All of a sudden, I experienced sociology when I went to the away football game on Friday. The energy level was high in the bleachers, especially where the squad was. Everyone was jumping, cheering, and yelling for our Wego football team. Everyone was feeding off of eachother's energy. I found myself thinking, "Wow, funtionalist theory is at work here!" And it really was.
Functionalist theory emphasizes the contributions of the different parts of society. There were many different parts of the squad that came together to make up the squad. There were the kids that painted themselves with body paint to represent our school colors. There were kids who brought horns and other insturments for noise. There were the kids leading the squad and starting the cheers. And there were the kids who just cheered. The squad is an obvious example of funtionalist thory in work in the real, modern world.
You could also think of the manifest and latent functions of the Squad...or what would happen if the Squad was not there. Great application of functionalism!
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