Quantitative Social Sciences (Politics) BSc

Core modules:

Data Visualisation

This module consists of three key elements. The first is principles of good graphic design, combined with how figures can be used to lie and mislead. The second is learning how to make a wide range of graphs, maps, and figures, for a wide range of different audiences, using the latest and most powerful software. The third is interpreting visual representations of data, whether from other sources or by students on the module themselves, and using them to answer substantive research questions. Fundamentally, this is a hands-on module that allows students to make and understand data visualisations.

10 credits

Introductory Quantitative Data Analysis for Social Scientists

This unit provides students with training in, and hands-on experience of, introductory quantitative data analysis techniques for social scientists. Students are introduced to descriptive statistics, data distributions, commonly encountered mathematical functions, principles of hypothesis testing, principles of statistical inference, and methods for testing bivariate relationships. The course includes hands-on experience of some commonly used statistical methods.

20 credits

Introductory Research Project in Quantitative Social Science

This unit introduces students to the skills required for the effective design, execution and communication of a social science research project utilising quantitative methods. Students will construct their own research project aimed at answering a particular problem in social science, will identify, obtain and analyse the data necessary to answer that question, and will present their findings both on a written project report and in a poster paper to be presented at a student conference.

20 credits

Survey Design and Data Collection

Survey method is commonly used by government, business and other organisations to understand changes in the society. Yet, not always it leads to producing meaningful analysis as a result of bad survey design choices. This module will improve your understanding of the art of asking survey questions and the science underpinning survey data collection. Specifically, you will learn how to design an effective questionnaire, whom to include in the survey sample, how to organised your fieldwork and finally, how to process raw data and manage the final dataset. You will use online survey software to practice your skills.

10 credits

Optional modules - two from:

Introduction to Comparative Politics

This module examines the utility of the comparative approach to politics with a particular focus on democracies, dictatorships, and semi-democratic regimes. The key features of each regime type are considered and these are used to explain the nature of the comparative method, its strengths and weaknesses. This course also applies a comparative lens to processes such as democratisation, modernisation, and mobilisation. This course will draw on a wide range of examples from democratic, authoritarian, and semi-democratic countries.

20 credits

British Politics

This module will introduce students to key concepts and debates in British politics through an examination of post-1976 British political history. Each lecture will take as its starting-point one day in recent British history and will describe what happened on that day and what happened as a result of that day. Each of the seminars will then follow that discussion: paying particular attention to concepts and ideas within the study of politics which can help us make sense of those events.

20 credits

Introduction to Global Political Economy

This module provides an introduction to global political economy (GPE). It covers key mainstream and critical theories and considers critically what GPE is. Following this, the main focus will be on sketching the outlines of the global economy (past and present) by considering particular commodities. This provides a novel way to introduce the student to the major processes of global trade, finance and production. It also considers the political economy of race, class and gender as core theoretical themes that interweave the empirical examination of the global political economy, from roughly 1500 through to the 21st century.

20 credits

Analysing Politics

This module is about (1) politics, and (2) how to analyse it. More specifically, it involves (1) understanding how power and truth operate in the contemporary world; and (2) discovering different ways to research these dynamics so as to build compelling and rigorous accounts of the political worlds that we find ourselves a part of. Students will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, and independent study; and will be assessed on the basis of an essay and online multiple-choice tests.

20 credits

Introduction to Western Political Thought

This module provides an introduction to key themes and thinkers in Western political thought. It explores the different meanings of the nature of politics and the political in this tradition. One key theme will be the relation between human nature and politics. This will be explored through a series of deep conflicts between reason and desire, the state and individual, and the public and private. These conflicts are examined through the different visions of politics of a selection of ancient and early modern thinkers. The module will also engage with critiques of the canon of Western political thought itself, in particular from a postcolonial perspective.

20 credits

Planet Politics

From the atmosphere to Antarctic ice sheets, the Earth has been fundamentally transformed by human activity: we now inhabit a ‘human planet’. At the same time, from mining and agriculture to modern patterns of resource consumption, humankind has become dependent on the very activities that have caused these transformations. 

Far from being automatic or inevitable, these transformations are deeply political on multiple levels – in their causes, in their consequences, and in the many arguments and differences over how to respond to them. 

This module will introduce students to some of this ‘Planet Politics’. It will consider questions such as: 

Are we on the verge of a planetary ecological crisis? 

Is capitalism the problem, or the solution? 

Are there just too many people? 

Is meaningful international environmental cooperation possible? 

What are the vested interests obstructing change? What forms of social resistance are appropriate? 

What is ‘environmental justice’? 

Examining both key environmental and resource issues and the main approaches to studying them, the module asks some of the biggest questions about life: how should we live, and what should we do?

20 credits

The World's Wicked Problems

This module will introduce students to key international relations concepts and discussions. Students will be able to understand, analyse and reflect on some of  the most pressing issues in the international arena including: 

migration

climate change

poverty and global inequalities

sexual violence 

armed conflict 

This introductory module will equip students with the tools to continue engaging with more in-depth theoretical and empirical international relations discussions as they progress through their studies.

20 credits

Gender and the World

This module aims to interrogate the role of gender and sex in shaping world politics. To do this, it asks how notions of masculinity and femininity shape our institutions, how gender might influence the political problems we prioritise and whose voices are taken seriously in developing responses to these problems. 

Students will answer these questions through the study of the politicisation of sex, the relationship between gender and violence, how current practices of gender are shaped by colonialism and a range of other timely topics that shape the world today. 

The module will allow students to develop an understanding of different approaches to gender, be introduced to key concepts from feminism and queer theory, learn to apply these ideas practically to a set of case studies and debate what the future of gender is in world politics. 

20 credits

Political Violence

This module will provide students with an introduction to political violence and begins by engaging with debates over the conceptualisation of violence, and when violence should be understood as “political”.  It will then introduce students to debates over the causes and consequences of violence through an examination of specific topics, which may include:

histories of violence

terrorism

interstate war

settler-colonial violence

structural violence

slow violence

gender based violence

war ecologies

the politics of violence prevention

violent resistance

attempts to regulate violence.  



