Syllabus for

IPE 111: The Beautiful Game

Spring 2010

 

 

 

 

Michael Veseth, Robert G. Albertson Professor of International Political Economy

Office: Mc213M  Office Phone: (253) 879 3720

Email: Veseth@PugetSound.edu   Webpage: http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/veseth/

Office Hours: 9-11 am on Mondays and Wednesdays and by appointment using the sign-up sheet posted outside my office door.

 

Course Description:

Association Football (or soccer, as it is commonly known) is a beautiful game to play or to watch, but it is a mistake to think that it is just a game.  Many people have said that football is fascinating because it is like life – a complex mixture of competition and cooperation, individual initiative and team play, driven by money, power, glory and fame.  But real football fans know the truth:  football isn’t like life, it is life.  This course seeks to understand some important aspects of society through the particularly revealing political, social and economic structures of global football.  Issues of class, race, gender, identity, nationality and nationalism are examined in the context of the commercialization, politicalization and globalization of the sport.

 

Course Resources:

·        Franklin Foer, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. Harper Collins, 2004.

·        Richard Giulianotti. Football: A Sociology of the Global Game. Polity Press, 1999 (out of print but excerpts posted on-line).

·        David Goldblatt. The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football. Penguin/Riverhead, 2006/2008.

·        Other materials posted on the course website http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/veseth/goal/index.htm

 

Course Objectives:

These are the objectives for students in this Scholarly and Creative Inquiry Seminar.

 

·        To become aware of the social significance of sport in general and football in particular, with emphasis on issues of class, race, gender, identity, nationality and nationalism;

·        To acquire a basic understanding of the game of football and the local, national and global structures and competitions in which the game is played;

·        To understand how these structures have changed and are changing, with a particular emphasis on the globalization of football, and the social, political and economic causes and consequences of these trends.

·        To apply this understanding to the critical analysis of a particular problem or issue related to football.

·        To use this study of football and society to develop intellectual independence, critical thinking, effective writing, and persuasive argumentation skills.

 

Course Organization:

The course will be organized like a football match with two halves.  The first half is framed by the issues that social scientists have found to be especially interesting in the study of football as a local, national and global game. The goal here is to understand football as more than a game, but rather both a reflection of social forces and an influence on those forces.

 

The second half returns to these issues, but in a different context through analysis of the historical development of football in the 20^th century.  The goal here is to understand the dynamic element of the development of social issues regarding football.

 

Students, like football players, will be assigned a number of roles or positions on various teams over the course of the semester and be expected to gather particular information and contribute to class discussion accordingly.

 

First Half.  More than a Game: a survey of critical issues (week 1-8)

• The rules of the game

• Ancients and moderns: history through 1914

• Social origins, identity and spectator cultures

• Nationalism, race, gender and ethnicity

• The money game. The global game

 

Second Half. Evolution of the Global Game (week 9- 16)

• Football, empire and industry: 1870-1934

• Football’s short 20^th century: 1934-1974

• Things fall apart: 1974-1990

• Football and the end of history: 1990-today

 

Extra Time!

 

Student Responsibilities

Students are responsible for attending all class meetings, participating responsibly in class discussions and completing all class assignments on time. Students will be evaluated on their performance in the following areas.

 

·        Attendance and responsible participation. (10 percent of the final grade);

·        Critical Thinking papers.  Students will write three essays on important questions raised by the class.  Essays are limited to four single-spaced pages (about 2000 words).  Each essay counts for 20 percent of the final grade.

·        Final paper.  The final paper is an extended essay on a relevant topic of your choice.  This paper is limited to 6 single-spaced pages or about 3000 words.

These materials are intended for the exclusive use of my students at the University of Puget Sound.  No other use is authorized.