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Functionalism Of The Cockfight

Decent Essays

When answering the question “What is the “function” of the cockfight, if not to reproduce Balinese social structure?” The first thing that must be done is to first to understand what Geertz’s believed cockfight means in the Balinese culture. The next is how this does this go with “structural-functionalism”. Then lastly contrasting Geertz’s argument using the information that Evans-Pritchard gives us with his work “Nuer”. These will help with deconstructing and then answering the question.
It was already illegal in Indonesia to have cockfights in the 1950s. Geertz with his wife was there at this time to observed cockfights and the social meaning that they have. It was only after the first cockfight that he and his wife viewed was broken up by the police and from the police in the courtyard of a local couple did they finally was able to talk with the villagers.
Without the worry of not getting people to talk he was able to observe and analyze the information he achieved. He concluded that the symbolism in cockfights are that the cocks are men and that the rituals that are apart of the betting side of cockfights are that it them and the social relationships that are in the village and kin that has governed their lives traditionally. So the knowledge of “who I am” by watching the cockfight …show more content…

The structure on its own is “how a society is laid out” and function is “what a person does to keep the structure going”. Now that it has been divided when put together we can see that together it means “how a society is created to keep the structure going”. With the understanding of structural-functionalism it now time to answer the question “How does this have anything to do with Geertz and cockfighting?” What this has to do with it is that it’s thanks to this there that we are able to understand how exactly cockfight works with the Balinese society. A society like cockfighting is complex and

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