Dress Code Structural Functionalism

Michael Jones
Soc 543
Extra Credit

For this extra credit assignment I chose to watch an airing of ESPN SportCenter. The issue which I thought to be a major social problem regarding sport that was addressed in this show was the new found dress code implemented into the NBA that all of the players were to follow. This issue would not be considered so highly controversial if it had simply stated that players wear "business casual" attire when entering and leaving the stadium and when they are engaged in team or league business. The problem came when the dress code included no wearing of medallions, headphones, sunglasses (indoors) and other attire and accessories that a vast number of African American players on teams had been wearing since they began playing in the NBA. This is not to say that Whites did not also enjoy these "luxuries" but the majority of players in the NBA who were seen with medallions and headphones on were of African
American descent. This problem can be viewed from many different angles.
If you look at this issue from a Structural Functionalist point of view then the new dress code can be considered a latent function of our society. To most of the players and society as a whole the changes were unanticipated and unrecognized. Why couldn't they just have gone about implementing the dress code as they had in other major sports such as football and hockey? In these sports dress codes are in place but with less emphasis placed on what you can and can not wear. The players understand what they should wear to meet the "business casual" dress code and for the most part abide by it. If they do not follow the dress code a fine is issued to the player. But the NBA players are expected to not wear certain items or clothing to meet the dress code and if they do not follow these rules they will not be given a fine like football or hockey but instead given warnings of their conduct then possibly face game suspensions if they do not follow the
guidelines. If you want to look at this problem from a Conflict Theorists point of view, which I believe explains the problem the best, you can see that sport is being used as a tool of oppression (in the way that they addressed the guidelines). In understanding the dress code a Conflict Theorist would look at two things involved in the decision making process of implementing the dress code, one being power, and the other being control. It is clear to see that the ones in power and control who handed down this ruling were White males in positions of power. They controlled the economic power of the NBA and if they saw it fit to make this decision to implement a new dress code then they would implement it, which they did.
Why they felt it necessary to set up the guidelines the way they did is up for debate. Could it be because they wanted to stop the problems with the players in the league or because they wanted to make the African-American dominated professional basketball industry more marketable to the corporate crowd? I believe you have to understand sport as helping to meet our societal needs in order to resolve this issue. Sport reflects our values and provides us with opportunity for upward mobility. The values being reflected might have been contrary to what the league felt they should have been and therefore they put and end to old dress code and in with the new.
My suggestions for the policy recommendation would have been to keep the policy basic. Business casual with no jeans, hats, etc. Only when players violated this dress code in new manners should you suggest adding them to the list of things that should not be worn or shown. This would have created less tension, mainly for the African American players, as the players would have felt less like victims of the dress code and more as players abiding by the new guidelines of the dress code.