Year three provides the opportunity to develop your skills and knowledge through researching for and writing a dissertation on a topic of your choice. There will then be a choice of optional modules allowing you to specialise in your areas of interest.
Analysing Public Policy
This module examines how public policy is made within government. It provides a critical understanding of how policy is formulated, implemented and evaluated.
The module focuses on key phases of the policy process, from agenda-setting to policy impact. The module provides an applied understanding of policy analysis by examining relevant case studies (for example, child abuse, ageing population).
Another Country: Crime and Crime Control in South Africa
This module looks at crime and ways of controlling it in South Africa (SA), a country with a different history and social structure to the UK. The focus will vary from year to year but is likely to include the:
- impact of colonialism and white minority rule on crime and crime control in SA since the country's transition to democracy in 1994
- relationship between forms of criminal and transitional justice and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in coming to terms with violations of human rights under apartheid
- nature and extent of crime in contemporary SA with a focus on contemporary problems such as gangsterism and organised crime, (sexual) violence against women and children and violent xenophobia
- usefulness of criminological theories developed in different social contexts (primarily in the US and the UK) in understanding and explaining crime in SA, and in suggesting ways of controlling it
- political economy of crime and crime control in one of the most unequal societies in the world and the relationships between crime and other forms of social harm, criminal justice and social justice, crime prevention and social policy
- history and development of policing and the response to crime including the reform of the state or public police, the pluralisation of policing and the 're-segregation' of South African society since the end of apartheid 1620
Capitalism and Social Justice: Moral Economies of Inequality
This module will address debates over the nature and meaning of inequality in contemporary society. It will consider these debates from the perspective of historical sociology looking initially at the idea of a distinction between capitalist political economy and pre-capitalist moral economy (E.P. Thompson), going on to discuss alternative accounts of political economy as a form of moral economy, such as those offered by Karl Polanyi, T.H. Marshall, as well as recent French pragmatist thought associated with Luc Boltanski, and the arguments of Thomas Piketty.
The module will discuss substantive topics of race, gender and class and also the impact of colonialism (and post-colonialism) on the formation of Western welfare states. The module will conclude with a discussion of sociology as critique of liberal public reason.
Climate Change and Society
This module deals with the interface between climate change, energy systems, society and culture, focusing on:
- the making of climate science; understanding controversy over the role of climate science in public policies
- the social, policy and cultural meanings and communication of climate science and climate change
- the impact of climate change concerns on energy systems
- the social, economic and ethical issues raised by energy production technologies including sustainable energy
- social practices and energy consumption
- climate, energy and society from a global perspective
Contemporary Developments in Welfare Policy
This module will explore the contemporary developments and debates in the provision and delivery of welfare services. It will examine theories of welfare, the funding of the welfare state and key changes in welfare policies, such as the increasing focus on markets and consumer choice, partnerships, the personalisation of service delivery, and the increasing role of the not-for-profit sector in service delivery.
Cults and New Religious Movements: Power, Belief and Conflict
This module serves as an introduction to the study of new religious movements, including groups sometimes referred to as 'cults', and the theoretical concepts used to understand them. A particular focus will be on the degree of tension such groups exhibit with their broader social and religious environments, as well as how they are conceived, both in academia and the media.
It will also consider how issues discussed more broadly in sociology, such as deviance, authority, violence, modernity, globalisation, sex and gender, and group dynamics, bear on our understanding of new religious movements.
Education and Society
This module seeks to connect the historical and more contemporary debates in education to a critical understanding of society. The main focus is through a discussion of sociological, philosophical and policy based issues to explore the purpose of education in a modern globalised world. This however only becomes possible if we question more neutral and instrumental approaches to education and seek to more explicitly explore its connection to more normative values and concerns.
In this respect, the module will seek to connect ideas in education to a diversity of ways of conceiving of citizenship now and within the past. Most of the module is informed by European, North and South American traditions within sociology although it will also draw on examples and ideas from elsewhere.
Evaluating Public and Social Policy
Using examples from UK and international policy evaluation, this module considers:
- what we mean by policy evaluation, how it has evolved, its role in the policymaking process and how it relates to the use of evidence in policymaking
- strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, theories and models of policy evaluation: topics include theories of change, realistic evaluation, impact evaluation, economic evaluation, process evaluation, systematic reviews and participatory evaluation
- different evaluative research designs
- politics and ethics of policy evaluation
Exploring Social and Cultural Life Through Films
Using different genres of film, this module examines contemporary theoretical and empirical debates in relation to a host of issues closely associated with the production and contestation of identity, culture, and everyday life, by underpinning the central theoretical theme of cultural production, consumption, and practices.
The module will illustrate the problematics of culture through the sociological exploration of social condition; identity; consumerism; consumption; consumer culture; slavery; choice; voluntary simplicity; intimacy; body; embodiment; sexual culture; desire; sexuality; bisexuality; transgenderism; dress; fashion; multiculturalism; human rights; and social inclusion/exclusion.
Gender and the Media
This module will explore key debates and issues around contemporary representations of gender in the Anglo-American media. It will draw on case studies from a range of media genres, including television, men's and women's magazines and newspapers, as well as considering questions of audience, pleasure and spectatorship.
It will examine how mediated representations of gender intersect with other axes of difference such as 'race', class and sexuality, further exploring how changing mediated gender representations might be linked to wider social change.
Gender, the Family and Social Policy
Introducing feminist approaches to social policy, this module considers how social policy and the development of the welfare state have been underpinned by ideas around gender difference and the structure and responsibilities of the family.
