The Significance of Sporting Event Rituals

Durkheim’s theoretical approach of rituals, presents a unique perspective that describes the important social rituals that take place in today’s society such as churches, funerals, weddings, and sporting events. Throughout his theory, Durkheim describes different social groups and explains how these beliefs and practices are directly related to the rituals and actions that are associated with them. Durkheim presents a relationship between the behaviors of ritual and devotion to social order. Many rituals often have sacred items that provide individuals with a significant meaning or set of specific beliefs, which connect them to a particular group. Sporting events are popular in today’s culture, however, many have not looked at this event from a different theoretical prospective. Sacred items such as team logos, sporting gear, and use of team colors are all symbols that relate one person to the next. The rituals presented in a sporting event can also be understood by Durkheim’s theoretical philosophies.
The baseball games were conducted at Heritage Park on March 22, 2014. This sporting event presented many traditions that seemed to be a vital part of the experience fans and players sought to attain. The rituals that were practiced before the game were seen through people engaging in pregame celebrations. Observations of people gathering in large groups, to celebrate a common interest in their particular team were seen among most of the participants. These game day celebrations seem to be more common in our society today, especially in most sports where some fans may even spend their entire day, participating in these celebrations.
Fans seem to be the most involved when it comes to the celebrations. Some wear funny clothes, while o...

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...re-create high levels of copresence, common emotional mood, and common focus of attention.” (Durkheim, in Allan, 2013, p. 131). This theoretical idea presents an outlook on social institutions and events that may have never been presented before. The works done by Durkheim emphasizes on how things are not just one dimensional but shows it in a way that takes in account other aspects and views things for what they merely are, not what we imagine them to be. The norms and beliefs of society are constantly changing, which brings many other theories or ideas also begin to emerge that will try to explain why these types of occurrences happen, and what they actually mean. The rituals that we involve ourselves in begin to describe much of who we are.

Works Cited

Allan, K. (2013). Exploration in classical sociological theory. (3 ed., pp. 109-156). SAGE Publications, Inc.