Analyzing The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team Through the Lens of Durkheim

Émile Durkheim was born in France in 1858. In order to “save democracy”, which was failing in France at the time, Durkhiem sought to understand how societies maintain themselves, even while undergoing social change. To explain how to maintain societies, he introduced the theories of Manifest and Latent Functions as well as Anomie. His work highlighted the need for social institutions that promote inclusivity and regulation. According to Durkhiem, institutions are laws, mandates or anything that promotes group behavior. Institutions stabilize the Cult of The Individual which is worshiping at the altar of oneself, as if oneself were a god. The Sleepy Hollow Sea Lions otherwise known as The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team is an institution that was founded in 1971. The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team is a, “competitive swim team for children ages 4–18 that trains year round and competes in the Marin Swim League” (Sleepy Hollow Swim Team). The purpose of this essay is to analyze why The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team exists, its unintended impacts on society and how it relates to Durkheim’s theory of Anomie. To understand these impacts, it's important to first understand Durkhiem’s concept of Manifest Function. 

Manifest Function is a sociological concept created by Durkheim. Manifest Function is the explicit purpose of an institution. The Manifest Function of The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team is to, “create a positive, competitive environment where swimmers can learn stroke technique, commitment, hard work, goal setting, team spirit, and sportsmanship” (Sleepy Hollow Swim Team). The Manifest Function of the team supports society as a whole and stabilizes The Cult of The Individual by providing children with connection to a collective. On The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team, children learn that by shaving seconds off their times they benefit themselves and their team's ability to succeed. Each team member contributes to a group rather than to themselves. This benefits society because it promotes self-less social behavior. Although the Manifest Function of The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team highlights its explicit goals, it is also critical to examine the team’s Latent Functions. 

The definition of Latent Function is the unintended outcome produced by an institution. Latent Functions that promote an inclusive society are “positive” and Latent Functions that create The Cult of The Individual are “negative”. For example, a Latent Function of the Sleepy Hollow Swim Team is fostering friendships. Creating social bonds was not the Manifest Function or explicit purpose of The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team however, it is a side effect of The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team. Children on the team can build friendships with others through mutual aerobic suffering. These friendships are encouraged by the coach of the Sea Lions, Mark Anderson. He asks older children to cheer for and watch the races of younger age groups, providing younger children with positive role models. This creates a social network within different ages of children. Similarly, the team often creates connections between parents. For the sake of their children, parents attend practices and meets and are expected to volunteer. Often parents form lasting friendships over friendly competition, sharing stories, and even can find opportunities for professional networking. Through the structure of the swim team, these connections form naturally, making a supportive community. 

The negative Latent Function of placing too much pressure on a child to succeed by scoring points or beating their previous times can have a negative effect on the child's mental health. While the overall goal of the team is for each team member to improve, another impact can be anxiety. The team is a community with a longstanding history of high achievers, this might lead a team member to have feelings of detachment from the team when they fail. Team members may also start to place their own self-worth with the amount of seconds they shave off their times. A team member experiencing too much pressure might develop resentment towards sports in general. In some cases, children even quit the team when they feel they fail too often. The negative Latent Function of too much pressure to excel on The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team can negatively impact society as a whole by enabling a fear of failure in children that can carry on in their adult lives. This fear of failure is bad for the collective because it may lead individuals to fear contributing in class, seeking professional opportunities, and feeling confident in themselves. In a collective with individuals who are afraid of failure, there is little room for people to take social incentive. 

A positive Latent Function of a swim team is the development of adult habits through showing up daily for practice. Showing up daily reinforces commitment that often goes beyond swimming. The explicit goal of practicing is to learn stroke technique and enhance speed, however, being expected to show up daily and do your best has a Latent Function of improving work habits. Showing up consistently allows young children to begin to think about managing their schedules, balance other commitments. Although most management and balancing is done by athlete's parents at a young age, watching parents work hard sets expectations for what is to come in children's lives. Over time, team members that show up consistently instill an expectation to face hard work daily. Consistency becomes critical at a young age for swimmers. The consistency of a daily practice schedule enables team members to recognize the difference in morale when there are more team members at practice than at times where it is the opposite. Social responsibilities formed as well. Team members show up not just for themselves, but for others too. Through the Latent Function that is showing up daily for practice, young children develop resilience and social responsibility. 

When the Manifest Function of an institution is not being fulfilled, it is called a Dysfunctional Institution. However, the Dysfunctional Institution is still kept because it has positive Latent Functions. These Dysfunctional Institutions lead society members feeling lost because the institution is not fulfilling its function, creating Anomie. Anomie is a concept created by Émile Durkheim that is described as: when there is an absence of general social norms usually in times of rapid change. Anomie is also known as “normlessness”. When a society experiences Anomie or “normlessness”, members of the group feel lost because there are no shared values or constituent rules, this feeling of uneasiness while in the group is called Ennui. Anomie and Ennui can lead to behavior that is unhelpful to the collective. Anomie is important because it helps explain feelings of confusion that seem to come from nowhere and it explains the chaos in society. Anomie is also crucial because it shows the need for stable norms to keep a sense of connectedness in a society or maybe even in a team. For example, if the coach of the Sea Lions retired without providing thorough instructions to his successor on how to lead the team, swimmers might not trust the new coach's leadership style and as a result stop coming to practice and feel unsure about their place on the team and distrust their coach's ability to lead. As children would stop coming to practice because of the absence of structure that is provided by a good coach, the team might stop winning weekly meets and even might lose the Marin Swim League championship meet. Not consistently winning swim meets would further a sense of Anomie because the Sea Lions' norm of succeeding would break down, leaving the team members feeling no connection to the swim team’s history of success. Anomie highlights the importance of social norms and shared values. 

I find Durkheim’s concepts of Manifest and Latent functions, as well as Anomie, to be insightful to help in understanding The Sleepy Hollow Swim Team. Durkheim's idea of Anomie helped me put a name to the feelings of being lost my friends and I had on the team at times. I now have the insight that during these feelings of confusion I was going through a rapid change, puberty. Looking at the Manifest and Latent Functions of the team reminded me that the Swim Team is complex and has positives and negatives. When I applied Durkheim’s theories to the Sleepy Hollow Swim Team, I also saw in depth why a strong coach, a network of volunteers, and regular practices and meets are so important. These systems provide children with a large hard working community and gives them the opportunity to look outside themselves. Durkhiem has taught me that a swim team should not only focus on physical improvement by times and stroke technique but also should focus on creating a community. Émile Durkhiem’s theories give an insightful lens for understanding how important the Sleepy Hollow Swim Team is to society by providing a positive, supportive institution.