Gertz chose to study the cockfights for several reasons. The fights are a simulation of Bali’s stratified social matrix. The strata of Bali dictates the levels or type of games that villagers from different social standing play and what distinguishes ethical players from those who have little respect for the sport to desperate gamblers. According to Gertz, “This crosswise doubleness of an event which taken as a fact of culture, is form perfected, defines the cockfight as a sociological entity”. The cockfights were at the center of Balinese culture, being the origin of from which figures of speech are derived and cultural symbols are drawn from. The rooster itself is a symbol for the island’s perception of itself standing next to Java geographically.
