GLCb2023 Sport and Society

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Ing. Radim Marada, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Ing. Radim Marada, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Soňa Enenkelová
Supplier department: Department of Sociology – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Tue 12:00–13:40 P52
Prerequisites
No prerequisites required
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course introduces students to various social and cultural dimensions of sport, especially (but not only) as they are studied in contemporary sociology. We will discuss ethical foundations and organizational forms of sporting activities, sport’s aesthetic charm and affective vibrations, its ritual underpinnings and carnivalesque ramifications, material and technological superstructure, political significance and impact, regulatory frames as well as erotic appeal, the permeation of sport by science and data analysis, sport megaevents, the ascent of eSports in recent years, the role of sport in identity formation and how sport triggers, (re-)produces or blurs class, gender or racial divisions. While the discussion will mostly focus on contemporary sporting practices, historical perspective will be regularly employed in teacher’s presentations. At the same time, some hot issues of the day – like the impact of Covid on sport, the controversy around the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, transgender athletes, the taking-the-knee campaign in football(s), global ownership of football clubs and the financial fair play scheme – will find their place in the discussion. We will be covering sport in general, paying attention to various disciplines, yet empirical examples taken from association football may prevail in teacher’s presentations.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to account for various social, cultural, political, economic, legal or technological dimensions and ramifications of modern sport. Employing the historical perspective is part of the cultivated expertise.
Syllabus
  • WEEK 1 Introduction to the course • Organizational matters • The logic and aims of the course & presentation of the topics to be discussed • Ideas on what further topics (not included in the syllabus) to discuss WEEK 2 The Great Sport Myth: from pastime fun to social empowerment On why we believe sport is inherently good & who benefits from our belief (and who loses out) Hot issue #1 On taking-the-knee and dissenting from it: role modelling, monopolizations of morality, or the power of gesture vs. the power of protocol Hot issue #2 What has the Pandemic told us about sport and sporting activities (a short note) Reading: Coakley, Jay. 2015. “Assessing the sociology of sport: On cultural sensibilities and the great sport myth” In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 50(4-5), 402-406 Optional: Maussier, Barbara. 2017. “The New Ethical Dimension of Sports Events: a Reflection on the Evolution from the Ancient Greek Olympic Sports Festival to Postmodern Sports Events” In: Cultura, Ciencia y Deporte, Vol. 12, No. 34, pp. 15-25. Statement questions: How would you promote the importance of sport in general and your favorite sport discipline in particular? What is distinctly unique about sport? That is, what does sport have or provide which other activities don’t? What do you think the Pandemic has told us about (or what was its impact on) sport and sporting activities? Is it legitimate to ban Russian athletes and teams from international competitions? WEEK 3 Ritual – Carnival – Competition: the cultural substances of sport On sport as a finite province of meaning – or how sport invokes order and absorbs disorder Hot issue #3 Grabbing FIFA by the throat: the political, social and cultural ramifications of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar Reading: Cottingham, Marci D. 2012. “Interaction Ritual Theory and Sports Fans: Emotion, Symbols, and Solidarity”. In: Sociology of Sport Journal, 2012, 29, 168 -185 Optional: Giulianotti, Richard. 2011. “Sport Mega Events, Urban Football Carnivals and Securitised Commodification: The Case of the English Premier League”. In: Urban Studies, 48(15), 3293–3310. Statement questions: Are there any permissible moral or behavioral transgressions in sport fandom? Which ones? Is there something like legitimate violence in collective sports such as football (soccer) or ice hockey? WEEK 4 Miklós Hadas guest lecture (attendance compulsory) Sporting habitus: the emergence of modern sports in the 19th century On how and why the hunting man became football playing man Reading: Hadas, Miklós. 