Reference no: EM132769114

Question: Christmas is observably popular amongst people in Saskatchewan. I believe there are Manifest and Latent Functions of only celebrating Christmas in the workplace. In my workplace, the dominant celebratory term during December is "Merry Christmas". When thinking of manifest functions, the intended reason for saying "Merry Christmas" is positive. People have the main objective of spreading cheer and good tidings to those they say it to.

On the surface, people don't think of the Latent Functions of this greeting. That being said, it poses an unintended exclusivity to those who celebrate Christmas. Not all people are followers of Christianity, the religion associated with Christmas. Even though Christmas has become less of a religious focus, it excludes the other holidays that occur during December. Some of those holidays include Judaism's Hanukkah/Chanukah, or the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa. This exclusion of other holidays may be interpreted as Cultural Racism.

When put in a certain perspective, the topic of Christmas can be taboo. Although the Manifest function of only celebrating Christmas in the workplace is not malicious, it has the Latent function that may be misinterpreted as quite sinister.