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.

Sports and Society

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Felipe M.

Jennifer J.

Larry W.

Chaitanya A.
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Reviewed on Dec 9, 2018
Professor Starn gives insight into the sports world and explains complex topics using anthropological reasoning in a way that makes sense to the average person. Great class!
Reviewed on Jul 23, 2017
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.
Reviewed on Oct 26, 2020
Informative, rich, all-embracing. I wish I could take it again! Fortunately, it left me with so many things to think about that it will stay with me for a long time.
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