2009. “The rationalisation of the body: physical education in Hungary in the nineteenth century”. In: History of Education: Journal of the History of Education Society, 38:1, pp. 61-77. Optional: Miklós Hadas: “Gymnastic Exercises, or ‘Work wrapped in the gown of youthful joy’: Masculinities and the Civilizing Process in 19th Century Hungary” (copy in the Study Materials folder) Statement questions: Read the assigned text and identify one or more points (arguments, information) that are most interesting, surprising or puzzling to you. WEEK 5 Institutionalization of modern sport On sport as an infinite province of meaning: contestations and (re)formations of sport’s boundaries Hot issue #4 Sportification of gaming: the new big thing of eSports Reading: Guttmann, Allen. 1978. “From Ritual to Record”. In: Guttmann, Allen. 1978. From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 15-55. Optional: Veblen: “Modern Survivals of Prowess” (from: The Theory of Leisure Class, chapter 10) Pope, S. W. 1996. “Amateurism and American Sports Culture: The Invention of an Athletic Tradition in the United States, 1870-1900”. In: The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol.13, No.3 (Dec. 1996), pp.290-309. Statement question: What must an activity contain in order to be considered as sport? Is the game of chess a sport discipline? If yes/no, then why? What about darts or competitive wood chopping? WEEK 6 Sport and the production of excitement: playing, gaming, gambling On extremity in sport & the pleasures of living on the edge – or what’s the relation between the character of a discipline and class (gender, race, etc.) divisions Hot issue #5 Mobilization of adrenaline: technologies of saturation of the somatic Self Readings: Fletcher, Robert. 2008. “Living on the Edge: The Appeal of Risk Sports for the Professional Middle Class” In: Sociology of Sport Journal, Vol. 25, 310-330. Optional: Jean-Charles Lebeau and Ryan Sides. 2015. “Beyond the mainstream versus extreme dichotomy: a cyclical perspective on extreme sports” In: Sport in Society, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp. 627–635. Statement question: What exactly makes your favorite sport thrilling? What are the practices or tools to get the participants buzzing? WEEK 7 Reading week – no class Students submit ideas of their final paper topics on or before March 31, 2023 WEEK 8 The Birth of a Discipline: cultural and technological domestication of playfulness On how sport disciplines arise, how they acquire their identity, and why they proliferate Hot issue #6 On the analogy between cryptocurrency and the European Super League project (a short note) Discussion of the proposed topics for final papers Readings: Frédéric Savre, Jean Saint-Martin & Thierry Terret. 2010. “From Marin County's Seventies Clunker to the Durango World Championship 1990: A History of Mountain Biking in the USA” In: The International Journal of the History of Sport, 27:11, 1942- 1967 Optional: Rosen, Paul. 1996. “The Social Construction of Mountain Bikes: Technology and Postmodernity in the Cycle Industry” In: Social Studies of Science, Vol. 23, No. 3, 479-513 (optional) Statement question: Where would you look for the origin of your favorite sport discipline (other than football)? What do you think were the material and/or other conditions allowing it to become a distinct sport discipline? WEEK 9 What makes the play a fair affair On playing by the rules and playing with the rules: how regulations against cheaters produce new structures of cheating opportunities Hot issue #7 The logic & enigma of doping: the bio-chemical normalization of human body (and gender) Hot issue #8 Manchester Cityscapes & “More-than-we-say” Barcelona FC: financial regulations and political economy of football (how much was Neymar, after all?) Readings: Renson, Roland. 