Online course: Sports and Society
Dates: any time
Duration: 12 hours
Rating: 4.8 / 5.0 out of 909 ratings (see top rating courses here)
Participating countries: any country
Apply here: Application form
Organizer: Duke University at Coursera
Cost:
- FREE
- $49 with sharable certificate
Sports and Society
Sports play a giant role in contemporary society worldwide. But few of us pause to think about the larger questions of money, politics, race, sex, culture, and commercialization that surround sports everywhere. This course draws on the tools of anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines to give you new perspectives on the games we watch and play. It’s the new and improved version of Professor Orin Starn’s original “Sports and Society” for Coursera, which drew more than 40,000 students. We will focus on both popular sports like soccer (or “football,” as anyone outside America calls it), basketball, and baseball, and also lesser-known ones like mountain-climbing and fishing. You will never watch or think about sports in the same way again.
Programme
WEEK 1: 3 hours to complete
Getting Started! Games, Play, and Sports
Understanding Play and Sports
Why Do We Like to Play?
The Origins of Modern Sports
Capoeira
The Sports and Society Book Club (optional)
The Sports and Society Movie Club (optional)
WEEK 2: 2 hours to complete
Globalization, Nationalism, and the Politics of Sports
The Globalization of Sports
Nationalism and Sports
Athletes and Social Activism
American Football
WEEK 3: 2 hours to complete
Race, Cultural Identity, and the Sports World
Race and American Sports
The Native American Mascot Controversy
The Social Demographics of Sports
Zidane and Bruce Lee
Golf
WEEK 4: 2 hours to complete
Gender, Sexuality, and the Rise of Women’s Sports
A Short History of Women’s Sports
Women’s Sports Today
The Long Sporting Life of Homophobia
The Transgender Athlete
The Fitness Revolution
WEEK 5: 1 hour to complete
Why Do We Care So Much about Sports?
The Phenomenon of the Fan
The Dark Side of Fandom
Father Time and the Athlete
American College Sports,
WEEK 6: 1 hour to complete
The Megabusiness of Sports
The Hypercommercialization of Sports
The Rise of Sports Video Games
WEEK 7: 1 hour to complete
Outdoor Sports, Extreme Sports, and the Search for Adventure
Outdoor Sports
The Strange Case of Extreme Sports
Skateboarding
Conclusion
Leave a Reply