We will explore these themes by asking how violence is refracted through race, gender, ethnicity, and other forms of social difference. Students will have the opportunity to explore these topics through specific examples and develop the necessary skills to apply them in practice. 

The module will allow students to develop an understanding of the key theories, concepts, issues and themes in the study of political violence by:

understanding the debates on the conceptualisation of “violence” and what makes violence “political”

developing skills in critical analysis, writing, and presentation

developing the ability to apply theories and issues to specific cases of political violence

20 credits

Race and Racism in World Politics

Through historical and contemporary case studies, students will study how our world today has been shaped by historical events, many of which continue to inform current relations. We will discover how discourses around race, ethnicity, gender and class construct realities today, determining who rules and who is ruled, who lives and who dies. 

The module will give students a theoretical toolkit, including approaches from the majority world, enabling them to appreciate power and the political significance of silences in accounts of the global and political.

We will learn about the historical production of the idea of race; how it configured the world in particular ways; how race mandated the colonial project. However, the module will also go beyond race to think about colonialism and the identities that operate in conjunction with race including class, ethnicity, and gender, and how they can determine what type of life people can live or whether they can live at all. For example, they determine whether a child has the right to security, or has to risk losing life in the Mediterranean escaping violence at home. 

Students will also learn about resistance and efforts to construct a different and more just world. Through rich historical and contemporary case studies, students will learn how to connect theories to understand current affairs, drawing on thinkers from various backgrounds to counter some of the dominant narratives within international relations.

20 credits

Optional modules (20 credits) - one or two from:

Exploring Human Geographies

The module provides an introduction to key principles, relations and processes that contribute to social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of human geography.  It looks at spatial patterns of power, inequality and interdependence produced by economic and cultural globalisation, how those are experienced at the local scale, and how they have changed over time.  It outlines key concepts and current debates shaping how human geographers approach these issues by drawing on examples from around the world and at a variety of geographical scales.  It highlights the value of a geographical perspective on the world we live in.

20 credits

Living with Environmental Change

This module will introduce students to a wide range of critical environmental issues facing the world today from physical science and social science perspectives. Using a range of environmental problems evident in the Global North and Global South (such as climate change, habit loss, water resources, land-use change, agriculture), the physical and social processes implicated will be examined. Drawing on a range of examples, students will critically explore the causes, consequences, management and solutions to environmental issues and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.

20 credits

Why Geography Matters

Geography helps us plan for the future by investigating social and physical processes as they interconnect from the past through to the present. Geographers actively contribute to contemporary debates across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.  We address some of the most pressing issues facing the modern world, from climate change to food security, informing policy and practice. The module provides a challenging but accessible insight into the origins of the discipline and how these translate into the cutting edge of contemporary geographical research, and how this helps us understand our changing world. Serving as a bridge between the general introductory modules, and the more specialist modules taught at levels 2 and 3, this module provides an opportunity for students to engage with topical issues in contemporary human and physical geography led by academics actively engaged in cutting edge research on those subjects. Because you will be exposed to a wide range of topical areas and multiple approaches to these you will have the opportunity to enhance your understanding of the contexts and perspectives that inform  decision making and how those decisions can result in greater or lesser social justice.  You will also be able to develop your ability to apply knowledge to real world examples.

20 credits

Comprehending Criminology

This module introduces students to key areas of criminological definitions, empirical study, theory and the development of criminal justice systems. The module looks at case studies of crime and deviance from contemporary life to help students understand how some of the history and theory of criminology can be brought to bear on social and legal issues. Topics may feature, for example, youth crime, spouse murder, football hooliganism and credit card crime but also other areas if and when interesting cases arise.

20 credits

Introducing Criminological Research

This module focuses on how crucial criminological topics have been investigated. The module is taught by lectures and seminars/classes and assessed by two 'take-home' exercises. In the seminars/classes students will work in small groups to examine real research studies, and work out how to tackle research problems.

20 credits

The Changing Landscape

This module aims to: - Introduce landscape and environmental planning as a means of intervening in landscape at the large scale. - Provide an understanding of landscape formation, change and the drivers of change. - Introduce the toolkit available to landscape planners. - Introduce the theory and technique of Landscape Character Assessment. - Develop report writing skills and visual literacy. - Introduce students to GIS. By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate understanding of/proficiency in: - The influences and processes that shape landscape. - The relationship between landscape planning and landscape policy. - Sourcing and interpreting landscape information. - Appreciating the (sometimes controversial) nature of landscape change. - Landscape Character and Landscape Character Assessment at an introductory level. Communicating landscape data and analysis at a planning scale in a critical imaginative and creative manner.

20 credits

Business Management in Context

This module introduces students to the impact that society has on business and vice versa. It seeks to develop students' awareness of the importance of considering and understanding the social context within which businesses and managers operate. Through a critical exploration of contemporary issues, it highlights the importance of socially responsible work practices and challenges participants to reconsider their preconceived notions of how business should operate.

20 credits

Management Themes and Perspectives

The module introduces students to some of the key themes and perspectives within a number of different subject disciplines within management. Through a series of 4 two-week 'packages' the module will introduce students to key issues within marketing, sustainable development, operations management and strategic management. The module is designed to help students to start to identify the interconnections between the different disciplines within management and to see how differing perspectives tackle key contemporary challenges. The module will be delivered through a series of 2-week subject 'packages' by experts in the different disciplines. While the lectures will provide the foundation for student learning, this will be supplemented by guest speakers from within industry to apply concepts to actual business settings. Seminars will provide space for more detailed discussion of issues and topics covered during the module. Key skills sessions will also be interspersed between the different subject packages so that students will be able to develop these generic skills which they can utilise in the various assessments components and for which they will receive feedback.

