Both sport and religion fulfill important societal needs. How are the needs they fulfill similar?

Question

Both sport and religion fulfill important societal needs. How are the needs they fulfill similar? How are they different?

sociology question please help!

Answer 1

Think about how people act when they are watching their local or national football team, or cricket team - it may not be too dissimilar to the group mentality of going to church, or being part of a religion.

People use both these things to define themselves and the group they come from - participating in them is reaffirming the group mentality, and shared values (collective consciousness).  They also provide comparison between other groups - ie, how well is my team doing against the other team?  What does this mean for national pride?

Hope it helped :-)

Answer 2

Sports and religion both fulfill the need to belong to a group or community.  They both have the potential to give a sense of acceptance and belonging.