The Three cultural universals from George Murdock’s list are,
i. Athletic Sports
ii. Marriage
iii. Medicine.
Functionalist Perspective: A theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform that is, the contributions they make to the continuity of a society and on a view of society as a complex system whose various parts work in a relationship to each other in a way that needs to be understood. The primary assumption underlying the functionalist perspective is that society is a stable, well-integrated, self-regulating system that endures because it serves peoples basic needs.
i. Functionalist Perspective in Athletic Sports: In examining any aspect of society, functionalists emphasize the contribution it makes to overall social stability. Functionalists regard spots as an almost religious intuition that uses ritual and ceremony to reinforce the common values of society.
§ Many people like Athletic Sports because it assumes that shared values and agreement is the basis for social order.
§ Research focuses on spot participation and positive outcomes for individuals and society.
§ Sports socialize young people into such values as competition, patriotism.
§ Sports help to maintain people’s physical well-being.
§ Sports bring together members of a community and promote on overall feeling of unity and social solidarity.
ii. Functionalist Perspective in Marriage: Marriage is the union of two different surnames, in friendship and love, in order to continue the posterity of the former sages and to furnish those who shall preside at the sacrifices to heaven and earth, at those in the ancestral temple and at those at altars to the spirits of the land and grain.
§ The legal union of a man or woman as husband and wife and in some jurisdictions, between two persons of the same sex, usually entailing legal obligations of each person to the other.
§ A similar union of more than two people; a polygamous marriage.
§ To give the husband rights over the property of his wife and wife rights over the property of her husband.
§ To establish a joint fund or property, a partnership, for the benefit of the children of the marriage; and establish a socially significant ‘relationship of affinity’ between the husband and his wife’s brother.
§ To establish the legal father of a woman’s children or legal mother of a man’s children.
iii. Functionalist Perspective in Medicine: Medicine's social power and influence have long been understood to be closely related to its status as a profession. From his functional perspective, parsons regarded the professions including medicine, as institutions that served to ensure that their practitioners used their knowledge and skills to the greatest social benefit.
§ If society is to function well, its people need to be healthy enough to
Perform their normal roles.
§ Societies must set up ways to control sickness.
§ This is done through a system of medical care.
§ The poor often receive second rate medical care.
§ Skyrocketing costs have created dilemmas.
§ Medicine - a society’s standard ways of dealing with illness and injury.
§ Illness and health are related to cultural beliefs, lifestyle, and social
Class.
Sports develop our brotherhood; Marriage is a union of two families and Medicine help us to live long life. These are basic needs of every society and race.
Athletic Sports, Marriage and Medicine are found in every culture because Culture includes all objects and ideas within a society, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people. All societies have developed certain common practices and beliefs. They are not uniform. Most human cultures change and expand through innovation and diffusion. Culture refers to the unique behavioral patterns and lifestyles shared by a group of people that distinguishes that group from others. Culture is characterized by a set of views, beliefs, values, and attitudes toward life that is transmitted from generation to generation. Culture may be expressed in various ways that regulate life.
