Module 3 Topic C:

Sporting Communities

This topic focuses on the relationship between sport and the manifestations and experience of community.  The concepts of community and communitas are introduced, and their relationship to representative sport culture is outlined.  Introduces the concept of the organic sport community, as constituted through small town, prolonged and extensive face-to-face social interactions, through which individuals derive a sense of collective affinity and belonging.  Develops the concept of the extended/metropolitan community, as constituted through largely imagined collective affinities through which individuals garner a symbolic sense of collective and communal belonging.

1. LECTURE

For six slides per page format (for printing) click : HERE

For one slide per page format (for viewing on computer) click: HERE

  1. 2. PODCASTS

The podcast accompanying this topic’s lecture can be accessed HERE.

The podcast, like the lecture, is divided into themes (each being 10 to 15 minutes long) that can be navigated using the chapter markers.

In order to subscribe to the podcast cut and paste the following link into iTunes (or equivalent):

http://umdknes.com/knes287resources/PodcastiTunes/podcast.xml

  1. 3. THEMATIC REVIEW QUESTIONS

The podcasts are between 90 and 120 minutes in length (remembering, these podcasts are the equivalent of two 50 minutes lectures). 

Given the length of these podcasts, you are strongly advised not to listen to them in their entirety in one sitting (that would simply be too much information to consume).

Rather, you are strongly encouraged to listen to them one theme at a time, following which you should test your knowledge and understanding by answering the Thematic Review Questions which can be accessed HERE.

4. VIDEO CLIPS

These video clips should be viewed when prompted within the lecture/podcast: These video clips, unless otherwise advised, will be shown during lecture.  They are made available here for revision purposes.

Video Clip 1: The introduction to ESPN’s coverage of a Texas high school football game, providing a sense of the importance of high school football to Texas communities.

Video Clip 2:  Brief excerpt from “Go Tigers!: A Team’s Fate, A Town’s Future”, documentary focused on the importance of high school football within the community of Massillon, OH.

Video Clip 3:  The place and importance of high school football within the community of Phillipsburg, NJ.

Video Clip 4:  ESPN Outside the Lines segment focused on the relationship between sport and the collective sense of belonging and identification among Philadelphia’s inhabitants.  Focused on the trials and tribulations of being a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Video Clip 5:  A music video titled “We Are LeBron”, featuring various Cleveland “celebrities” trying to persuade LeBron James to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers; underscoring the importance of James to the Cleveland community.

Video Clip 6:  Archival footage of the April 1954 parade welcoming the Baltimore Orioles back to the city, attended by more than 350,000 people.

Video Clip 7: “Together We Play” 2013 promotion for the Baltimore Orioles, making the connection between the team and its fan community.

Video Clip 8:  Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake speaking at the start of the parade celebrating victory in the 2013 Super Bowl.

Video Clip 9:  NFL Network (2010) feature discussing the importance of the Steelers to the city of Pittsburgh.

Video Clip 10:  A slightly dated (2006) ESPN segment discussing the dispersed nature of Pittsburgh’s population and Pittsburgh Steeler fan base.

5. REQUIRED READINGS

It is expected that you will complete these readings prior to the messageboard discussions, and that–where appropriate–your engage them within your messageboard postings.  In addition, within the Module 3 exam, you should expect to be asked questions on those readings asterisked (*).


*Reading I: Foley, D.E. (1990). The great American footbal ritual: Reproducing race, class, and gender inequality. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7(2), 111-135.


Reading II: Webb, S. (no date).  My town: Gyms and the making of small-town America. WM Online (Wabash College, IN). 


Reading III: Wentzel, D. (2013, March 13). Steubenville rape trial divides Ohio town. Yahoo! Sports.

Reading IV: McGregor, J. (2013). Only the truth will save us. ESPN.com.


