Course Description

Sport and society is a course in the sociology of sport, one of the numerous subfields of sociology. Perhaps the most compelling reason for the sociological study of sport is its pervasiveness. Sport sociologist D. Stanley Eitzen suggests just how pervasive it is (Fair and Foul, p. 3):

Most children are involved in organized sport at some time in their lives. Sport is the subject of much conversation, reading material, leisure activity, and discretionary spending. Over one-tenth of the World Almanac is devoted annually to sport, more than is allotted to politics, business, and science. USA Today, the most widely read newspaper in the United States, devotes one-fourth of its space to sport. Even the Wall Street Journal has a weekly sports page. Several cable television networks provide twenty-four-hour coverage. Annually, the most watched television event in the United States is the Super Bowl. The amount of sports betting is staggering, with unknown billions waged legally and illegally.

Sociologists are prone to examine all social arrangements critically. Thus, this course will address questions such as: How does sport really work? Who has power and who does not? Who benefits under the existing social arrangements and who does not? These types of questions scrutinize conventional ideas and official dogma; the answers should enable you to truly understand sports as social phenomena.

More specifically, in this course we will use sociological concepts and critical thinking to investigate such issues as:

• Why are certain physical activities selected and designated as sports?
• How do sports and sport participation affect our lives?
• How do sports affect our ideas about masculinity, femininity, class inequality, race and ethnicity, work, fun, achievement, competition, individualism, aggression, and violence?
• How are the organization and meaning of sports connected with social relations in groups, communities, and societies?
• How are sports connected with important spheres of social life such as education, politics, economics, media, and religion?

We will use a combination of readings, films, papers, and class discussions to accomplish course objectives. Class sessions will involve primarily the discussion and application of assigned readings. I assume that you and I, students and instructor, share the responsibility for making this class a successful learning experience. To contribute to and get the maximum benefit from class discussions, it is important that you attend class regularly and come prepared. If you haven't completed the assigned reading before class, then class discussions are likely to be vague and one-sided. It is also important to realize the importance of two-way communication: the flow of information should be among two or more persons, not simply from one person to another. In other words, we need to respond to what others, including the instructor, have to say. Stephen Carter, a Yale law professor, notes that he doesn't always agree with his students' views, nor they with his. But one of the reasons for teaching is to enable his students to differ from him, and to discuss the differences. As he says,

only by reasoning together will we advance human knowledge. As a law student. . . I defended my instinct ... by insisting that I had as much right to criticize the views of others as they had to express them. As a teacher, I maintain the same view, so I feel free, even obliged, to dispute with my students, and I hope they feel the same about me.

Your grade will be determined as follows:

10% -- Participation in class discussions
20% -- Weekly quizzes
40% -- Four 3-5-page papers
30% -- Comprehensive final examination

The four required papers, each of which is worth 10 percent of your final grade, involve critical applications of the reading. For the first three assignments, you may choose one of two related topics, as outlined below. Papers are due at the beginning of the class period and will be discussed in class on the date they are due.

1. Definition and Analysis of Sport. (a) Although Coakley offers his own definition of sport, he also describes another approach to the study of sport that does not rely on a single definition, but rather sees sports as "contested activities." Using the case of Casey Martin v. PGA Tour, carefully explain how sports are contested activities. (b) How would each of the four main theoretical perspectives outlined by Coakley (Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Interactionism, Critical Theory) analyze the Martin v. PGA case? Due date: Sept. 7

 
2. Sports and Socialization. (a) Think back to your earliest experiences of playing physical games and sports and describe when they occurred, the context in which they occurred, and what was going on in your life as they occurred. How were those early experiences related to your age, social class, race or ethnicity, family, and neighborhood or community? (b) Coakley and White ("Making Decisions") found that, for high school students, a combination of conditions and characteristics had a powerful effect on whether an individual was likely to continue participation in sport and physical activity. These included school experiences in sport and physical education classes, individual perceptions of talent and ability, gender, a sense of how sport and physical activity fitted with how individuals saw themselves as adults, and social class. How did these and other conditions and characteristics affect your own decisions about sport participation (or non-participation)? Due date: Sept. 26

 
3. Sport and Gender. Talk with your mother and grandmothers (or other women who went to high school or college before 1972) and ask them about their involvement in physical activities and sports. What factors in their lives encouraged, limited, or prevented their participation? (a) Now talk with your father and grandfathers (or other men about the same age as the women you talk with) and ask them the same questions. Were their experiences different or similar? Explain why they were either different or similar. (b) Now talk with two women your age and ask them similar questions about their participation in physical activities and sports. How are their experiences different from and how are they similar to the experiences of the older women? Explain why their experiences differ. What social changes have ocurred over the past two generations that have made early sport experiences for young women today different from women who went to school before the early 1970s? Due date: October 19

