Think of society as a living organism which every part of it contributes to its survival. This view is the functionalist perspective, which every parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. Functionalist regard sports as an almost religious institution that uses ritual and ceremony to reinforce the common values of a society. In 1968, Robert Merton made an important distinction between manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions of institutions are open, stated, conscious functions that involve intended, recognized, consequences of an aspect of society. Taking sports as an example, manifest function of sports is to keep people stay fit and healthy. It is an objective that widely and well known by everyone. In contrast, latent functions are unconscious or unintended functions that may reflect hidden purposes of an institution. For example, someone who takes part and involve in sport might intend to gain popularity. It is something that only known by the party or the person himself. Besides manifest function and latent function, sociologists define dysfunction as an element or process of a society that may actually disrupt the social system or reduce its stability. Dysfunctions of sports include the usage of performance-enhancing drug by athlete. It does not contribute in maintaining the society’s stability. From the view of manifest function, sports could help in maintaining people’s physical well-being. Everyone knows that exercise is a good way in maintaining a person health. Practice sport on a regular basis could keep us fit, thus prevent obesity which would lead to diseases like heart attack, diabetes and stroke. With regular badminton play, the main health benefit that we could earn is the reduction ... ... middle of paper ... ...omote an overall feeling of unity and social solidarity. Besides that, it provides sport lovers a great platform to exchange their ideas with one another. It feels nice and wonderful when everyone with the same interest and the same supporting team gathers together in a stadium. Moreover, when it comes to sport, racialism would no longer exist. Everyone will focus on the same goal to win and to achieve victory, no matter who you are, where you from or what is your race. For example, when our national badminton player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei, managed to get the first silver in the Olympic game for our country, everyone cheered for him. The whole country was so excited about it. Although he is a Chinese, the Malays and Indians were cheered for him too. Everyone gets united. Prove that through sports, we can promote peace. People can get along harmony and avoid conflict.
Derived from the works of Durkheim Functionalism theory emphasizes the role each social institution plays in society and how society as a whole seek equilibrium when one dysfunctions. His idea was that society is more than the sum of its parts similar to how each organ serves a specific role and contributes to the body as a whole that is how social institutions work in society. High school for example is one of the major social institutions of society serving the primarily purpose of education. In High school the primary goal is to prepare students for extended education after graduation such as college or a technology oriented school. If students do not wish to attend any further educational institutions they can instead fill in service and minimal skill jobs in society. On a smaller scale high schools also aims to give students a more extensive overview of sexual education and contraceptive or abstinence approaches to sexual relations. Since education up to a high school level is mandatory in the United States high school provides a common ground and minimal standard for society educationally speaking. Without educated and well informed voters our system of government would fail due to the major part voters have in government decisions. If we had fewer people entering the higher level workforce since they didn’t continue with their education past high school our soc...
Functionalism views society as the stability and assimilation of a range of forces that function within it. While society is a separate entity with a life of its own, there are individual elements contributing to that stability. Functionalism as a sociological theory emphasizes assimilation rather than the dissociation of society. Therefore, the society is seen as a whole that is compromised of parts which give one another their identity and their function. The part, whether that is education, such as a school, or sports, such as a football team, operates in relation to the other parts, and cannot be entirely understood in isolation from the other parts. All the parts are interrelated, and when there is a disturbance in any one of the parts, is when you can see the interdependence. But what is important about this theory is that “there will always be some reorganization and tendency to restore equilibrium” (Wallace and Wolf 17). Functionalist do not believe it’s crucial that the people involved in the society to be aware of this interconnectedness anymore than the brain and heart consciously realize that they work together as an organism.
According to page 14 of our textbook, “The functionalist perspective, as its name suggests, examines the functions or consequences of the structure of society. Functionalists use a macro perspective, focusing on how society creates and maintains social order. Social problems are not analyzed in terms of how “bad” they are for society. Rather, a functionalist asks, how does the social problem emerge from society?”
How many Americans spend their Thanksgiving Day watching football? The answer is Millions. Football games have been a tradition of Thanksgiving throughout the years. While high-school students have their own games on that day, many others spend the day at their city’s stadium or in front of television screens, watching a game of NFL or colleges' league while their precious turkey meals are getting prepared at home. I used that example to highlight the importance of the sports in our lives. Even on national holidays like Thanksgiving, American families find sports a rich topic to watch, talk about and gather all together around for some time. “Sports are bigger than life," as an old proverb says (Bradlee). It is something that captures the attention of students at schools and colleges, families at homes, and, of course, it brings millions in audience to media, print and television. Therefore, sports have always been on focus for economic investments, either by public or private sectors.
