COURSE STRUCTURE
Module 1: Structures and Processes
This module focuses on examining precisely what is meant by contemporary sport culture, and the manner in which it is both produced by, and subsequently helps to produce, American society in general. In this way students are encouraged–following C. Wright Mills–to develop a sporting sociological imagination (Topic A). Broadly speaking, this module focuses on the macro, contextual issues of social structure and process, and their constitutive relationship with contemporary sport culture. This involves an empirically focused examination of the relationship between sport and the broader forces political context (Topic B). The following week turns the attention to the complex relationship between sport, and intersection of cultural and economic structures and processes indicative of contemporary late modern condition (Topic C). This is followed by an examination of the conflation of sporting and media interests that has resulted in the emergence of sport as a popular, and highly commercial, media spectacle (Topic D).
