ASSIGNMENT
• Analyze and contextualize a sporting topic through a formal writing assignment.
• Demonstrate a satisfactory understanding of the impact of neoliberalism and the neoliberal processes of individualization and privatization on sport and physical culture.
Instructions:
For this assignment, you are tasked with writing a formal academic essay of at least 1,250-1,500 words. Keep in mind, this minimum word requirement is based on the actual paragraphs of writing in the essay and does not include the title page and reference pages.
The goal of the essay is to effectively conduct a “sociological imagination” of one’s experience with either a public or private iteration of sport or physical culture. Specifically, students need to contextualize these sporting experience in relation to the processes of neoliberalism.
The purpose is to better understand the ongoing privatization of sport in the twenty-first century, the ways in which this privatization impacts people’s sporting experiences, and the ways in which this can be situated within the context of neoliberalism.
For this paper, students will need to:
1. Pick a contemporary sport with which they have some personal experience
a. NOTE: for this third essay, you can either examine the same sport from your second essay, or choose a new sport.
2. Do a bit of online research on this chosen sport using the Internet and TU Library resources (databases and catalog). Learn about the organization of the sport in the twenty-first century: is it mostly a “privatized” sporting opportunity? Is it mostly a “public” sport (meaning, opportunities are provided by governmental, municipal, or other public institutions)? If the sport is privatized, how has it been commercialized? Where are the sporting opportunities typically located, and how much do they cost?
3. Develop and write a formal essay in which you examine the ways in which neoliberal processes (i.e., privatization, “responsibilitization”) have impacted the sport.
The essay should be framed so as to address questions such as the following:
1. What is your personal experience with the privatized (or public) sport?
2. How or in what ways have the processes of neoliberalism impacted your experience with the sport?
3. What has been the specific impact of privatization on the sport?
