GESC 2070 Spring 2012
GESC 2070
The World of Football: Social Science Perspectives
Instructor: Prof. Ma Ngok (GPA) and Mr. Choy Chi Keung (GPA)
Office Phone: 2609 7483
Email: mangok@cuhk.edu.hk
Office: 309 T.C. Cheng Building, United College
Office Hours: Wed. 3:30—5:30pm
Course Objectives
This course explores the most popular sport in the world, football, from multiple
perspectives related to social science. Students are expected to critically examine the
development of football into a global game from historical, sociological, political,
economic, as well as cultural perspectives. It will also address the relationship of
football with major issues of modern society such as globalization, nationalism, class,
racism, etc. The learning objective is to cultivate critical thinking among students,
which will drive them to use various theory and concepts to think deeper into
everyday phenomena such as football.
Learning Outcomes
Students are expected to acquire multi-faceted perspectives to understand
football and other social phenomena. Students will be able to analyze changes in the
sport of football as a social phenomenon by abstract concepts and social and historical
trends. It is hoped that through this course, students will learn to use more academic
and social science perspectives to analyze everyday phenomena around them,
including popular culture, sports, and other phenomena.
Course Assessment
Quiz 1
Quiz 2
Group Project
Class Participation
20%
20%
50%
10%
In the group project, students are required to form groups of 4-6 students and work on
a topic related to football and the issue(s) discussed in class. The projects should be
about 3000-4,000 words (English) or 5,000-7,000 words (Chinese) in length,
submitted at the end of the semester.
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GESC 2070 Spring 2012
University Policy and Regulations on Honesty in Academic Work
Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic
work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of
such policy and regulations. Details may be found at
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ .
With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration
that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures. For
group projects, all students of the same group should be asked to sign on the
declaration.
For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is
principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide,
https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/veriguide/
the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon
students' uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without the
receipt will not be graded by teachers. Only the final version of the assignment
should be submitted via VeriGuide.
Key Texts
David Goldblatt. The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football. London: Penguin
Books. 2007.
James Walvin, The People’s Game: The History of Football Revisited. Edinburgh and
London:
Course Contents
(A) The Evolution of Modern Football: A Sociological Interpretation (Jan. 20)
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Football activities before the advent of industrialism: folk football and others
The rise of modern football in the 19th century: sociological origins and analysis
Football as an urban male sport: education, social control and the peculiarities of
British football
The spread of modern football as a process of globalization
The evolution of football rules and tactics
Reading:
James Walvin, The People’s Game: The History of Football Revisited, Chapters 1 & 2.
Lunar New Year Holiday (Jan. 27)
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GESC 2070 Spring 2012
(B) Evolution of British football & The Story of Manchester United (Feb. 3 & 10)
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The Founding of the Football League/ From Newton Heath to the Interwar Years
The Chapman Revolution (Arsenal)
1950s: Postwar reconstruction and Football under Industrialism/ Busby Babes
Out of Isolation and Self-Adulation+ Going to Europe/ The Munich Disaster and
the Man United Mystique
1960s: Commercialization, Affluent society, TV football and the Golden age of
British football / The New Stardom of Best, Law and Charlton
From 1970s to mid-1980s: low-tide of English football, economic adversity,
hooliganism and football violence/ Relegation, Liverpool Dominance, the music
chairs of managers
The Alex Ferguson era, November 1986Gazza’s tears, the Coming of the Premiership, Taylor Report and TV Revolution/
The building of the United Dynasty
The Commercialization and changing class nature of football/ ‘Prawn
sandwiches’ and the United Inc.
Going to Europe and the World EPL as global merchandise / The Biggest Club
in the World
Readings:
Anthony King. The End of the Terraces: The Transformation of English Football in
the 1990s. London and New York: Leicester University Press, pp.37-69.
John Williams, “The Fall of Liverpool FC and the English Football ‘Revolution,’ in
John Williams, Stephen Hopkins and Cathy Long eds., Passing Rhythms: Liverpool
FC and the Transformation of Football pp.147-171.
Kristen Rosaaen and John Amis, “From the Busby Babes to the Theatre of Dreams:
Image, Reputation and the rise of Manchester United,” in David Andrews ed.,
Manchester United: A Thematic Study (London and New York: Routledge, 2004),
pp.43-61.
(C) Football and Fandom (Feb. 17)
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From “one of the lads” to global megastars
Football Hooliganism and its explanations: masculinity and others
Heysel, Hillsborough, the Taylor Report and the development of British football
Readings:
Eduardo Archetti and Amilcar Romero, “Death and Violence in Argentinian Football,”
in Richard Giulianotti, Norman Bonney and Mike Hepworth eds., Football, Violence
and Social Identity (New YorK; Routlege, 1994), pp.37-72.
