PHED 6270 Sociology of Sports and Physical Activity Summer 2014
COUSE INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Erin Reilly
Office Room Number: Welness 217
Phone: 244-3586
Email Address: ereilly@aum.edu
REQUIRED TEXT: Jay Coakley (2009), Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies (10th ed.).
Boston: McGraw Hill.
Course Objectives
The student will demonstrate an understanding of the following through assigned papers,
quizzes, and exams:
1. How and why sport in general and certain sports in particular have been created and
organized in certain ways.
2. The connection between sports and other spheres of social life, such as family, education,
politics, the economy, the media, and religion.
3. How sports and sport participation inform the way people think about their own bodies and
about gender, social class, race and ethnicity, disability, and so on.
4. The social organization, group behavior, and social interaction patterns that exist within sport
settings.
5. The cultural, structural, and situational factors affecting sports and sport experiences.
6. The social processes that occur in conjunction with sports, processes such as socialization,
competition, cooperation, conflict, social stratification, and social change.
GRADING
Quizzes: = 100
90-100%= A
Discussion Questions: 4 @ 20 pts. Each = 80
80-89%= B
VoiceThread: = 20
70-79%= C
Sport in Another Country Paper: = 50
Below 70%= F
Sport Subcultures Paper: = 50
Final Exam = 100
Accomodations:
Faculty in the School of Education make every effort to accommodate unique and special needs
of students with respect to speech, hearing, vision, seating, or other possible disabling conditions.
Please notify the instructor as soon as possible of requested accommodations or ways to help.
Schedule
Note: For each assigned chapter you should read the chapter, view the powerpoint, and
take the true/false quiz. Additional assignments are listed below.
Week
Assigment
VoiceThread # 1 due
1
Ch. 3 “Studying the Past:
Does It Help us Understand Sports Today?”
Ch. 3 Quiz due
VoiceThread # 1 due
2
Ch. 8 “Gender
and Sports: Does Equity Require Ideological Changes?”
Ch. 8 Quiz due
Ch. 8 Discussion Question
Phone call to discuss papers.
3
Ch. 9 “Race and Ethnicity: Are They Important in Sports?”
Ch. 9 Quiz due
Ch. 9 Discussion Question
4
Ch. 10 “Social Class: Do Money and
Ch. 11; “Sports and the Economy”
Power Matter in Sports?”
Ch. 10 and Ch. 11 Quizzes due
Ch. 11 Discussion Question
5
Ch. 12; “Sports
and the Media: Could They Survive Without Each Other?”
Ch. 12 Quiz due
6
Ch.13 “Sports
and Politics: How Do Governments and Globalization Influence
Sports?”
Ch. 13 Quiz due
Ch.13 Discussion Question
7
Ch 14 “Sports in High School and College”
Ch. 14 Quiz due
Sport in Another Country Paper Due
8
Ch. 16; “Sports
in the Future: Are We Agents of Change?”
Ch. 16 Quiz due
Sport Subculture Paper Due;
Final Exam
Assignments
1. Quizzes- Go to the textbook website, click on Student Edition, then click on the chapter,
then click on Quizzes to take assigned quizzes (choose the True/False quizzes). Have
the results sent to ereilly@aum.edu Here is the url for the textbook website:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007337654x/information_center_view0/ You can
take the quiz more than once, but just send the results one time. Make sure you study
these for the final exam.
NOTE: If you took the class as an undergraduate and have the 9th edition book you can
take the quizzes from the website for the 9th edition, but make sure that you take the quiz
for the right chapter based on title rather than number in case there is a difference.
2. Discussion Questions. Use the discussion board on BlackBoard to answer the following
during the assigned week. You may comment on the answers of other people, but use
good etiquette:
a. Chapter 8: Do a quick assessment of gender equity in the sport programs
at your school. Do you think your school could meet the legal definition of
equity as spelled out in connection with title IX? How would the school
meet the definition or fail to meet it? Keep in mind the recent change in
the law that surveying current students to determine “interest” is no longer
sufficient at colleges. The college would need to survey students at the
high schools that feed into the college to determine the interest of those
students (students with a strong interest are likely to go to colleges that
have those opportunities, and therefore a survey just given at the college is
unlikely to show a true picture of “interest.”)
b. Chapter 9: Your 14-year-old brother comes to you and asks why he sees
so many black athletes in certain sports, and so few or none in other
sports. What are three of the main points you would talk about in your
discussion with him? (Your answer to this should reflect your
understanding of the concepts in the chapter and be based on facts rather
than opinion).
c. Chapter 11: Pretend that you live in a city with an NFL football team.
Some of the business leaders in your city are proposing that public money
be used to build a $1.3-billion, state-of-the-art domed sport stadium for the
local NFL team. There will be a vote on this issue in the next election.
Will you vote for or against the proposal? Explain why you will vote one
way or the other. (Your answer to this should reflect your understanding
of the concepts in the chapter and be based on facts rather than opinion).
3. Sports in Another Country Paper:
a. Interview someone from a country other than the United States or your native
country if you are not from the U.S.
b. Write a 2-3 page paper on sports in that person’s country, from a sociological
perspective.
c. Sample questions: What are the major and minor sports? How do sports
connect with gender, race, the economy, media, religion, politics, social class,
family, school, etc.? Do a little research on the country before the interview to
help guide specific questions.
d. You should NOT use ANY resources other than the person you interview. Write
the whole paper in your own words and the words of the person you interview.
That person may not know answers to all of your questions, and that is fine.
4. Subculture paper: Read the Subcultures Lecture Powerpoint on Blackboard and follow
the directions on the last slide. You should NOT use ANY resources other than either
what you know, or if you interview someone, what that person tells you. If you feel like
you need more resources then you need to pick another topic for which you don’t need
other resources. Write the whole paper in your own words (and the words of the person
you interview, if you interview someone). Email me to confirm your topic before you
begin writing.
You will need to set up a time to call me on the phone to talk about your subculture paper
and your sport in another country paper. Email me to set up the time in about 2 weeks.
5.
VoiceThread:
a. Follow the directions on Blackboard for registering, commenting on, and
creating VoiceThreads.
b. VoiceThread #1: Watch VoiceThread with my video introduction (link is
on Blackboard). You will introduce yourself to the rest of the class
through the Comment feature. VoiceThread is not a good format for long
written comments so you should either use a microphone or a video to
post your response. Tell us a little about what
sport/recreation/exercise/leisure activities have meant to you in your life.
20 pts.