MSc Sociology of Sport and Exercise

Applications are expected from students who have studied sport and exercise sciences, sociology, education, health or history, or similar graduates with a relevant first degree (minimum of 2:2 honours or equivalent).

Applications from students with related work experience in the fields of sport, education, health and leisure are welcome.

https://www1.chester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/sociology-sport-and-exercise

Graduates from such programmes are highly sought after in the following areas of employment: continued study at the PhD level; research/lecturing in further and higher education; community sports development programmes in local authorities and voluntary organisations; management of sporting/leisure facilities in the private sector; sport and education; administrative/management roles in Sports Councils/governing bodies of sport; sports journalism.

Programme Structure:

Theories of Sport and Exercise

This module introduces students to the key sociological theories and their applicability to our understanding of sport and exercise. Focuses in particular, on Marxism, symbolic interactionism, figurational sociology and feminism.

The Development and Structure of Modern Sport

This module introduces students to the applicability of sociological theories in advancing our understanding of the development of modern sport. Following an analysis of ‘sport’ in Greek, Roman and Medieval societies, the module focuses upon the emergence of modern sport during the 19th century and concludes by examining the processes involved in the diffusion and globalisation of sport in the 21st centuries.

Issues in Contemporary Sport and Exercise

Understanding sport and exercise requires an adequate appreciation of the place of sport in the wider society of which it is a part; that is to say, an appreciation of the networks that people form and the consequences of these interdependencies for involvement in both leisure-sport (including ‘exercise’) and top-level sport. This module will focus on issues such as: the relationship of sport to race, gender, class and disability; participation in sport and exercise settings; sport and drugs; sport and violence; nationalism and sport; the professionalisation, commercialisation and commodification of sport; sport and the media; the relationship between sport and health; sport as a lifestyle; exercise as a means of rehabilitation, and the dilemmas surrounding ‘sport for all’ policies.

Research Methods

This module covers all aspects of the research process. It covers issues in the philosophy and theory of social science; the role of sociological theory and values in the research process; research strategies and designs; sources and types of data (including sampling and survey research; participant and non-participant observation; forms of interviewing and documentary analysis) and techniques of data analysis.

Sociology of Physical Education

This module introduces students to the key sociological issues involved in physical education (PE). It will focus, in particular, on the philosophies and ideologies of PE; sport and exercise in PE; PE and health; the National PE Curriculum, as well as related issues such as gender, social inclusion and careers in PE.

Sociology of Leisure

This module introduces students to the key issues, from a sociological perspective, involved in leisure and management. It caters for those students who are vocationally oriented towards careers in the field of leisure management and those who are already employed within the field. It will develop students’ sociological understanding of their work environments as well as focusing on: work, spare time and leisure; sociological perspectives in the sociology of leisure; the politics of leisure policies; the historical development of leisure; sports tourism, as well as issues such as gender, social class and globalisation.

Sociology of Sports Development and Sports Policy

This module is designed to give students a sociological understanding of the key issues involved in sport policy and development. It caters for those students looking to use their Masters qualification to pursue a career in these areas and to bolster the opportunities for those within these employment sectors. It will focus on: the sports policy process; managing sports organisations; ‘sport for all policy’; community sports development; sport, inequality and social inclusion; sport and social development; sport and urban regeneration; sport and social control; sport, crime and drug use; and sport and health.

Sociology of Health and Exercise

This module introduces students to the key issues involved in health-related exercise. It caters for those interested in pursuing a career in the field of health-related exercise and those already employed within the field of health-related exercise. It will focus on: the social relations of physical activity; exercise and sport; health benefits of physical activity; sport policy and health policy,  promoting physical activity in health care; exercise on prescription; epidemiology of sports injuries; pain and the tolerance of pain in sport; the development of sports medicine; child abuse and sex abuse in sport.

Sociology of Sports Journalism and the Mass Media

This module is designed to give students an understanding, from a sociological perspective, of the key issues involved in sport and the mass media. Similar to other optional models, it caters for those pursuing a sports-related career in the media and those already employed within the media. It will focus on: the history of media sport; globalisation and the media/sport production complex; television, sport and sponsorship; reporting sport; the audience experience of media sport; sport, media and gender; sport, media and nationalism; sport, media and violence; sport, media and ethnicity.

Sociology of Sports Law

This module is designed to enable students to understand better the inter-relationships between changes in sports law, policy, and the implications of this for the organisation of modern sport. It will focus on such issues as legislation of sport, freedom of movement, the independent sports review, declarations of national identity, sports agents and regulation, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Research Project

This module requires students to build on the skills and knowledge acquired in the five taught modules to carry out a minor library-based research project of the kind which may be required in many sport-related occupations. The specific content will vary according to the research area chosen by the student. This module will be delivered according to a combination of individual tutorial supervision, autonomous library-based study and appropriate lectures and/or seminars. This module will be assessed by a research project of not more than 10.000 words and will only be taken by those students seeking to graduate with intermediate or PG Diploma exit awards.

Dissertation

Students will carry out a substantial piece of independent research under supervision from staff at the CCRSS. This research will be theoretically and methodologically informed as well as empirically grounded and will focus on sport-related issues of the student’s choice. This module will be assessed in the form of a written dissertation of not less than 16,500 words and not more than 22,000 words.

In all modules students are able to complete assessments on topics of their own choosing and that may enable them to tailor the programmme to their own personal research and career interests.