2009. “Fair Play: Its Origins and Meanings in Sport and Society” In: Kinesiology, Vol. 41, No. 1, 5-18. Optional: Vamplew, Wray. 2007. "Playing with the Rules: Influences on the Development of Regulation in Sport" In: The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 24, No. 7, July 2007, 843 – 871. Statement question: What kinds of regulations in your favorite sport have been (recently) implemented to deliver conditions of a fair competition? What are the opportunities for cheating? WEEK 10 Science, technology and material culture in sports On how technology and materiality permeate sport disciplines, dictate styles, subvert bodies, affect rules and regulations Hot issue #6 Big data and scientification of sport Reading: Hardy, Loy, Boot. 2009. “The Material Culture of Sport: Toward a Typology” In: Journal of Sport History, Vol. 36, No. 1, 129-152 Optional: Palvarini, P. & Tosi, S. 2013. “Globalisation, stadiums and the consumerist city: The case of the new Juventus stadium in Turin” In: European Journal for Sport and Society, 10 (2), 161-180. Statement question: Can you think about a concrete exceptional venue for your favorite sport, a legendary piece of equipment or a memorable action (a performance, a goal, a sequence of play, etc.) that people still like to talk about? What makes it exceptional/memorable? WEEK 11 The aesthetic and the erotic in sport On the sublime and the spectacular: the functional beauty of things, bodies and figurations in sport & our affection to them (and the anxieties they invoke) Reading: McClelland, John. 2002. “Eros and Sport: A Humanist’s Perspective”. In: Journal of Sport History, Fall 2002, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 395–406. Optional: Kreft, Lev. 2015. “Aesthetic Imagination in Football”. In: Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Vol. 9. No. 2, pp. 124-139. Statement questions: If you are asked about the aesthetic dimension and the erotic charge in sport, which disciplines would you choose and why? Pick at least one for each (the aesthetic and the erotic) other than modern gymnastics and female beach volleyball. When it comes to the latter, is there any difference between erotic charge and sexualization of female bodies? WEEK 12 Soccer – Calcio – Kaduregel: globalization, (post-)colonial dilemma and cultural appropriation in sport On why football is everywhere and everyone wants to own it Reading: Eduardo P. Archetti. 1999. “Masculine National Virtues and Moralities in Football” In: Archetti, Eduardo P. 1999. Masculinities: Football, Polo and the Tango in Argentina. New York: Berg, (161-179). Optional: Wheaton, Belinda. 2015. “Assessing the sociology of sport: On action sport and the politics of identity”. In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 50(4-5), 634-639. Falcous, Mark & Newman, Joshua I. 2016. “Sporting mythscapes, neoliberal histories, and postcolonial amnesia in Aotearoa/New Zealand”. In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2016, Vol. 51(1) 61–77. Finding the Roots of Sport: Origins, Rites, Identities (educational kit) Statement questions: Can you think of sport discipline(s) that in your judgement have been adopted by colonialist environments from colonized people? What about sport symbols (names and emblems of clubs etc.)? Can these practices be ever understood as showing respect to the colonized people, as the defenders of such practices claim? Or are they plainly disrespecting and offensive? Why does it matter at all? WEEK 13 • What needs to be discussed but we did not get to it during the semester (topics determined by students) • Recapitulation, evaluation of the course • Final paper final instructions
Literature
    required literature
  • GUTTMANN, Allen. From ritual to record : the nature of modern sports. Updated with a new afterword. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, x, 210. ISBN 9780231133418. info
  • ARCHETTI, Eduardo P. Masculinities : football, polo and the tango in Argentina. Oxford: Berg, 1999, xviii, 212. ISBN 1859732666. info
    not specified
  • Thematically relevant articles from academic journals, e.g., International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Journal of Sport History, Sport in Society etc.
Teaching methods
Lectures Class discussions Students prepare their answers to statement questions attached to each topic
Assessment methods
Students will be evaluated following their performance in the final test. The test comprises of a set of multiple choice questions and it takes 50 minutes. The questions are based on the assigned compulsory readings, which will also be discussed in classes. No materials, electronic or paper, are allowed during the exam. Evaluation scale 50-45 points A 44-40 points B 39-35 points C 34-30 points D 29-25 points E 24 and less points F
Náhradní absolvování
Not possible
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Teacher's information
https://is.muni.cz/auth/ucitel/?fakulta=1423;obdobi=8763;predmet=1499621;kod=GLCb2023
See above
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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