Lesson 4 Overview

 

Introduction

Welcome to Lesson 4 for COMM 412: Sports, Media, and Society. We’ve laid a foundation for the course by considering definitions of sport and theories about the interplay between (spectator) sport and society. I hope you agree that we’ve established that there is a significant relationship between our cultural ideologies and the way we construct and consume sports.

For the rest of the semester, we’ll be looking at a variety of issues from this foundation. This week, we’re going to consider the role of amateurism (in contrast to professionalism) in elite sport.

Amateurism is a powerful idea/ideal in sport, influencing the ways people pursue sport and think about it.

We’ll consider the virtues we might attach to amateurism—and how those virtues might serve the industries that produce sports spectacles for fans and spectators.

Objectives

Here are the objectives for this lesson:

• Examine the concept of amateurism and its relationship to the ideals of sport.
• Discuss whether the amateur ideal is still relevant in sport.

Lesson Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 4 Course Schedule.