 
4. Sports in College. Either talk with a fellow student at Holy Cross who is an intercollegiate athlete or think about your own experiences as an intercollegiate athlete. Now talk with someone who is not an intercollegiate athlete or rely on your own experiences as a non-athlete. Compare the experiences of you and your interviewee with respect to why you chose to come to Holy Cross, why you chose your major and how you select courses, how you feel about your academic experience and performance, and what you are planning to do when you graduate. What factors have influenced these choices and experiences? Due date: November 9

Coakley, Jay J., Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies, 7^th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. (C)

Kessler, Lauren, Full Court Press: A Season in the Life of a Winning Basketball Team and the Women Who 
     Made It Happen, New York: (Plume) Penguin Putnam, 1998. (K)

Shulman, James L. and William G. Bowen, The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values, 
     Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2001. (S&B)

Reserve Readings

Hasbrook, Cynthia A., "Young Children’s Social Constructions of Physicality and Gender," ch. 1 in Jay Coakley 
     and Peter Donnelly, eds., Inside Sports, London: Rutledge, 1999. (C&D 1)

Ingham, Alan G. and Alison Dewar, "Through the Eyes of Youth: ‘Deep Play’ in PeeWee Ice Hockey," ch. 2 in 
     Coakley and Donnelly. (C&D 2)

Donnelly, Peter and Kevin Young, "Rock Climbers and Rugby Players: Identity Construction and Confirmation," 
     ch. 6 in Coakley and Donnelly. (C&D 6)

Coakley, Jay and Anita White, "Making Decisions: How Young People Become Involved and Stay Involved in 
     Sports," ch. 7 in Coakley and Donnelly. (C&D 7)

Messner, Michael A., "Becoming 100 Percent Straight," ch. 10 in Coakley and Donnelly. (C&D 10)

Cahill, Ann J., "Sports," ch. 6 in Women on the Hill: Alumnae Reflect on Twenty Years at Holy Cross, 
     1972-1992, Worcester, MA: College of the Holy Cross, 1993.

Chambliss, Daniel F., "The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic 
     Swimmers,"Sociology Theory, Vol. 7, 1989, pp. 70-86.

Fine, Gary Alan, "The Effects of Little League Baseball," Appendix I in With the Boys: Little League Baseball and
     Preadolescent Culture, Chicago: University of Chicago, 1987.

Ryan, Joan, "Introduction," Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and 
     Figure Skaters, New York: Warner Books, 1995.
 

Course Outline
 

Date	Reading	Topic	Activities/Assignments
8/28		Myths and paradoxes of sport
30	Chambliss	Sports and excellence
9/3	C 1; S&B Prel., Pref.	The sociological study of sport
5	C 2	Social theory applied to sport	Quiz #1
7			Paper #1: Definition and Analysis of Sport
10	C 3; S&B 1	History of sport	Film: "Playing the Field: Sports and Sex in America"
12
14	C 4	Sports and socialization	Quiz #2
17	C&D 6-7	Development of an athletic identity
19	C 5	Sports and children	Quiz #3
21	Fine; Ryan	Youth sport experiences	Film: "Playing to Extremes"
24
26			Paper #2: Sports and Socialization
28	C 6	Deviance and sports
10/1	C 7	Aggression and sports	Quiz #4
3
5	C 8	Gender and sports
10	C&D 1-2, 10	Gender logic in sports	Quiz #5
12	S&B 5; K Prol., 1-3; Cahill	Gender equity issues	Film: "A Hero for Daisy"
15	K 4-7
17	K 8-14		Quiz #6
19			Paper #3: Sport and Gender
22	C 9	Race and sports	Film: "Black Athletes: Fact and Fiction"
24	C 10	Inequality and sports	Quiz #7
26
29	C 14	Sports in high school and college
31	S&B 2-4	Male college athletes	Quiz #8
11/2	S&B 6-8	Female college athletes
5	S&B 9-10	College sports and the game of life
7	S&B 12-14	College sports and educational values	Quiz #9
9			Paper #4: Sports in College
12	C 11	Sports and the economy
14	C 12	Sports and the media	Quiz #10
16
19	C 13	Sports, politics, and the state
26	C 15	Sports and religion	Quiz #11
28
30	C 16	Sports and the future
12/3