SOC250 Weekly Blog 5

This week I commented on the following Blog by Julia Hamdan:

http://juliasoc250.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cultural-identity-in-talk.html

SOC250 Weekly Blog 4

SOC250 Weekly Blog 4

I did my group presentation on this week’s topic “Accomplishing socio-cultural identity in talk” and I like the ideas discussed about codes of conduct. 

In the reading Telling the code of the Street, Jimerson and Oware describe a code of conduct as “a set of social norms that prescribe, proscribe and describe how a specific set of people ought to behave” (Jimerson & Oware 2006). We encounter codes of conduct multiple times every day. These codes can be as simple as waving to someone as you pass them on the footpath or as complex as a complete code of conduct in a particular sport for instance. 

Watching sport is something that in most cases I try and avoid, but both my father and my partner are mad, passionate, OVER THE TOP sports fans so I don’t always get much choice. 

When considering this week’s readings and lecture I noticed that the spoken and unspoken codes of conduct are present in every sport played around the world. The spoken rules of conduct are maintained through officials and the unspoken rules of conduct are maintained by the athletes. I decided to ask my partner if he could think of any times when an unwritten code of conduct in sport was broken, he came up with several examples but one that I found interesting was the infamous ‘underarm bowling’ incident that occurred when Australia played New Zealand during the 1981 World Cup. To stop New Zealand from scoring the winning runs off the final ball of the match the then Australian Captain Gregg Chappell told his brother Trevor to bowl an underarm delivery, rolling the ball along the ground making it impossible for New Zealand to score. Although at the time there was no law against bowling underarm in cricket, it was described in the media as disgraceful and not in the spirit of the game and the law has since changed.

I find this example noteworthy as it shows codes of conduct in sport, although not an illegal move it was one that was frowned upon by all involved. The unspoken rules had been broken and in turn, by doing this they were disrespecting officials, their team mates, opponents, the sport and themselves. All should play sport fairly and to the best of their ability.

Here is a short clip of the underarm ball

 

Jimerson, J & Oware, M 2006, “Telling the code of the Street: An Ethnometgodological Ethnography”, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol 35, no 1, pp 24-50, accessed 5/9/12, University of Wollongong Library website

Cricket –Underarm Ball 2007, accessed 15/9/12, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oiYV73lYhg

Here is a link to Jessica's blog with our Week 8 Group Presentation slides :)

http://jessicasoc250.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/week-8-presentation.html

Week 7 - Ethnomethodology

This week I have commented on the following Blog :)

Click here to view Danielle Merlino's Blog