sound. Firstly, aggression allows for the establishment and maintenance
of
relatively stable patterns
of
dominance and submission. Secondly, the process is
involved in territorial defense, resulting in optimum dispersal
of
animals in
relation
to the resources available in their environment. Some species have more
rigidly structured dominance hierarchies than others and there is also great
variation in the extent to which animals are territorial. But aggression is common
to all and it is one
of
the things which keeps them in the survival game. At the
same time, however, it presents a problem because
of
its destructive potential.
Rivals need to be subdued and trespassers repelled. But
if
such activities
regularly resulted in death and serious wounding a species would soon find itself
on the verge
of
extinction. Not only would the population decline as a result
of
the increased fatality rate but the basic dominance networks would rapidly fall
apart. You
can't
very well dominate another male
if
you have killed him. And if,
in the process, you have also been seriously wounded then an easy task is
presented for ambitious rivals. The solution here is ritualization. By turning the
whole conflict business into aggressive ritual, fights became stylized games and
displays- things which bear an uncanny resemblance to the events....at the
football ground". (Marsh,33-34)
He
is
suggesting that
if
it were left up to the species itself the animals would not
continue to kill one another because the species would be close to extinction.
Ritualization helps by turning the more violent games into an activity where competitors
are not hurt as often as they were before. This can be seen in the game offootball. Since
the game has been ritualized, people know what is coming next, people are less likely to
get hurt. What would these games be like
if
they had not been ritualized? Since two
teams
of
very large men are knocking one another down it would seem that members
of
these teams would be getting dangerously hurt.
According to the Encyclopedia
of
World Sports, "All sports are inherently
competitive and hence conductive to aggression and violence, however, in some, such as
boxing, rugby, soccer and American football, violence and intimidation in the form
of
"play fight"
or
"mock Battle" between two individuals or groups are central ingredients.
Such sports involve the socially acceptable, ritualized expression
of
violence, butjust as
real battles that take place in war can involve a ritual component, so these mock battles