The phrase 'the Man' as an English language phrase meaning 'the boss' dates back to 1918.

The phrase 'the Man' came to be applied to any person or group in a position of authority, or to the concept of authority in abstract terms.

The term 'the Man' is used several times by Paul Newman's eponymous character in the 1967 prison drama Cool Hand Luke.

The term 'the Man' was expanded to counterculture groups and their resistance to authority, such as the Yippies, which had the 'avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government'.

In December 1979, a motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders featured the tagline: 'California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man.'

The phrase 'the Man' was featured particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.

In January 2021, the GameStop short squeeze was primarily triggered to 'fight the man' by users of the subreddit r/wallstreetbets, an Internet forum on the social news website Reddit, some of whom held anger towards Wall Street hedge funds for their role in the 2007–2008 financial crisis, and the general democratization of the stock market coupled with the ability of retail traders to communicate instantaneously through social media.