The tradition of football at the University of Texas has been around since 1893, but football in this state has been around much longer than that. Football is a way of life in the state of Texas. Millions of dollars are spent on the building of stadiums. Athletes are treated like super stars. The fans are a culture in and of themselves. But is this the case for all states? Why does Texas take their football so seriously? And how on Earth does this sport qualify as a valid research project for a sociology class? All of these questions are valid, and serve as the bases for discussion and research found in this blog.
Football Culture
In Texas, football is something that we, as the populous, take pride in. Football is a culture that most of us proudly align our selves with. Culture is defined as the sum of the social categories and concepts we recognize in addition to our beliefs, behaviors, and practices. And the craze for football that runs rampant through this great state definitely fulfills all aspects of the definition of culture. Texans are stereotypically known to come off as ethnocentric, or the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own, to people who are not from here. Texans continue to play into this stereotype when it comes to football. Whatever team we are cheering for, we are loud, outspoken, and think that our team is going to win the next Super bowl, NCAA championship or even little league championship, even if they are not really that good. Here in Texas we are not only structured by material culture, which is everything that is part of our constructed, physical environment, but also the non-material culture, like values, beliefs, behaviors and social norms, that is apart of our society. For football especially, the material and non-material culture are always neck and neck with each other.
Football in Texas also has many subcultures. A subculture is the distinct cultural values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society. It is also a group united by sets of concepts, values, symbols and shared meaning specific to the members of that group distinctive enough to distinguish it from others in the same culture or society. In football, you can be apart of the professional football, college football, high school football, and even little league subcultures. Pick any one of these, and you will find people completely devoted to their respective teams. Members of these subcultures wear the same paraphernalia, chant the same chants, and even take part in the same celebration or heartache that goes a long with being a fan.
However, the biggest issue with the Texas football culture is that we have a hard time with cultural relativism, or taking into account the difference across cultures without passing judgment or assigning value. It is hard for Texans to accept anyone who do not share the same love and passion for their “Great American past-time”. It is equally difficult who move to Texas from a different state to conform and even accept this obsession. People who live somewhere other than Texas has to go through socialization. Socialization is the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society. Especially here at the University of Texas, football is our bread and butter during the fall, and is a huge social gathering for students, faculty, and families alike. By not attending or not enjoying the football culture and atmosphere, one may be subject to being isolated from their community. To keep this from happening, “out-of-staters” accept the hegemony, or getting people to go along with the status quo because it seems like the best course or the natural order of things, that their Texas-born peers subject them to so they can fit in.
The following video is an interview by Jake Hale, a member of this study, with a student here at the University of Texas from Boston, Massachusetts and his experience growing up with football outside of Texas.
http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i250/xutlonghornzx/?action=view¤t=IMG_2116.mp4
Social Facts About Football
Here in Texas, it is funny how football can act as a social fact on individuals. A social fact is the values, cultural norms, and social structures external to an individual and capable of exercising a constraint on that individual. In other words, it is in the structures and situations in our society that gear our focus, attention, and preferences towards specific things. For football in the state of Texas, a common social fact is being pressured by your parents to play football because they played when they were a kid and their dad played when he was a kid and so on. Another social fact would be peer influence and choosing to play with all your friends, because it is the cool or popular thing to do, and you want to fit in. These social facts are the most common here in Texas, and really help explain some of the reasons why some kids play football and begin to be socialized to share in the obsession that the rest of the state has.
Hirschi’s Social Control Theory:
Sociology and football have something in common? That seems like quite a stretch to me….but apparently Travis Hirschi would beg to differ! Hirschi had an idea called “Social Control Theory.” He related the conformity so prevalent in our society to a number of attributes, such as: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs. Hirschi believed that strong attachments with people or an idea (or a sport such as football) encourages a population to take on and maintain similar tendencies relating to the attachment that they all have a similar bond with. Weaker attachments, or those who do not share as strongly such a bond, tend to be seen as socially deviant. Those who have grown up with football and were raised around the sport are more likely to play or be a fan of it, because that is what is familiar. If someone has a weak attachment to football (i.e. moved from out of state, their parents don’t watch it, they didn’t play it growing up, or they just dislike sports in general) they won’t be as likely to conform to the trends or traditions of the football fan base. The same can be said for commitment. The more committed you are to something; the more willing you are to change your habits or make sacrifices for it. In football, commitment is not limited to those who play the sport, it can be witnessed in the fans that are willing to take off work to watch the big game, or religiously keep up with the stats of their favorite team, and obviously the more involved you are, again, the more likely you are to display tendencies similar to those involved in similar activities. The beliefs of an individual can also be shaped by the consensus of a group. If everyone around you is believes that football is THE greatest sport in the state of Texas, would you not question, even for a minute, whether or not you were truly in the wrong for thinking otherwise?
