Course Description: The course explores social, cultural, and historical components of sport and physical activity in selected societies, allowing students to analyze and contextualize themes drawn from several interlocking disciplines. “Sport” now comprises perhaps the most pervasive set of social institutions and cultural signifiers in North America, exceeding earlier dominance of religion and politics. How sport became so important (change over time) will serve as a prime focus of this course, as will consideration of the ways in which sport influences modern society and our own lives. To assess this influence, we shall assess the diverse ways in which sport serves as a reference point in our culture: recurring sport metaphors in political and military rhetoric; the location of sport in front-page news coverage; the importance of sport for city, town, region, and nation; sport financial expenditures at many levels; burgeoning numbers of participants and spectators; athletic themes in films and comic strips; corporate TV and university sport emphases; huge sales of sport equipment; sport bars; the influence of sport upon female and male body images—and these items comprise merely the short list. For better (and worse), more than we know, sport subsumes much of our consciousness. Hence, in addition to socio-cultural-historical contexts, we shall concern ourselves with important ethical questions contemporary sport raises.
Course Mechanics: PHED 241 will include lectures, films and videos, and—most important—student presentations on historical, social, and cultural aspects of sport. We shall try to keep presentation schedules sufficiently flexible to allow a maximum of discussion. This means that my lectures and your presentations will leave room for considerable class participation. The course will follow (roughly) the thematic path blazed by collections edited by D. Stanley Eitzen, Sport in Contemporary Society: An Anthology (7th ed. 2005) and Jay Coakley and Peter Donnelly, Sports In Society: Issues and Controversies, First Canadian Edition (2004). This text is noteworthy for the authors’ expertise in the subject matter, superb bibliographies, and helpful online Internet sources. The instructor also encourages students to consult other sources as time permits, and to think of ways to bring brilliant, serendipitous illumination to the study of sport and/in society.
CLASS DISCUSSION AND WEBPAGE:The professor will seek to facilitate discussion in this lecture course through his website (www.geoffsmith.org) and a web page devoted to PHED 241. We'll make use of this page for comments on lectures, questions, debates, and discussion. The bulletin board will facilitate civil and constructive class interaction. More on this early in the course; the bulletin board is http://www.geoffsmith.org/phed241board. Again, more to come.
| SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND BASIC READING: EITZEN & COAKLEY/DONNELLY— EITZEN AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORE AS REQUIRED TEXT; COAKLEY AND DONNELLY ON RESERVE AS SUPPLEMENTARY TEXT | ||
|---|---|---|
| Week | ||
| One | Eitzen, “Sport as Microcosm of Society” (Part 1); Coakley and Donnelly, “Sport, Sociology & Theory” (Chs 1 & 2) | |
| Two | Eitzen, “Sport and Socialization” (Part 2) Coakley and Donnelly, “Change Over Time” (Ch 3) | |
| Three | Eitzen, “Sport and Socialization: Symbols”; “Problems of Excess: Overzealous Athletes, Parents, and Coaches” (Parts 2 & 5); Coakley and Donnelly, “Socialization and Kids in/and Sport” (Chs 4&5). | |
| Four | Eitzen, “Problems of Excess: Sport and Deviance” (Part 6); Coakley and Donnelly, “Issues of Deviance” (Ch 6) | |
| Five | Eitzen, “Problems of Excess: Sport and Deviance: (Part 6) Coakley and Donnelly, “Violence and Sport” (Ch 7) | |
| Six | Eitzen, “”Structured Inequality: Sport and Gender,” “Structured Inequality: Sport and Sexuality,” (Parts 10&11); Coakley and Donnelly, “Gender Issues in Sport” (Ch 8) | |
| Midterm Reading Week -- February 20-24 | ||
| Seven | Eitzen, “Structured Inequality: Sport and Race/Ethnicity” (Part 9) Coakley and Donnelly, “Race and Ethnicity” (Ch 9) | |
| Eight | Eitzen, “Problems of Excess: Sport and Money” (Part 8); Coakley and Donnelly, “Economics and Class” (Ch 10 & 11) | |
| Nine | Eitzen, “Sport and Socialization: The Mass Media” (Part 3); Coakley and Donnelly, “Media” (Ch 12) | |
| Ten | Eitzen, “Expanding the Horizons: Sport and Globalization” (Part 12); Coakley and Donnelly, “Politics” (Ch 13) | |
