Sport, Culture and Society

Sport and culture have become increasingly prominent in contemporary society. The continuing spread of the cultural industries, sport's national and global profile and its contribution to the expression of personal, cultural and national identity, confirm the place of sport at the heart of a global consumer and media culture.

The MA is taught by internationally-renowned staff from the Chelsea School which, in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, was awarded the highest score awarded to any social-scientific sports submission.

Course structure

Dissertations are supervised by staff who are established scholars in the socio-cultural study of sport and leisure. University archives and data-sets on sports politics, organisations, the history of physical education, sport and leisure pedagogy, and discourse, policy and development provide a unique context for this area of study.

Areas of study

These courses provide the opportunity to study sport from a critical social science perspective drawing on sociology, history, geography, politics, philosophy and cultural studies. Students register for Sport, Culture and Society, Sport, Culture and Media, or International Sport Policy, depending on their specialist interests.

All three courses explore the diverse and complex relationships between sport and culture, sport as a cultural form and its relationship to society. Non-sporting cultural phenomena, such as leisure and popular culture, can also be studied within the embrace of an analysis of leisure cultures.

Career and progression opportunities

Training in research methods is provided in line with professional standards and expectations in both academic research and applied professional settings. This creates a sound basis on which to prepare dissertations, and from which to progress to research degrees such as MPhil or PhD.

Mode of Attendance : Full - time