20 credits

Information and Communication Skills

The skills needed to be able to find, evaluate, summarise and critically evaluate information are all vital to success in an undergraduate degree programme, and are also key transferable skills. This module provides basic knowledge of a range of methods for information-gathering and forms of communication. The teaching is delivered through a mix of lectures, tutorials and seminars, with students expected to take more responsibility for their own learning as the module progresses. Lectures provide basic knowledge on method for information gathering and forms of communication, whilst seminars, tutorials and a range of exercises are used to develop these skills

10 credits

Housing and Home

Issues relating to housing, homes, streets and neighbourhoods that we live in are in the news every day. Whether this is over concerns about housing shortages, affordability, housing bubbles, 'generation rent', social housing, housing evictions, Covid lockdown, city-centre housing, DIY and 'grand designs', or debates about the domestic sphere, 'home as a haven', 'benefit streets', flooding and shack settlements, housing is often at the centre of social science research. This module aims to introduce students to this broad and diverse subject by drawing on the expertise of staff who research across these multiple themes. The module focuses on contemporary concerns, while maintaining an appreciation of the impact of historical trends (e.g. the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8). The module will make use of cases from the UK and abroad to illustrate trends, arguments and challenges. The module introduced students to various concepts and debates relating to housing, as well as indicating the linkages to housing and urban policy.

10 credits

The Making of Urban Places

This module will introduce you to cities and urbanisation, from the very first settlements to contemporary metropolises, using examples from across the world. The module focuses on thinking about the role of cities within societies and civilisations throughout history. The first half, on the history of urbanisation and urban settlement, looks at how various forces have shaped cities, and the outcomes of urbanisation for cities and their populations. The second half, on contemporary global urbanisation challenges, examines some of the major global challenges facing cities today. Throughout, we will explore influential ideas which have changed our thinking about cities, and look at how urban governments and planners have sought to respond to the challenges of urbanisation.

20 credits

Development, Planning and the State

The module provides an introduction to spatial planning in theory and practice, exploring arguments for and against spatial planning and the rationale for state intervention into land and property development. The first part of the module covers key debates on the purposes of planning, the historical development of planning as a state activity and the current structure of national, regional and local government. The central part of the module introduces key aspects of the English planning system and key debates about its role and purpose. The final third of the module explores how spatial planning responds to major societal challenges.

20 credits

The Sociology of Everyday Life

This module aims to introduce students to basic sociological concepts, such as 'the sociological imagination', 'social interaction', 'social identity', 'deviance' and 'globalisation' and illustrate how these can be applied to everyday life. Drawing on the work of key thinkers in sociology, a range of everyday life situations, such as mobile phone use, shopping and travel will be used as exemplary cases

10 credits

Understanding Inequality

The aim of this unit is to explore a key concern of sociology to explain how and why material and symbolic rewards are distributed unequally. It will consider the unequal distribution of wealth, privilege and power and, in doing so, will question common-sense understandings of various inequalities in society. It will focus on various social divisions including the 'big three' of social class, gender and race, as well as sexuality, age, religion and disability. Major themes will be explored with a predominantly British- and policy-related focus, although global divisions and inequalities will also be included for consideration.

10 credits

Gender, Sexuality and Society

This unit intends to address the following questions regarding gender and sexuality and their interaction with society: What do we mean by gender and sexuality? How do we do gender and sexuality? How do we see gender and sexuality? How do we control gender and sexuality?

10 credits

Introducing Criminology

Crime is a major social problem in virtually all societies. In this module, sociological understandings of crime are discussed, often with reference to their implications for policy. The module will introduce you to major research about crime in contemporary Britain and help you to understand the contribution of sociology to its analysis. This module will be of value to anyone thinking about a career in the criminal justice services, journalism, public service, the voluntary sector and anyone interested in understanding the significance of crime in contemporary British society

10 credits

Classical Sociological Theory

The aim of this module is to introduce foundational theories in sociology. The lectures will describe the ideas of leading theorists Durkheim, Marx, Du Bois and Weber with reference to the social context in which they lived and wrote. Lectures will analyze the primary texts of sociological throught with reference to the social contexts in which they emerged. This will include a look at the concerns of the first generation of sociological thinkers, their understanding of changes in European societies at the time, and the way in which their ideas inform an understanding of issues and problems in the contemporary world.

10 credits

Welfare Politics and the State

This unit introduces students to some of the material and theoretical concerns of social policy by focusing on the politics of 'welfare'. It is organised around unpacking common contemporary 'welfare myths' - e.g. 'the benefit scrounger', 'welfare tourism' and the need for austerity - by taking a long view of their articulation through history, exploring their ideological roots, examining policy responses and assessing the empirical evidence to support them. In doing so the unit also focuses on the policy making process, examining in particular issues of power in contemporary UK and the role of the media in perpetrating 'welfare myths'.

10 credits

British Politics

This module will introduce students to key concepts and debates in British politics through an examination of post-1976 British political history. Each lecture will take as its starting-point one day in recent British history and will describe what happened on that day and what happened as a result of that day. Each of the seminars will then follow that discussion: paying particular attention to concepts and ideas within the study of politics which can help us make sense of those events.

20 credits

Introduction to Global Political Economy

This module provides an introduction to global political economy (GPE). It covers key mainstream and critical theories and considers critically what GPE is. Following this, the main focus will be on sketching the outlines of the global economy (past and present) by considering particular commodities. This provides a novel way to introduce the student to the major processes of global trade, finance and production. It also considers the political economy of race, class and gender as core theoretical themes that interweave the empirical examination of the global political economy, from roughly 1500 through to the 21st century.

20 credits

Analysing Politics

This module is about (1) politics, and (2) how to analyse it. More specifically, it involves (1) understanding how power and truth operate in the contemporary world; and (2) discovering different ways to research these dynamics so as to build compelling and rigorous accounts of the political worlds that we find ourselves a part of. Students will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, and independent study; and will be assessed on the basis of an essay and online multiple-choice tests.

