Winter Quarter, 2015
Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Sport and Society: Why Sports Are Less than War but More than a Game
Craig LeMay, Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Medill School of Journalism Tuesday mornings, 9:30 11:30 a.m., Norris University Center
Sports are more than entertainment, more than popular culture. They are a social institution no less than education, religion, family, or the military, and no less important. Sports are the oldest form of "reality television" and the most expensive, highest-earning media product in the global entertainment industry. Americans, perhaps more than people from most Western cultures, see sport as a metaphorical training ground for "life." Life in this case includes commerce and industry, domestic and international politics (including war), gender identity and sexuality, race and ethnic relations, religion and spirituality, and popular culture. In America, if you can name it, sports have an analog for it. This course considers sports in some of these various contexts.