| Eleven | Eitzen, “Problems of Excess: Big-Time College Sport” (Part 7); Coakley and Donnelly, “High School and University Sport” (Ch 14) | |
| Twelve | Coakley and Donnelly, “Religion and the Future” (Ch. 15) | |
The subject: Your essay, worth forty percent of your mark, is the truly creative part of the course. You will take a topic from one of the chapters in either the Eitzen or Coakley/Donnelly texts (or both) and use it as a springboard to write a focused, analytical essay, addressing a key question arising from that material. Do you agree with the author’s argument or point of view? Why? Why not? What questions does s/he raise? Where do these questions lead you to create bridges to related questions? Your topic, derived from a specific part of either Eitzen or Coakley/Donnelly(or both) will allow you to comment on social, historical, and/or cultural and ethical concerns, bringing in other sources from the author’s (or other significant) bibliography. Here, I emphasize student ingenuity (no term paper banks please, I know them all!) During the course of your essay, best done in your conclusion, you should also clarify your own position on question(s) that you raise.
Remember, my major concern (all for your good in future years, wherever you may end up), aside from flossing (which is hugely important), emphasizes the need to write well and to “focus, focus, focus!!”
Please note that you will also use the work on your project for a short oral presentation during the course of the term. Dates of presentations, TBA. Please note, as well, that each student will be responsible for a two-to-three page critique—positive and constructive, please!!—on another student’s topic/presentation. These short essays should be pointed, constructive, and dedicated to helping the presenter improve his/her final essay. We shall take care of the schedule for these assignments—presentations and critiques—during the first two weeks of class.
A limit of 3000 words (roughly-ten-to-twelve pages), typed, with endnotes and bibliography—everything double-spaced. Use the Modern Language Association Guide for footnote and bibliography form. Consistency is the most important point here. Please provide two final copies, numbered one and two, no later than April 7, 2006. No excuses for late papers, save serious medical or personal problems.
For your essay proposal, due at the end of the fourth week, I list some key points to help structure the one-page proposal, and to keep in mind while researching, organizing, and writing your essay: (1) importance of issue (2) what other authorities have said about your problem (3) your hypothesis and argument—where it fits in with the literature (4) evidence in building your argument (4) linkages across culture and time to illuminate your points (5) a reasonable number of good sources (6) good writing—using active verbs, writing to a point, and—yes, again—focus, focus, focus!
Important sources: The texts are filled with them. See also Journal of Sport History; Sociology of Sport Journal, International Journal of the Sociology of Sport; Journal of Popular Culture; American Quarterly; New York Times Index (ref.); Robert J. Higgs, ed., Sports: A Reference Guide (ref.); Sports Illustrated; New York Times sports sections, especially the retrospects (usually on Sunday); America: History and Life (ref., on CD Rom); Reviews in American History; Internet (please cite path on bibliographies in your papers so that the professor can visit too); Inter-library loan (start early); and Prof. Smith, who never tires of talking sport. (Please familiarize yourself, as a prophylactic measure, with the rules of plagiarism and code of conduct as set down in the Queen’s University Arts and Science Calendar, 2003-2004), pp. vi-vii, and in Faculty Regulations. Please inquire if you are uncertain about these important rules).
| Term essay and presentation(s) | 40% |
| Final examination (TBA) | 30% |
| Written critique | 20% |
| Overall class participation* | 10% |
| Extra-credit | ?? (up to five percent during term) |
(Goodness: that adds up to more than 100% -- will Principal Hitchcock accept that?)
*Includes attendance (of course!)
Office hours: 2:45-4:00 Fridays and by appt. in room 215PEC. My phone is 544-5550. My e-mail is smithgs@post.queensu.ca. The course web-page may be found under my website www.geoffsmith.org. Suggestions, especially new links, are always welcome, as are comments on presentations, critiques, and sport issues generally. Merci!
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