Sociological analysis of sporting events

In a light of the fact, functionalism explains how teamwork in the society helps to achieve good, conflict theory covers the struggle between the oppressors and oppressed while symbolic interactionism, on the other hand, shows that the society is build based on people's behavior and interpretations in a group (Shay 1). This paper, therefore, describes the sociological analysis of two events which include a match between Real Madrid versus Barcelona and Miami Heat versus the Los Angeles Lakers. The analysis is based on the behavior of fans in these two events. Undeniably, in most cases, fans develop a unique and strong engagement with their favorite teams both online and offline, a feature shared by fans from different teams. This is portrayed in different ways for instance when cheering up and their relationship with players.

Too much personal attachment of fans to their chosen clubs reflects their behavior. For instance, as I watched the game from home in the basketball game between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers, the behavior of the fans is fascinating. Conflict theory, that entails the struggle between the oppressors and oppressed, is full-blown due to the fact that as Lakers were leading, Miami fans could be seems getting agitated. Therefore, this creates a rival difference between the two fans. Surprisingly, to me as a Los Angeles Lakers fan, I found myself shouting to the screen as one of the Miami team members played roughly to Lebron James my best player. Therefore, fanship between fan if the two separate games have an aspect of unity and social belongingness.

For instance, in Barcelona fans feel more positive with fans of their own, they can have riotous victory together or rather cope up with defeat when their team loses. In summary, the aspect of sociological analysis with its theories namely, functionalism that describes social commonness, conflict theory that involves the tussle between two social group and finally the theory of Symbolic Interactionism that entails call for a sense of belonging to a particular group in the society due to the similarity in interpretation. As connected to the two sports event soccer and basketball as aforementioned, sociological imagination in its peak as different approaches of fan behavior portray the sociological analysis of my experience. The behavior of the fans in both events speaks out both difference and similarities, due to their behavior of diehard cheering, personal connection with teams and their sense of belonging and community.