using WIki's definitions. This is what I was going by: "Alphas may achieve their status by superior physical strength and aggression, or through social efforts and building alliances within the group.[1] The individual with alpha status sometimes changes, often through a fight between the dominant and a subordinate animal. These fights are often to the death, depending on the animal" (Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_(ethology)).

My thoughts based off the definition would put Goku as an alpha-male leader by building alliances. However, within his own family, Chichi is the dominant one based of what was shown. Kinda neat.