We will examine feminist perspectives on welfare, considering how policy might reflect and perpetuate the gendered division of labour in the family and society more broadly. For example, we will examine whether the 'male breadwinner' model has been replaced by a policy commitment to gender equality.
The module will thus examine how social policy excludes or incorporates women at the intersection of the public/private divide, problematising the terms 'justice', 'citizenship' and 'inequality' in relation to gender. Throughout, we will also consider how gender intersects with other axes of difference and inequality, such as 'race' and class.
Global Tourism and its Complexities
This module will explore contemporary theoretical debates in the sociology of tourism, with particular emphasis on how tourism locations are constructed, developed and sustained; the powers and dangers of the 'tourist gaze'; tourism labour markets; tourism and identity; tourism and risk; and social/cultural change.
Governance and Policy in Africa and Asia in International Comparative Context
This module examines responses to challenges facing social policy makers in Africa and Asia taking a comparative case study approach. Topics include:
- approaches to the study of international comparative governance and policy
- designing and delivering inclusive and sustainable healthcare, social security, education and criminal justice systems in countries with large rural and informal urban sectors
- good governance and building institutions to challenge corruption
- rural-urban migration and the challenges of creating urban infrastructure and sustainable cities
- food security and famines
- indigeneity and social policy in contested spaces
- social policy in failed states and during conflict and war
- working with international agenciesInternational comparative research methods
Migration and Transnationalism
This module examines key issues and concepts connected to the movement and settlement of people in Europe and beyond. Informed by a transnational studies perspective, the module considers migration debates and practices in a critical, comparative and historically informed manner.
The first part of the module explores the political, social and economic factors that cause people to move in an increasingly interconnected world. The second part of the module is dedicated to the examination of the different theories of integration and settlement and processes of inclusion and exclusion.
The key issues and concepts addressed will include those of transnationalism and diaspora; gender and intersectionality; transnational families and global care chains; multiculturalism, integration and assimilation; identity, home and belonging.
Nationalisms: the Politics of Belonging and Exclusion
This module provides a series of historically contextualised and theoretically informed discussions of nation-states and various nation-centred or nationalist politics and discourses of identity. Topics covered include:
- the significance of 'the nation' to classical sociology
- an engagement with a variety of theoretical paradigms and conceptual frameworks pertaining to the historical origins and institutional as well as symbolic 'workings' of nations and nationalisms
- discussion of different and competing models of national belonging and exclusion
- a focus on the changing historical contexts of modernity and post-modernity and their respective impact on nation-states and the politics of national identity
- discussions of the contemporary relevance of globalisation and the European Union
- analyses of the place of nationalism in everyday life, of the role of memory in the politics of national identities, and of ethnic pluralism
Rehabilitation, Risk and Desistance
This module aims to develop critical understandings of:
- the concepts of 'offender' rehabilitation and the changing nature of rehabilitative enterprises over time
- the role of risk in the organisation of the criminal justice system and responses to offending
- research about desistance from crime and its relationship to rehabilitation and risk
The module will explore the role of key agencies involved in rehabilitation including the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies and the experiences of those subject to community justice.
Religion and Society in Modern China
This module will introduce you to Chinese religion as a social phenomenon, and provide an overview of the officially-recognised belief systems comprising China's religious landscape.
It will examine the doctrines, practices and institutions of different religious groups, while also considering the unofficial traditions that play an important role in modern Chinese religiosity. Major topics covered include:
- Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism
- folk belief and new religious movements (NRMs)
- China's ongoing Confucian revival
- policies affecting the governance of religion, and their history
- the social dimensions of modern Chinese religion
Restorative Justice Theory and Practice
This module aims to explore the purpose and application of various restorative approaches which address crime and conflict within various social contexts. This includes:
- theoretical underpinnings and related practices
- risks, opportunities and threats to participants
- practical applications within various contexts, such as community, schools, workplace and the penal system
- application across the range of criminal behaviours from simple offences to complex and sensitive case examples
- evaluation of international/localised developments
- applications of restorative models and policy from a variety of jurisdictions
Sex, Crime and Society
Topics covered in this module include:
- History: a historical case study of sexual practices and labelled deviances (sexuality in Renaissance Venice)
- Today: emergent social issue case studies (child sexual abuse and male rape)
- Public parlance, mass media, and the press with sex as subject
- Sex offenders within and outside society: Probation and prison
- Sex crimes and the criminal justice system in England and Wales: specific focus on recidivism
- Religion and sexual practice: immoral acts?
- Man and beast as partners: historical and contemporary perspectives
- Sexuality, feminism, and the law
- Sex as trade: sex trafficking and slavery
- Adolescent experimentation: young people, sex, and consent
- Sexual violence: survivors' narratives
Terrorism and Extremism in the UK
This module examines terrorism and extremism as a contemporary and contentious issue in criminology. Consequently, you will examine the United Kingdom's response to terrorism and extremism.
The module explores the case study of Northern Ireland and seeks to place current security threats to the United Kingdom in context. As a result the following indicative issues (subject to change) will be examined:
- Definitional debates
- The fear of terrorism
- Examination of a range of historical and contemporary terrorist threats to the UK
- The role of the criminal justice system in responding to and preventing terrorism and extremism
- Counter terrorism: The balancing of security and rights to liberty and privacy; the ethics of counter terrorism
Work, Employment and Society
This module considers:
- historical and comparative study of work (paid and unpaid), employment and society
- the changing nature and meaning of work in society
- social inequalities in work such as class, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality
- heoretical and empirical understandings of work