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GESC 2070 Spring 2012
Anthony King, The End of the Terraces, Chapter 12.
Carlo Podaliri and Carlo Balestri, “The Ultras, Racism and Football Culture in Italy,”
in Adam Brown ed., Fanatics! Power, Identity and Fandom in Football (London and
New York: Routledge, 1998), pp.88-100.
Quiz No. 1
(Feb. 24)
(D) Football and Nationalism and other Identities: The Case of Barca (Feb. 24,
March 2 & 9)
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Football and nationalism in developing countries
The case of Barca, or Barca vs Real, El Classico
Football and Racism
Football and politics: how political leaders made use of football
The story of local derbies: city rivalries and other cultural identities
Readings:
Jimmy Burns, Barca: A People’s Passion. London: Bloomsbury, 2000, Chapter 4.
Vic Duke and Liz Crolley, Football, Nationality and the State (New York: Longman,
1996), Chapter 1 & 3.
Simon Kuper, Football against the Enemy (London: Orion, 1996), pp.205-219 “Celtic
and Rangers, or Rangers and Celtic”
Les Back, Tim Crabbe and John Solomos, The Changing Face of Football: Racism,
Identity and Multiculture in the English Game (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2001),
Chapter 6.
(E) Globalization and Football (March 16 & 23)
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The spread of British football as an example of globalization
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How Globalization Changed the Economy of Football
 Globalization and the Changing Economy of Football
 The Rise of Global TV and how it changed the game
 American Exceptionalism
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The Dark Side
 The global migration of players and ‘football slaves’
 Global football gambling and game-fixing
 The World System Theory and the impact of global economic inequality on
football
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GESC 2070 Spring 2012
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International Governance
 Development of FIFA and the changing face of the global game
 World Cup: global commercial spectacle and commodities fair
Readings:
Ian Bent, Richard McIlroy, Kevin Mousley and Peter Walsh, Football Confidential
(London: BBC Worldwide, 2000), pp.143-155.”Soccer Slaves”
Andrew Jennings, Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket
Scandals (London: HarperSport, 2006), pp.19-31; pp.74-94.
Andrei Markovits and Steven Hellermen, Offside: Soccer and American
Exceptionalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), pp.28-51.
(F) 香港足球的興衰 (March 30 & April 13)
「亞洲足球王國」--中華民國與五、六十年代的香港足球
從業餘到職業──七、八十年代的黃金時期
足球滄桑與香港意識：與中國隊的恩怨情仇
香港足球的沒落與改革前景
Readings:
楊志華，
《香港足球史話》(香港：文明，2009), pp.39-50; 53-65; 91-102.
馬嶽﹐「足球滄桑與香港意識」，《教授足球》(香港：CUP, 2005), 頁 34-41.
April 6 (Easter Holiday)
Quiz No. 2 (April 13)
(G) Football and Socialism (April 20)
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Development pattern of Sports in Socialist Countries
The Golden Team of Hungary in 1950s and Socialist Football
Football in Post-socialism
Readings:
Simon Kuper, Football against the Enemy (London: Orion, 2000), pp.16-26 “The
Football Dissident”
Jonathan Wilson, Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football (London:
Orion, 2006), pp.68-97.
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GESC 2070 Spring 2012
Major References
Brown, Adam. Ed. 1998. Fanatics! Power, Identity and Fandom in Football. London
and New York: Routledge.
Burns, Jimmy. Barca: A People’s Passion. London: Bloomsbury, 2000.
Conn, David. The Football Business: The Modern Football Classic. Edinburgh and
London: Mainstream Publishing. 1997.
Giulianotti, Richard. Football: A Sociology of the Global Game (Cambridge: Polity
Press, 1999).
Hill, Declan. The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart,
2008.
Jennings, Andrew. 2006. Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and
Ticket Scandals. London: HarperSport.
King, Anthony. The End of the Terraces: The Transformation of English Footabll in
the 1990s. London and New York: Leicester University Press.
Kuper, Simon. Football Against the Enemy. London: Orion, 1996.
Markovits, Andrej and Steven Hellermen. Offside: Soccer and American
Exceptionalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001).
Vialli Gianluca and Gabrielle Marcotti, The Italian Job: A Journey to the Heart of two
great footballing cultures (Reading: Bantam, 2006),
White, Jim. Manchester United: The Biography (London: Sphere, 2009).
Williams, John, Stephen Hopkins and Cathy Long, Passing Rhythms: Liverpool FC
and the Transformation of Football
Wilson, Jonathan. Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics. London:
Orion. 2008.
Winner, David.. Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. London:
Bloomsbury, 2000.
莫逸風、黃海榮著，《香港足球誌》(香港：上書局，2008)。
馬嶽，《教授足球：以治學態度睇波》(香港：CUP, 2005)。
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