Will Henderson's Personal Football Socialization:
Growing up in small town Paris, Texas, I soon realized that soccer just wasn’t the response that people expected when they asked what sport I played. I played soccer all my life, and all my life I was pressured into going out for the football team. I was excited to finally fit in when middle school came around. For my 7th and 8th grade year, I was a true Texas boy. I joined the school team, and was proud to call myself a football player. I could now relate to all of my friends. We all had that in common. We were teammates. However, high school came around, and there simply was not enough time for both football and soccer. So I stuck with my passion. This didn’t stop the football coach and all the football dads from trying to convince me otherwise though. There were some people who I could not even speak to without them trying to convince me to get back on the gridiron. I am not saying this to brag. This just goes to show the pressure placed on the boys in Texas to play this beloved sport. It is expected of them, from the day they’re old enough to play Pee Wee, all the way through senior year. To Texans, football is not a choice, it is a privilege that one must be crazy to deny.
Erin Shepherd's Personal Football Socialization
My love and obsession for football did not arise until a little later, but my family had always been active members of the Texas football culture. My parents had always been football fans. My Dad grew up playing in junior high and high school and my mom was a cheerleader. They both went to Texas A&M, where the football subculture is similar if not more profound than most colleges in Texas. They had grown up going to Houston Oiler’s football games, but when the Oilers left for Tennessee, they lost their football identity. Being a girl growing up in Texas, football culture was mostly non-existent in my early childhood. I was more intrigued with horses, Barbie’s, playing dress-up and coloring, especially in early elementary school. In 2002, however, Houston got its football team back in the form of the Houston Texans. My father had made a vow when the Oiler’s left that if Houston ever got another football team, he would by season tickets and never give them up, because he wanted to share his love of football with his kids and grandkids. So my football education and socialization began as a young and ambitious fourth grader, by going to Texan’s games, watching my younger brother play in little league, going to junior high and high school games, and it continues here at the University of Texas. I don’t remember what it was like without football in my life, and I have a hard time now imagining my life without it. Football has provided memories with my family and serves as a special bond between me and a lot of my friends.
Jake Hale's Personal Football Socialization
My personal experience growing up in Texas and playing football is that I started playing tackle football when I was eight years old. After my first year all I did was eat, sleep, and breathe football. I constantly knew about every stat possible involved with NFL teams and most collegiate teams. Fast forward to high school, where I played at 5A School, it was nonstop football. We were practicing two-a-days two weeks before school even started in 105 degree Houston heat, from 7am until 2pm Monday through Saturday. Practice during the season was brutal, we had to watch film at 6am before school even started had an hour practice at noon during our period, then practice from 3pm until 6pm after school. The reward was on Friday/ Saturday nights, where we would play in front of around 20,000 fans against rival high schools in five star stadiums. Around school we were treated with more respect than others. Each year every varsity football player was assigned a girl on the dance team, and they gave us gifts on game day. After the season was over we went through off-season which was the hardest part. We could not miss any week day even if the school had it off this includes spring break, Christmas, and summer. It was constant conditioning and weights, just trying to push your body to the limit. This would all continue until two-a-days started again, then the cycle would just repeat itself. After your playoff loss your senior year was probably the most difficult time for a Texas high school football player, every senior was always depressed for about 3 weeks after their last game. After our senior season everyone would get letters from different colleges, it would range from D3 schools like Kansas Wesleyan to the best of the best, The University of Texas.
Typical Halftime Atmosphere at a Football Game
Sociology and football, together,
hand in hand. Who would have thought it? But is it not quite obvious? Sociology is “the study of human social behavior,
especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and
development of human society” (Sociology). Football in Texas is an institution
that has been shaping our behaviors and influencing the development of our
society for years now, and will continue to do so for many more. Maybe the next
time you attend a football game, this blog has allowed you to look past all
that orange, and see a larger social picture at work. Hopefully it has shown
you that the discoveries through the use of the sociological perspective are
numerous and varying, surrounding us every day, everywhere; even under those
Friday night lights, out on the gridiron, and in the stadium parking lot.
Bibliography:
"Sociology."
The Free Dictionary. Farlex. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sociology>.
The
University Co-op. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.universitycoop.com/ePOS/this_category%3D165>.
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