20 credits

Planet Politics

From the atmosphere to Antarctic ice sheets, the Earth has been fundamentally transformed by human activity: we now inhabit a ‘human planet’. At the same time, from mining and agriculture to modern patterns of resource consumption, humankind has become dependent on the very activities that have caused these transformations. 

Far from being automatic or inevitable, these transformations are deeply political on multiple levels – in their causes, in their consequences, and in the many arguments and differences over how to respond to them. 

This module will introduce students to some of this ‘Planet Politics’. It will consider questions such as: 

Are we on the verge of a planetary ecological crisis? 

Is capitalism the problem, or the solution? 

Are there just too many people? 

Is meaningful international environmental cooperation possible? 

What are the vested interests obstructing change? What forms of social resistance are appropriate? 

What is ‘environmental justice’? 

Examining both key environmental and resource issues and the main approaches to studying them, the module asks some of the biggest questions about life: how should we live, and what should we do?

20 credits

The World's Wicked Problems

This module will introduce students to key international relations concepts and discussions. Students will be able to understand, analyse and reflect on some of  the most pressing issues in the international arena including: 

migration

climate change

poverty and global inequalities

sexual violence 

armed conflict 

This introductory module will equip students with the tools to continue engaging with more in-depth theoretical and empirical international relations discussions as they progress through their studies.

20 credits

Introducing Criminological Research

This module focuses on how crucial criminological topics have been investigated. The module is taught by lectures and seminars/classes and assessed by two 'take-home' exercises. In the seminars/classes students will work in small groups to examine real research studies, and work out how to tackle research problems.

20 credits

Introduction to Comparative Politics

This module examines the utility of the comparative approach to politics with a particular focus on democracies, dictatorships, and semi-democratic regimes. The key features of each regime type are considered and these are used to explain the nature of the comparative method, its strengths and weaknesses. This course also applies a comparative lens to processes such as democratisation, modernisation, and mobilisation. This course will draw on a wide range of examples from democratic, authoritarian, and semi-democratic countries.

20 credits

Introduction to Western Political Thought

This module provides an introduction to key themes and thinkers in Western political thought. It explores the different meanings of the nature of politics and the political in this tradition. One key theme will be the relation between human nature and politics. This will be explored through a series of deep conflicts between reason and desire, the state and individual, and the public and private. These conflicts are examined through the different visions of politics of a selection of ancient and early modern thinkers. The module will also engage with critiques of the canon of Western political thought itself, in particular from a postcolonial perspective.

20 credits

Gender and the World

This module aims to interrogate the role of gender and sex in shaping world politics. To do this, it asks how notions of masculinity and femininity shape our institutions, how gender might influence the political problems we prioritise and whose voices are taken seriously in developing responses to these problems. 

Students will answer these questions through the study of the politicisation of sex, the relationship between gender and violence, how current practices of gender are shaped by colonialism and a range of other timely topics that shape the world today. 

The module will allow students to develop an understanding of different approaches to gender, be introduced to key concepts from feminism and queer theory, learn to apply these ideas practically to a set of case studies and debate what the future of gender is in world politics. 

20 credits

Political Violence

This module will provide students with an introduction to political violence and begins by engaging with debates over the conceptualisation of violence, and when violence should be understood as “political”.  It will then introduce students to debates over the causes and consequences of violence through an examination of specific topics, which may include:

histories of violence

terrorism

interstate war

settler-colonial violence

structural violence

slow violence

gender based violence

war ecologies

the politics of violence prevention

violent resistance

attempts to regulate violence.  



We will explore these themes by asking how violence is refracted through race, gender, ethnicity, and other forms of social difference. Students will have the opportunity to explore these topics through specific examples and develop the necessary skills to apply them in practice. 

The module will allow students to develop an understanding of the key theories, concepts, issues and themes in the study of political violence by:

understanding the debates on the conceptualisation of “violence” and what makes violence “political”

developing skills in critical analysis, writing, and presentation

developing the ability to apply theories and issues to specific cases of political violence

20 credits

Race and Racism in World Politics

Through historical and contemporary case studies, students will study how our world today has been shaped by historical events, many of which continue to inform current relations. We will discover how discourses around race, ethnicity, gender and class construct realities today, determining who rules and who is ruled, who lives and who dies. 

The module will give students a theoretical toolkit, including approaches from the majority world, enabling them to appreciate power and the political significance of silences in accounts of the global and political.

We will learn about the historical production of the idea of race; how it configured the world in particular ways; how race mandated the colonial project. However, the module will also go beyond race to think about colonialism and the identities that operate in conjunction with race including class, ethnicity, and gender, and how they can determine what type of life people can live or whether they can live at all. For example, they determine whether a child has the right to security, or has to risk losing life in the Mediterranean escaping violence at home. 

Students will also learn about resistance and efforts to construct a different and more just world. Through rich historical and contemporary case studies, students will learn how to connect theories to understand current affairs, drawing on thinkers from various backgrounds to counter some of the dominant narratives within international relations.

20 credits

Housing and Home

Issues relating to housing, homes, streets and neighbourhoods that we live in are in the news every day. Whether this is over concerns about housing shortages, affordability, housing bubbles, 'generation rent', social housing, housing evictions, Covid lockdown, city-centre housing, DIY and 'grand designs', or debates about the domestic sphere, 'home as a haven', 'benefit streets', flooding and shack settlements, housing is often at the centre of social science research. This module aims to introduce students to this broad and diverse subject by drawing on the expertise of staff who research across these multiple themes. The module focuses on contemporary concerns, while maintaining an appreciation of the impact of historical trends (e.g. the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8). The module will make use of cases from the UK and abroad to illustrate trends, arguments and challenges. The module introduced students to various concepts and debates relating to housing, as well as indicating the linkages to housing and urban policy.

10 credits

Climate Action

Humans are altering the climate, with significant impacts on livelihoods, wellbeing, equality, and the environment across the globe.  While international organisations and governments are crucial in mitigating and adapting to these threats, individual and small group collective action are also essential in creatively exploring how the necessary changes can be realistically and equitably implemented.