Emile Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory is predicated on the ideologies that society is composed of components that are dependent on each other. Auguste Comte developed functionalism; Durkheim compared society to the human body. The body consists of different, interrelated organs that support it to survive; society consists of different workings that enable it to survive. There is a state of stability within society and if any component of that society alters it will reorganize itself to maintain stability. Functionalism will interpret the components of society in terms of contributions to the stability of the whole society. Social accord, direction and integration are paramount views of functionalism; society will endure and grow due to the shared norms and values; all individuals have a goal and vested interest to conformity and thus conflict is minimized (Pope, 1975).
According to Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), kids from the ages 6-12 years old are falling in taking part of sports, and from 2014 the percentage went from 34.7% to 26.9%. This seems to be a problem considering the kids are the next generation. Being part of physical activity has many benefits that will help the youth in the short run, but most importantly the long run also.
phenomena in terms of the functions they perform. The society conceived in functionalism is a
Referring to slide two Nelson Mandela once said that “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.” Sport is one of the biggest and strongest unifiers in the world. Although there may be certain issues within a country or the world such as political affiliations, gender, race and ideologies, sport always seems to bring people closer regardless of the current issues at hand.
To begin, the functionalist perspective must first be outlined which at its most basic level, “emphasizes the contributions and functions performed by each part of society”(Dias), in this case the underperforming Veazie Street Elementary school. In a complex social society most aspects contribute to the society’s well- being and survival, including the consensus of the members of that society (Dias). These contributions according to the functionalist perspective are also symbiotic in which various parts of society will compensate and change due to a variation in another part. The changes can be explained by two types of human functions. Manifest functions which are obvious and “intended and recognized at the time”(Dias), and latent functions which are not obvious and “unintended and unrecognized until later” (Dias). This balancing act of society’s parts is principle to the functionalist perspective because it tends to produce stability, order, cooperation, and...
Structural-Functional Theory is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability (Macionis 16). In laments terms the structural functional theory is the idea that systems in society work together as a body, the idea that customs, traditions, and institutions shape society. This theory is outlined by social structure, social functions, and social dysfunction. Social structure is defined as any relatively stable pattern of social behavior. Social structure shapes and impacts our lives in the workplace, families, college, and classroom. Social functions are the consequences of a social pattern for the operation of society as a whole. Social dysfunction is described as any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society. The main idea of the structural functional theory is its vision of society as stable and orderly.
Sport can act as a unifier as when many people support the same team they instantly become friendly even if they do not know one another. Joe Humphrey said that “sport is essentially anti-family and encourages unethical, discriminatory behaviour”. This is the exact opposite of what happens when people join together to support their team. This unifies people of all races and religions. When a person supports their team they do not care if the people around them are different since they focus on the unity of all the people around them supporting them.
Within society today, sports have this extraordinary way of making a positive impact. The wide sector of sport over the years has developed, expanded and is becoming more influential in our lives today than it has been historically. My awareness has developed not only in the practical aspects of sport, but in the way it is analyzed through newspaper and other media outlets.
The functional theory is the defined as a framework for building theory that sees society complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Augusta Comte and Herbert Spence looked at society as a living organism. For example, an animal or person has organs that function together so does society. Organic solidarity is social unity based on a division of labor that results in people depending on each other. Emile Durkheim developed organic solidarity to explain individuals’ workers to specific bodily organs and a group of people into a body. Different bodily organs serve different functions, without these organs the body would die, and so would the individual organs. Some of the different functions are education, religion, economics, and family. In a society, individual workers perform different kinds of labor, without which society could not function, nor could individual workers succeed.
Participating in team sports is important not just for health reasons, but also for your healthy intellects and emotions. Playing sports that is in range of the player’s interest helps relieve stress and maintain their mental health. A team is mostly about unity within the team and with the coach, so no one can be selfish. Therefore playing in team sports develops good characteristics within oneself. Being part of a team sport should help create the opportunity to gain meaningful insight into one's leadership, social and cognitive development. Team sports helps build good character because they teach athletes discipline and how to have good sportsmanship. Chatterjee and Jatta declared that human beings learn and work together in various professional
...s one of the events that brings people together and promotes world peace. It does not matter which country is involved, what type of culture is involved or what skin color a person has. All the international affairs are forgotten during this event. In the article 2002 FIFA World Cup and Its Effects on the Reconciliation between Japan and the Republic of Korea says that “the role of sports in building peace is proven in history”. What this is saying is that not only soccer but other sports have promoted peace throughout the world but ping pong has also promoted peace to the world. An example of ping pong is when China and the US came close in a match in the 1970s. One example of how the World Cup has created peace was in 2002 when Japan and the Republic of Korea created new relations after the “going through a painful process of reconciliation since World War II”.