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Functionalism In Soccer

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Just about in any situation you can watch a group of people and notice how they function together to help to maintain the equilibrium of society. I didn’t believe that it was possible to look at literally any social situation big or small and see different parts of the social group working together for the greater good of society. After watching my step daughter’s soccer game, I can now see how we all have different roles to help keep the society stable. With the help of the ideas from functionalists like Robert Merton, Talcott Parson, and Emile Durkheim I can now observe and describe how functionalism works even in a soccer game. Parson uses the voluntarist action scheme to show how everyone are connected with goals and motivations, even by just looking at the individual. I can see this while watching the soccer game. The players themselves have motivations and goals. Their motivations to play soccer might be different but for this moment their goal is the same, to play a game of soccer. From Parson’s ideas, I can see that there are certain things needed to obtain the goal. They will need money for uniforms, a way to get to get the game, and they will need a field to play on. I can see that the players are all conforming to different norms. The team is wearing matching uniforms at the game, warming up before the game, and to listen to the coach. At the game players and coaches sat together while the parents sat in a different area. I might not be able to physical see any

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