 

This module uses the community linked to the University as a Living Lab.  Focusing on one aspect of daily life in which there is potential for more mitigation or better adaptation, you will identify and plan an investigation or intervention (a 'project') to take a step towards more or better climate action.  You will need to justify your choices by elaborating what you would consider success, how you would deliver it, as well as assessing the impact of its wider implementation.

10 credits

Urban Economics

This module provides an introduction to economic concepts and theories and to the way in which they are applied to the analysis of selected markets and policy challenges. The module seeks to offer an economic perspective on planning issues by focusing on land market and urban development. The overall aim of the module is to develop students' understanding of the economic environment within which planners and other urban professions operate and to enhance understanding of economic theory and the property market in general.

10 credits

Cities and Inequality

The main aim of Cities and Inequality  is to introduce you to our urban condition in a global context, with particular attention to the multiple forms of inequality that pervade urban life. Drawing on a wide range of expertise within the Department, we will introduce you to a range of key issues in contemporary urban studies and help you to understand more about the roots of urban problems and questions of social differentiation and injustice in a range of global urban contexts. The course also aims to develop students' capacity for comparative urban analysis

10 credits

Choose 20 credits one or two from:

Reason and Argument

Arguments are everywhere - in our newspapers, on our television screens and radios, in books and academic papers, on blogs and other websites. We argue with our friends, families, teachers and taxi drivers. These arguments are often important; they help us to decide what to do, what to believe, whom to vote for, what car to buy, what career path to follow, or where we should attend university (and what we should study). The ability to recognise, evaluate and produce arguments is therefore immeasurably valuable in every aspect of life.

This course will teach you how to recognise an argument, how to understand it, how to evaluate and criticise it, and how to produce your own. Students in this module will learn how to extract an argument from a complex text, how to uncover hidden assumptions, and how to recognise and critique bad reasoning

10 credits

LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans* and Queer) Studies

This module introduces students to study of genders and sexualities, and LGBTQ scholarship, both historical and contemporary. It examines genders and sexualities in society, culture, media, and their academic study, as well as contemporary issues of inequality affecting sexual minorities in different global contexts. The module is team taught by experts in different departments at the University of Sheffield, who will introduce students to a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives, such as philosophy, history, social sciences, psychology, evolutionary biology, education, cultural studies, and critical study of religion. The module is assessed by a coursework portfolio, where students answer a number of short questions on different topics in the syllabus.

10 credits

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Whether you're a journalist writing stories for the public, or a social research analyst working in government, you need to be able to understand, use and present data. This 10 credit module aims to demystify data and encourage critical thinking on statistics; often wrongly used, and sometimes in very misleading ways. The module will equip you with the knowledge and skills you'll need to become a discerning data user, through engaging teaching, active learning and examples from the news media. The module is comprised of a mix of lectures and computer workshops and is assessed through a multiple choice exam.

10 credits

Living with Environmental Change

This module will introduce students to a wide range of critical environmental issues facing the world today from physical science and social science perspectives. Using a range of environmental problems evident in the Global North and Global South (such as climate change, habit loss, water resources, land-use change, agriculture), the physical and social processes implicated will be examined. Drawing on a range of examples, students will critically explore the causes, consequences, management and solutions to environmental issues and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.

20 credits

Why Geography Matters

Geography helps us plan for the future by investigating social and physical processes as they interconnect from the past through to the present. Geographers actively contribute to contemporary debates across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.  We address some of the most pressing issues facing the modern world, from climate change to food security, informing policy and practice. The module provides a challenging but accessible insight into the origins of the discipline and how these translate into the cutting edge of contemporary geographical research, and how this helps us understand our changing world. Serving as a bridge between the general introductory modules, and the more specialist modules taught at levels 2 and 3, this module provides an opportunity for students to engage with topical issues in contemporary human and physical geography led by academics actively engaged in cutting edge research on those subjects. Because you will be exposed to a wide range of topical areas and multiple approaches to these you will have the opportunity to enhance your understanding of the contexts and perspectives that inform  decision making and how those decisions can result in greater or lesser social justice.  You will also be able to develop your ability to apply knowledge to real world examples.

20 credits

Core modules:

Intermediate Research Project in Quantitative Social Science

This unit gives students experience in conducting a social science research project employing quantitative methods, and provides training in the design and preparation of a viable independent quantitative social science research project. It discusses how to refine a research idea, how to decide on the appropriate choice of data and methods to analyse research questions, how to plan and conduct the research process to ensure the successful completion of a project (emphasising issues of ethics, timing and resourcing), and how to present research plans and results effectively.

20 credits

Multivariate Data Analysis in Social Science

The module is designed to provide students with a solid grounding in the proper application of multivariate data analysis methods, and an appreciation of their role in the study of contemporary society. This is achieved through a combination of lectures, practical classes and seminars which cover the underlying ideas, provide hands-on experience and give examples of the methods application in the research and policy literature. The module covers methods including multivariate regression, logistic regression, and classification methods.

20 credits

Optional modules - two from:

The Politics and Government of the European Union

This module will provide students with a working knowledge of European integration, and of the main institutions of the European Union, including the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the Parliament. The module consists of a series of lectures on the history and institutions of the European Union, and seminars to discuss issues raised in the lectures.

20 credits

The Political Economy of Global Capitalism

This module will begin by providing students with an account of the major theoretical traditions which seek to interpret and explain the global political economy. These are liberalism and interdependence theory; mercantilism, nationalism and hegemonic stability theory; and marxism, dependency and world systems theory. It then explores different aspects of the contemporary global political economy - finance, development, trade and production - and ends by reviewing the intellectual debate about the meaning of globalisation.

20 credits

Contemporary Security Challenges

This module examines a series of key contemporary challenges to international security. It addresses debates about the changing nature of security, analyses some of the causes of conflict and the development of new security threats, and assesses some of the ways in which states seek to manage these threats. A range of approaches are examined in order to provide students with a theoretically-informed but policy-relevant understanding of security-related issues in the twenty-first century.

