Sports play a giant role in contemporary society worldwide. But few of us pause to think about the larger questions of money, politics, race, sex, culture, and commercialization that surround sports everywhere. This course draws on the tools of anthropology, sociology, history, and other disciplines to give you new perspectives on the games we watch and play. It's the new and improved version of Professor Orin Starn's original "Sports and Society" for Coursera, which drew more than 40,000 students. We will focus on both popular sports like soccer (or “football,” as anyone outside America calls it), basketball, and baseball, and also lesser-known ones like mountain-climbing and fishing. You will never watch or think about sports in the same way again.
Offered By
Sports and Society
Duke UniversityAbout this Course
Offered by

Duke University
Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Getting Started! Games, Play, and Sports
Globalization, Nationalism, and the Politics of Sports
Race, Cultural Identity, and the Sports World
Gender, Sexuality, and the Rise of Women's Sports
Reviews
- 5 stars84.53%
- 4 stars13.98%
- 3 stars1.01%
- 2 stars0.27%
- 1 star0.18%
TOP REVIEWS FROM SPORTS AND SOCIETY
Orin Starn has a unique and interesting way of communicating his ideas and knowledge. The course has helped me to deepen my knowledge about the relation of sports and society.
very interesting informative sports. specially the knowledge we grasped in this course about indoor and outdoor sports and the extreme sports pleasure. good work. thanks team
This is the best course on Coursera for sports enthusiasts and I have never seen an instructor like Orin Starn. The way he delivered the course made this course beyond perfect.
Videos were awesome and readings were still applicable even in 2020. Only feedback would be update some of the readings to more current and a section on E-Sports.
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