Britain and the Global Game

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

There is no other cultural practice more global than soccer. From its 19th century origins to the present day, the hold "the global game" has on billions of people is profound. Through everyday involvement in soccer, people define who they are as well as who they think others are. As "The Home of Football," Britain's relationship to the game is fundamental to its relationship with the rest of the world, and a thorough understanding of soccer history will serve students well while studying abroad in London. The course begins with the codification of its rules by elites in the Victorian Era and comes of age during the Second Industrial Revolution as the game moved down the socio-economic scale, "from the classes to the masses." During the early 20th century, soccer also became a tool of "soft power" as it travelled to nearly every corner of the British Empire, and it factored into the formation of national identities during two world wars. With the game at its post-war peak, it then suffered a dramatic decline, culminating with its violent nadir in Thatcherite England. Finally, the course will look at the coming of the English Premier League, an era that has set the stage for the massively influential cultural export, perhaps "Britain's most durable export."