20 credits

Political Theory in Practice

This module explores key debates in political theory, and the implications of those debates for current political practice. It first examines debates surrounding justice, and what these mean for welfare and taxation policies. It then analyses disputes over the meaning of well-being, and their implications for policies surrounding disability and health. It introduces students to different ideas of toleration, and how these influence laws on free speech. It also explores controversies over multiculturalism, and in particular its impact upon women. Finally, it examines care ethics and its implications for how we value the environment.

20 credits

Africa in the World

Africa has long been treated as a marginal part of the world, both historically and in relation to contemporary global politics. This module aims to take this misconception away by exploring the crucial role that Africa plays in the current world order and the way it has historically evolved. 

Students will be introduced to the political, economic, socio-cultural, and military of Africa’s international relations and be familiarized with the key actors, institutions and processes involved. 

We will look at how the slave trade and colonialism have shaped the modern world order, the global reverberations of African independence movements and pan-Africanism, and how continuing unequal relations are expressed in, amongst others, the politics of debt and military intervention. 

The module will also analyse Africa’s relations to emerging global powers, such as China. To analyze these issues, the module will equip students with a range of theoretical and conceptual tools from the field of international relations, drawing to a considerable extent on the work of African thinkers.

20 credits

Tackling the World's Wicked Problems: theoretical tools and applications

Rising poverty and inequality within and between states, increased droughts, flooding and environmental degradation, armed civil conflicts and war, infectious diseases, gender based violence, institutionalized racism, food insecurity are just some of the pressing problems that the world faces today. 

What solutions are there? 

What sources of knowledge can we draw on to develop ways forward to tackle such problems? 

This module will present students with a variety of theoretical perspectives and tools, such as Postcolonialism, and Green Theory, that seek to address the various ‘wicked problems’. Students will be tasked with critically evaluating different International Relations theories and their applications, assessing their utility and ability to practically solve the most pressing problems in world politics. 

Global problems arguably require global solutions, and therefore global sources of knowledge. This module will also introduce students to ‘non-Western’ perspectives such as ‘Chinese IR’ and Ubuntu, in the process getting students to examine their ‘problem-solving’ capacities.

20 credits

The Making of The Modern Middle East

This module examines the major socio-economic and political dynamics that govern contemporary Middle East. 



Drawing on insights from anthropology, history, politics, political economy and gender studies this module explores key historical developments and political themes in the region and will provide students with historical and theoretical toolkits to analyse various political events in the Middle East. 

Students will learn how to:

use politics from below perspective

listen for multiple discourses and silences

contextualise voices and silences historically, politically, economically and geographically in wider regional and global power structures. 



The module will equip students with the conceptual and analytical skills to de-exceptionalise their understanding of Middle East politics.

20 credits

Chinese Politics

This module explores the political development of China from the end of the Qing Dynasty up to the present day. The core themes animating this module centre on China’s continuous quest for modernity, the transformation of domestic politics, economics, and society, and China’s changing position on the international stage. 

It covers a range of topics including:

the 1949 revolution and the Mao Zedong era

the post-1978 reform and opening-up era

recent changes under Xi Jinping

Students will be expected to think critically about the transformation of China, including the main forces that shaped it, as well as the domestic and global implications.

20 credits

Optional modules - choose one or two from:

Territory, Power and Policy

The module introduces students to contemporary debates within political geography, addressing political processes at a variety of spatial scales, from international, national, local and community politics through to individual political behaviour. Questions of power, efficacy and conflict are examined at all these scales with particular emphasis on the spatial and place-specific aspects of politics in relation to issues including: geopolitics and international relations; the state and territoriality; the politics of nationalism and citizenship; civic activism; and individual political participation.

20 credits

Who Gets What? Social Justice and the Environment

Environmental issues continue to be a key area of contemporary public concern and current political debate. They raise fundamental questions about the relationship between society and environment, and the politics and equity of that relationship. This module provides a geographical introduction to these issues and debates with examples from a range of scales from the global to the local. It also considers the role of stakeholders and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by policy that seeks to address issues to do with the environment-society relationship. The module then develops these core ideas through inter-related sections covering debates focused on different empirical themes.

20 credits

Punishment and Penal Policy

This module is concerned with the sentencing and punishment of offenders. It considers, in historical context: the philosophical underpinnings of punishment; sentencing policy and practice; and the forms that punishment takes (including custodial and non-custodial options). It also considers what we know about public attitudes toward punishment. A key issue addressed by this module is the rapid growth of the prison population since the mid-1990s: how can we explain this state of affairs, and can/should this trend be reversed?

20 credits

Responding to Crime

The module looks at key topics in relation to responses to crime and victimisation. It explores policing and prosecution, public responses, crime prevention, restorative justice and victim support. To what extent are policing and public priorities for policing aligned? How does the public view the role of the authorities? How can we support victims? Are there alternative responses to crime instead of prosecution and sentencing? What are we doing to prevent crime? Do certain types of crime require particular responses? A goal of the module will be to emphasize the interrelatedness of these topics and present them as integrated problems.

20 credits

Understanding Criminology: Advanced Level Introduction

This module introduces students who have not taken criminology core modules to key areas of criminological definition, empirical study, theory and the development of criminal justice systems. It equips non-criminology students with a broad understanding and so enables them to take further criminology modules if they choose. The module looks at case studies of crime and deviance from contemporary life to help students understand how some of the history and theory of criminology can be brought to bear on social and legal issues.

20 credits

Landscape Planning for a Changing World

This module explores the relationship between landscape,planning, policy and governance at different scales and in different contexts. This ranges from international decision-making frameworks down to individual sites in different contexts. Students will learn about the impact of policy and ideas on landscape and vice versa, and explore the role of landscape planning tools, techniques and methodologies within the wider planning framework. The module will examine how decisions about landscape are made and the effects they have from the strategic to the site scale.

