Sociology 90W Senior Seminar

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There are team rituals that exist prior to the game. (Fine, 1983) These pre-game activities depict the everyday nature of rituals that individuals create. ( ) Pre-game rituals could involve stretching to warm up for the upcoming game. As you could see in the football photo, many individuals are using their own pre-game ritual by the means of throwing a football to another or stretching. From my experience with Baseball, many rituals are conducted during the game. In baseball there’s a batters deck, which is where the next better comes up to bat. The upcoming batter takes in part his own ritual, such as practicing his swing. In the photo, we can see this ritual taking place. Objects, such as bats and balls are rituals as well. The equipment that each team member has is a ritual, where he brings to the upcoming game. In the other photos, we can see players exchanging equipment with another. The physical objects are bringing to people to interact with another. To an ordinary person these objects may not have any symbolic meaning, but to the players they construct these meanings themselves. This is the argument of the symbolic interaction perspective is that individuals themselves are symbolic, that they are symbolic objects. Such character traits as toughness, leadership, and gameness create social cohesion. Gameness is a character trait that makes you not a cheater. The softball players value gameness by having an umpire oversee the rules and regulations that are to abide by. Character traits such as leadership is evident in specialized roles, such as the catcher and pitcher who are viewd as the two most important figures. Toughness in football is a highly violent sport, but the members value this aggressive nature.