COURSE STRUCTURE
Module 1 Topic A: Discussion Questions
Following the lecture, and having read the assigned readings and watch relevant video clips, you are expected to prepare answers for TWO (those questions in green) of the following discussion questions. Your prepared answers will form the basis of your verbal contributions within discussion sections
These answers should:
1. Be a minimum of 150 words for each answer (not including the question or reference list).
2. Be typed and double-spaced.
3. Have the complete question immediately prior to the answer.
4. Cite appropriately any sources used in your answer (use appropriate Style and Format Guidelines).
5. Include a complete reference list (use appropriate Style and Format Guidelines).
6. Hand in a hard copy of answers during discussion section
The aim of these answers is to get you to engage and extend the information covered within each theme, in order to generate a better understanding of core concepts, knowledge, and issues.
These questions are intended as preparation for both the discussion section and exam related to this topic.
PLEASE NOTE: Within the multiple choice section of the module exam, you can expect to be asked questions on the information related to any of these questions.
However, the ONE thematic essay question for the module exam will be selected from those questions in green.
Following the review session for this module the selected question will be designated in red. This will be one of the questions that may be randomly selected as part of the "Written Thematic Question" section of the module exam.
Theme 1: A Critical and Theoretical Understanding
1. What is kinesiology, and where does this course fit within it?
2. What does it mean to de-naturalize the active body? Why is this something necessary to develop a truly interdisciplinary approach to kinesiology?
3. Why is it a positive thing to think critically and theoretically about sport, and why is sport sometimes a difficult thing to think critically and theoretically about?
4. What is theory, and why is it an important element of developing a sociological understanding of sport? What does sociological theories and concepts do which everyday language fails to?
Theme 2: An Approach to Understanding the Sport Conundrum
1. What does it mean to say that there is no “essentialist, pre-given definition” of sport (Horne, Tomlinson, & Whannel, 1999)?
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of McPherson, Curtis, & Loy’s (1989) definition of sport?
3. In what ways can sport be considered an affective domain? Consider your affective relationship with sport.
Theme 3: Sport as Physical Culture
1. Describe the ontological complexity inherent in the notion of sport as physical culture.
2. In what ways can the active body be considered as an instrumental and objectified element of physical culture?
3. Using Antonio Gramsci’s notion of culture as a fluid, dynamic, and contested terrain, and Raymond Williams’ understanding of dominant, residual, and emergent cultural practices, describe the American sporting landscape in 2015.
Theme 4: Toward a Sporting Sociological Imagination
1. What is the difference between understanding sport as being substantial or relational?
2. Describe the strengths (if any), and weaknesses (if any), of the three theses that explain the relationship between sport and society.
3. What is a sporting sociological imagination, and how does it help explain the relationship between sport and society?
Theme 5: Sporting Mapping
1. What is sport mapping, and how is it linked to sporting sociological imagination?
2. Using your sporting sociological imagination, how can you begin to explain the fact that we live in a society characterized by elite professional sport spectacles, extreme fitness trends (Havrilesky, 2014), yet also high rates of physical inactivity among the general populace?
3. Think of another sporting example (something not mentioned in the podcast or lecture), and think through its interrelationship with the broader elements of society (political, economic, cultural, technological, etc.).