20 credits

Business Intelligence

Organisations are becoming increasingly dependent on their information systems (IS) for business success. Organisation structures and systems are changing rapidly and this places an extra burden on managers to identify their information requirements. This puts pressure on those staff involved in the development of IS to ensure that managers receive the right information for effective decision-making. Rapidly changing business environments make it difficult to design IS that remain valid for several years. This unit will show that choosing the appropriate method of IS development can often lead to the successful introduction of new systems. This is increasingly important as more companies are implementing 'enterprise-wide' systems.

20 credits

Organisational Behaviour

This module builds on and develops the basic concepts introduced in MGT120. Organizational Behaviour is concerned with understanding the effects of how workers think, act, and interact with each other. This involves considering a wide range of issues such as power, culture, gender and stress. However, to understand what happens inside organizations, it is also necessary to also take account of their external social, economic, and cultural environments/contexts. While considering the 'general principles' of Organizational Behaviour, this module will also relate them to issues of contemporary relevance, such as the growing importance of management by culture, and the move towards flexible working practices.

20 credits

Corporate Governance

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the key issues in corporate governance. The module covers the subject from a theoretical and practical perspective, with a particular emphasis on the financial aspects of corporate governance. The early part of the module discusses the theories underlying the study of governance, recent governance failures and policy initiatives to improve governance quality and accountability. The module proceeds to explore separately the main mechanisms of governance and specifically investigates whether governance characteristics influence corporate performance. In particular, the module examines the governance role of non-executive directors; ownership structure; executive remuneration and takeovers. The module also includes discussions of governance in an international context as well as governance in non-profit organisations.

20 credits

Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship was first coined as a term in the eighteenth century but it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that the term achieved widespread usage and became a popular word to describe the enterprising, creative and opportunity-seeking behaviours of special types of individuals, organisations and regions. In this module, we shall consider how and why the 'enterprise culture' has become such a popular phrase for individuals, organisations, communities and governments alike. This is done by examining the various historical, economic, political and social assumptions about the nature of enterprise and entrepreneurship. In addition, because there is always an important human story behind enterprise activity and the creation of a small business, the module will examine many individual and organisational stories (from emerging, growing and mature businesses) in order to assess the factors and challenges involved in starting and running your own business. In this module students will also have the opportunity to evaluate their personal orientations to entrepreneurship and sharpen their appreciation of what it is like being self employed, working in the family business, being an owner-manager, being a corporate entrepreneur or running a franchise business.

20 credits

Essentials of Marketing

This module aims to introduce the field of marketing to Level 2 students. The coverage will include the basics of marketing strategy including segmentation, targeting and positioning as well as the practical domains of strategy development like product and brand management, services marketing, pricing methodologies, promotional strategies, distribution and logistics.

20 credits

Principles of Operations Management

Operations Management (OM) deals with the production of goods and services and relates closely to other business functions. Operations Management is concerned with the effective and efficient marshalling of the organisation's resources to meet its objectives. Operations Management is the business function that generates income and is therefore central to all commercial businesses. Operational Research (OR) is introduced on this module to support Operations Management decision-making processes. OR is a systematic and logical approach involving the construction and manipulation of mathematical models. The aim of this module is to take a general view of operations management in all sectors of business.

20 credits

The Politics and Government of the European Union

This module will provide students with a working knowledge of European integration, and of the main institutions of the European Union, including the Council of Ministers, the Commission and the Parliament. The module consists of a series of lectures on the history and institutions of the European Union, and seminars to discuss issues raised in the lectures.

20 credits

The Political Economy of Global Capitalism

This module will begin by providing students with an account of the major theoretical traditions which seek to interpret and explain the global political economy. These are liberalism and interdependence theory; mercantilism, nationalism and hegemonic stability theory; and marxism, dependency and world systems theory. It then explores different aspects of the contemporary global political economy - finance, development, trade and production - and ends by reviewing the intellectual debate about the meaning of globalisation.

20 credits

Contemporary Security Challenges

This module examines a series of key contemporary challenges to international security. It addresses debates about the changing nature of security, analyses some of the causes of conflict and the development of new security threats, and assesses some of the ways in which states seek to manage these threats. A range of approaches are examined in order to provide students with a theoretically-informed but policy-relevant understanding of security-related issues in the twenty-first century.

20 credits

Sociological Theory and Analysis

The aim of this module is to build on and develop students' understanding of Sociological theory, exploring its relevance to key themes and issues in contemporary society. The course will begin with an exploration of the work of modern social theorists such as Talcott Parsons and will conclude with a focus on contemporary theorists such as Donna Haraway. In order to foster student understanding of social theory, its aims and purposes, each theorists work will be applied to substantive issues in modern and contemporary society such as family formation, urbanisation, politics, and globalization. Overall, the module aims to provide students with a critical understanding of the importance and use of modern and contemporary social theory.

20 credits

Understanding 'Race' and Migration

The module explores the meaning of race in various social and political contexts. It examines how ideas about race help to shape and determine social and political relations and includes considering the part played by ideas about race in forming notions of self and other at the micro and macro levels. It also explores the role of race as a major source of social divisions and aims to show the significance of racism to the reproduction of structural inequalities. Themes explored include theories of racism, multiculturalism, Muslims, racialised identities, immigration, education and criminal justice.

20 credits

Sociology of Family: Continuity and Change

Using a sociological and anthropological perspective this unit seeks to problematise the concept of 'family' as a natural and universal phenomenon. Rather, it underscores the need to explore the notion of the family as a social and historical construction and will achieve that by examining the diversity of family life in countries around the world. While acknowledging the impact of social change on different family constructions, it will also seek to show how some family structures remain the same, creating a situation where one society can have multiple family structures. In particular, it will focus on the role of the state in constructing the family and highlight the impact these different constructions of family life (and the changes they have undergone) have on particular individuals such as women, children and the elderly.