6. KEY CONCEPTS


Spatial and Cultural Dimensions of Community


Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft


Gesellschaft and Sporting Individuality


Sport as Collective (Communal) Representation


Sport as Metonym for Community


Communitas


Communitas and Representative Sport


Face-to-Face and Extended Communities


Sport and Organic/Local Community


The Sporting Performance of Small Town Community


The Socially Cohesive and Divisive Aspects of Organic Community


Sport and Metropolitan/Extended Community


The Symbolic and Imagined Aspects of Extended Community


Phases in the Evolution of the American Metropolis


Collective/Shared Experience and Sport Success/Failure


Sport Stars as Metropolitan Metonyms


Representative Sport as a Serial Civic Ritual


The Political and Economic Dimensions of Sporting Communitas


Manufacturing Sporting Communitas


Community Conscience and Community Self-Esteem


Sport, Community, and the Illusion of Consensus


Representative Sport, Communitas, and Political Conformity


Diaspora


Diasporic Sporting Communities


Communitas and De-Industrializing/Post-Industrial Pittsburgh


The Pittsburgh (Steeler) Diaspora


Sport and the Rememberance of Community

7. DISCUSSION QUESTION/TASK #11


This question/task will be discussed in messageboard discussion sections on Wednesday, August 20


To what extent, and in what ways, did Foley's (1990) classic study of the relationship between high school sport and local community mirror your own observations and experiences? Be sure to discuss the degree to which (if indeed at all) high school sport proved to be a focal  point for community identity and a force of community cohesion (communitas), but also a site for reproducing social division and hierarchies.

Please note: IN ORDER TO RECEIVED FULL CREDIT FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT, YOU MUST ATTACH AN MS WORD COPY OF YOUR DISCUSSION RESPONSE TO THE ASSIGNMENTS PAGE ON CANVAS BY THE END OF THE DISCUSSION at 11:50am.

8. ESSAY QUESTION #11 (this is an option for the Module 3 essay)


Critically examine the role and function of representative sport teams as the “social glue” (Eckstein & Delaney, 2002), that binds people together to form what are imaginary metropolitan communities.  To what extent are sports today the new opiate of the masses?


This assignment should be a minimum of 1,500 words (6 double-spaced pages) to answer it comprehensively.


You may find the following academic sources useful in completing this assignment.  You do not have to use these sources, they are simply provided for you as an introduction to the literature, and you should use them where appropriate and/or relevant. Also, be warned, these readings do not count towards the TWO additional academic sources you are expected to use within your essays (however, they may direct you toward additional academic sources you could use).

Beissel, A.S., Giardina, M.D., & Newman, J.I. (2013). Men of Steel: Social Class, Masculinity, and Cultural Citizenship in Post-Industrial Pittsburgh. Sport in Society.

Clopton, A.W. (2011). Social Capital and College Sport: In Search of the Bridging Potential of Intercollegiate Athletics. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 4, 174-189.

Eckstein, R., & Delaney, K. (2002). New sports stadiums, community self-esteem, and community collective conscience. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 26( 3), 235-247.

Ingham, A. G., & McDonald, M. G. (2003). Sport and community/Communitas. In R. C. Wilcox, D. L. Andrews, R. Pitter & R. L. Irwin (Eds.), Sporting dystopias: The making and meanings of urban sport cultures (pp. 17-34). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 

Ingham, A.G., Howell, J.W., & Schilperoort, T.S. (1987). Professional sports and community: A review and exegesis. Exercise and Sport Science Review, 15, 427-465.

McCollester, C. (2005) The Glory and the Gutting: Steeler Nation and the Humiliation of Pittsburgh. Monthly Review, 57(7).

Schimmel, K. S. (2001). Sport matters: Urban regime theory and urban regeneration in the late-capitalist era. In C. Gratton & I. P. Henry (Eds.), Sport in the city: The role of sport in economic and social regeneration (pp. 259-277). London: Routledge.

Smith, J., & Ingham, A.G. (2003). On the waterfront: Retrospectives on the relations between sport and community. Sociology of Sport Journal, 20(4), 252-274.

Swyers, Holly. (2005). Community America: Who Owns Wrigley Field? The International Journal of the History of Sport, 22(6), 1086-1105.

If you choose to complete this essay, and in addition to the sources provided on this page, you need to identify and use (either through paraphrasing or direct quotation) interpretations, insights, or information from a MINIMUM OF TWO appropriate academic sources (in addition to those provided for you on this website).

The deadline for submitting (via the ELMS/Canvas website) your Module 1II Essay is 11.59pm ET on Sunday, August 24.  


Important: The ELMS/Canvas website will not accept essays after the due time and date.

In order to receive feedback from your TA, you can submit a draft version of your essay up to and including Monday, January 21.


Be sure to review the details on the module essay page.   On that page you will find the EVALUATION CRITERIA for module essays (which you are strongly encouraged to read), you will also find links to the appropriate academic sources you should use when researching and writing your module essays, and the style and format guidelines you need to follow when completing module essays.  All this information needs to be read, understood, and closely followed for you to succeed in this course.