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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Sports and Society by Duke University

4.8
stars
1,193 ratings

About the Course

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....

Top reviews

MM

Nov 11, 2016

I loved this particular course. The topics are relevant. Each topic is supported by historical facts and examples and how is it relevant in the present time. It was a great learning experience!!!

LK

Jan 6, 2020

One of the best courses that mixed interesting facts with theories. I study sports management, it's really intriguing to see how sports social values entwined with each other in history!

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276 - 300 of 313 Reviews for Sports and Society

By Rajesh M

Nov 2, 2017

best

By Moulay A E T

Dec 16, 2023

ok

By victor c

May 13, 2019

c

By Deleted A

Sep 29, 2018

This online course is very interesting for people that enjoys playing and watching sports. To explain the impact of sports in society and the development of sports in general, ideas and studies of many social science experts are provided and translated to the sport reality. Many well-known sport facts and personalities are provided to support the arguments.

The lecturer (Orin Stark) presents the subjects and his personal opinion on an “easy-going” language. He is someone with who you could have a very pleasant pub conversation. His approach and “easy going” language make the course and its content interesting and easy to follow, also for people without any background in social sciences, like me.

I really enjoying this course!

By RaymondMistral

Sep 6, 2016

J'ai trouvé ce cours très intéressant. Il aborde de nombreux aspects du sport auxquels on ne pense pas toujours, mais qui sont très importants dans le monde contemporain. Le professeur Orin Starn est agréable à écouter et les illustrations permettent de bien visualiser de quoi il est question tout en maintenant les élèves attentifs au cours. Cependant, pour un non-anglophone, l'effort demandé en termes de lecture est parfois un peu trop important et il est difficile de terminer la lecture des articles avant la fin de la semaine.

By Razvan C

Apr 19, 2020

The course was very well structured and vividly presented with examples and very documented historical facts. The only problem I faced was the availability of resources. Some of the mandatory readings were missing and links provided errors. Nevertheless, very interesting topic and I am happy that I joined it.

By SANTOSH K

Jun 17, 2020

It has been a great experience to complete the course. The lectures are short and effective with one to one concept explanation with examples. The course instructor has been energetic and enthusiastic in every video with all his tropes to drive the points. Great learning experience. Thank you.

By Rebeca L

Jul 25, 2022

Hi, i found the course very interesting, learned so much. I would only say there are some big topics of conversation that need to be actualized, for example NCAA players being payed, that is something that happens now, amongst other things.

Thank you

By Abderramán B R S

May 15, 2022

El curso tiene un abaánico de temas muy ineresante. Aprendi cosas nuevas. Aunque por ser una universidad estadounidense sus temas están construido para analizar la sociedad de consumo de E.u.. Pero a pesar de esto recomiendo los cursos. Enhorabuena

By Charline R

May 23, 2022

Le cours est intéressant dans l'ensemble et l'enseignant est dynamique et très spécialiste sur le sujet. Cependant il y a certaines longueurs par moment, et la traduction (en français) n'est pas toujours adaptée.

By Martijn L

Apr 28, 2020

Interesting course, there's much more to the subject than I imagined before I took the course.

The lecture video's were good and the readings were complementary to it. I enjoyed the readings very much.

Martijn

By Kendell H

Oct 28, 2020

I enjoyed the course very much. It would be interesting to have an updated course since this one was completed to discuss and reflect on the increase in activism by athletes, especially in 2020

By SOUMYA J

May 28, 2020

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

By Pietro O

Apr 26, 2020

Wonderful course! Sport world is fast changing, so maybe some lessons are not super up to date, but Orin is a fantastic and passionate teacher: very very recommended

By Abrar H

Jun 20, 2020

A good course relating sports and society, bringing some interesting topics and history related to sports in light. Learnt a lot and really liked the course.

By Gerardo B P

Jan 31, 2019

Tiene una gran variedad de temáticas y la mayoría de los videos son dinámicos .

It has a great variety of topics and most of the videos are very dynamic.

By Joy S

Jun 3, 2017

surprisingly interesting and apropos considering I do not watch nor participate in any traditional team sports. Not just about the big sports.

By Aline K

Jun 19, 2020

I loved the course and the topics discussed during the lectures as I learned a lot of new things about sports and its relation to society :)

By Colleen O

Apr 24, 2020

i feel as though a few answers on some of the quizzes were wrong, which frustrated me, but I loved the material and highly recommend it

By Adrien B

Jul 13, 2022

A very good curriculum, that could do with a bit of brush up at times, but I can only recommend it!

By Francis B

Feb 2, 2016

Great course for sports coaches, PE teachers and anyone interested to pursue a career in sports.

By Humza S

Apr 9, 2022

Got to learn a lot about the culture and basics and the cores of sports and its concepts.

By Yoosaf A

Jul 20, 2020

Excellent approach to learning.The instructor really explains the things in great manner.

By Vaibhav K

Aug 24, 2021

most of the topics are covered. the flow of the course is not syncronized.

By Kriti S

May 11, 2020

fascinating to study and learn to know more about sports and society.