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Question

Fill in the blank with the correct option: 

One of the functions of the rain dance in the Hopi community is to demonstrate that the Hopi are worthy enough to receive the much needed thunderstorms. According to Robert Merton, this is an example of _________________.

The correct answer is
manifest function only

Hopi Rain Dance Functions: Merton's View

Sociologist Robert Merton identified different types of functions associated with social patterns:

  • Manifest Functions: These are the intended and recognized consequences of a social activity. They represent the explicit purpose.
  • Latent Functions: These are the unintended, unrecognized, or hidden consequences.
  • Dysfunctions: These are consequences that hinder or disrupt the social system.

Analyzing the Hopi Rain Dance Ritual

The question states that a function of the Hopi rain dance is "to demonstrate that the Hopi are worthy enough to receive the much needed thunderstorms." This describes a clear, intended purpose of the ritual.

According to Robert Merton's theory, such an explicitly intended and recognized outcome is classified as a manifest function.

Therefore, the described function of the rain dance is a manifest function only.

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Important Questions from Modern Sociological Theory

  1. Which among the following is/are advocated by Karl Marx in proposing the Dialectical process?
  2. Match the authors in Column I with their books in Column II.
     

    Column IColumn II
    AuthorBook
    LPierre Bourdieu1The Presentation of Self in
    Everyday Life
    MErving Goffman2The Theory of the Leisure Class
    NThorstein Veblen3Agricultural Involution
    OClifford Geertz4A Social Critique of the
    Judgement of Taste
      5Encountering Development
  3. Match the scholars in Column I with their approaches in Column II:
     

    Column IColumn II
    ScholarApproach
    MGeorge Herbert Mead1Symbolic Interactionism
    NHarold Garfinkel2Ethnography
    ORobert Chambers3Ethnomethodology
    PClifford Geertz4Participatory Research
  4. Match the following sociologists in Column I with sociological theory/concept in Column II.
     

    Column IColumn II
    SociologistTheory/Concept
    LM. N. Srinivas1Alliance Theory
    MPierre Bourdieu2Emotional Labour
    NArlie Hochschild3Field
    OClaude Levi-Strauss4Field View
      5Collective Memory
  5. Which of the following statement(s) about the concept of intersectionality as developed by Kimberle Crenshaw is/are CORRECT?
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