20 credits

Dynamics of Social Change and Policy

This unit adopts a 'sociological perspective on social policy' to provide a macro perspective on contemporary social and economic transformations in the UK and globally, with a particular emphasis on the challenges posed for social policy theory and practice, as well as the potential to imagine alternative social policy scenarios. Issues considered include: globalisation, neoliberalism, falling fertility and ageing societies, precarious labour markets and migration and mobility. The unit adopts a comparative and international / global perspective, variously emphasising not only the perspectives of International Organisations, but also the challenges faced by other types of welfare regimes.

20 credits

Social Problems: Policy and Practice

This team taught unit adopts a 'sociological approach to social policy'. Drawing on current examples and comparative references, it explores social and ideological constructions of social problems and the role of the state and other agencies in responses to them. It explores key concepts and themes in social policy and practice such as inequality, justice and fairness; individual versus collective responsibility; and welfare versus social control. It focuses on major contemporary issues, including welfare and work; housing and homelessness; and community participation. The unit aims to equip students with the necessary critical perspective and skills to understand and explore social problems.

20 credits

Digital Media and Social Change

This module examines two key aspects of the relationship between digital media and social change. Firstly, it analyzes the large-scale social, economic, and political changes created by the Internet: including the new forms of participation that have been created as audiences become producers, as well as the new forms of surveillance and inequalities that are entangled with these developments. The second strand of Digital Media and Social Change examines purposeful activist uses of digital media to create social change, examining how new possibilities for participatory communication have been exploited by activists to contest inequalities: from influential social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter to environmental influencers on Youtube and Instagram. Students will be introduced to a range of core theoretical frameworks in order to understand, analyze, and evaluate the complex relationships between digital media and social change. In the process, they will have the opportuntity to develop critical skills in discussing and unpacking contemporary scholarship: offering vital scaffolding for final year dissertations.

20 credits

Men, Feminism and Gender relations

This unit provides a critical examination of the growing body of sociological and other literature concerned with men and masculinities. It will locate this growth of interest within the context of the feminist movement and subsequent writings/critiques of men and patriarchy. Significantly, the unit will connect to wider scholarship on gender relations, with topics and case studies including: men in sport, men and media, men and health/ well-being, men and feminism, as well as men and sexualities. Methodological and epistemological issues involved in the study of men and masculinities will also form part of this module.

20 credits

Urban Theory

This module aims to develop student's imaginative engagement with the nature of urban life and human settlement. Urban theory refers to writing and thinking devoted to 'seeing' and understanding urban life - ideas are critical to how we engage with the key features and problems of the urban world. Theory is also important to our understanding of how cities work in practice - how we understand and view urban life is critical to the development of cities and to efforts seeking to make them more socially just, sustainable and better places to live. Urban Theory introduces a range of ideas and key concepts in urban studies with a view to understanding how cities have developed and how they 'work' in broad terms. The module considers a range of thinkers, ideas and problems.

20 credits

Spatial Analysis

The aims of the module are to provide students with a broad introduction to the basic concepts of GIS and how they can be used for the spatial analysis of a wide range of data for planning purposes. The assessments will (a) test students' individual understanding of key concepts and their ability to think about the potentials and limitations of using spatial analysis to solve planning related problems; and (b) assess students' skills in the practical application of GIS and spatial analysis to a contemporary planning-related problem.

20 credits

Political Theory in Practice

This module explores key debates in political theory, and the implications of those debates for current political practice. It first examines debates surrounding justice, and what these mean for welfare and taxation policies. It then analyses disputes over the meaning of well-being, and their implications for policies surrounding disability and health. It introduces students to different ideas of toleration, and how these influence laws on free speech. It also explores controversies over multiculturalism, and in particular its impact upon women. Finally, it examines care ethics and its implications for how we value the environment.

20 credits

Africa in the World

Africa has long been treated as a marginal part of the world, both historically and in relation to contemporary global politics. This module aims to take this misconception away by exploring the crucial role that Africa plays in the current world order and the way it has historically evolved. 

Students will be introduced to the political, economic, socio-cultural, and military of Africa’s international relations and be familiarized with the key actors, institutions and processes involved. 

We will look at how the slave trade and colonialism have shaped the modern world order, the global reverberations of African independence movements and pan-Africanism, and how continuing unequal relations are expressed in, amongst others, the politics of debt and military intervention. 

The module will also analyse Africa’s relations to emerging global powers, such as China. To analyze these issues, the module will equip students with a range of theoretical and conceptual tools from the field of international relations, drawing to a considerable extent on the work of African thinkers.

20 credits

Tackling the World's Wicked Problems: theoretical tools and applications

Rising poverty and inequality within and between states, increased droughts, flooding and environmental degradation, armed civil conflicts and war, infectious diseases, gender based violence, institutionalized racism, food insecurity are just some of the pressing problems that the world faces today. 

What solutions are there? 

What sources of knowledge can we draw on to develop ways forward to tackle such problems? 

This module will present students with a variety of theoretical perspectives and tools, such as Postcolonialism, and Green Theory, that seek to address the various ‘wicked problems’. Students will be tasked with critically evaluating different International Relations theories and their applications, assessing their utility and ability to practically solve the most pressing problems in world politics. 

Global problems arguably require global solutions, and therefore global sources of knowledge. This module will also introduce students to ‘non-Western’ perspectives such as ‘Chinese IR’ and Ubuntu, in the process getting students to examine their ‘problem-solving’ capacities.

20 credits

The Making of The Modern Middle East

This module examines the major socio-economic and political dynamics that govern contemporary Middle East. 



Drawing on insights from anthropology, history, politics, political economy and gender studies this module explores key historical developments and political themes in the region and will provide students with historical and theoretical toolkits to analyse various political events in the Middle East. 

Students will learn how to:

use politics from below perspective

listen for multiple discourses and silences

contextualise voices and silences historically, politically, economically and geographically in wider regional and global power structures. 



The module will equip students with the conceptual and analytical skills to de-exceptionalise their understanding of Middle East politics.

20 credits

Chinese Politics

This module explores the political development of China from the end of the Qing Dynasty up to the present day. The core themes animating this module centre on China’s continuous quest for modernity, the transformation of domestic politics, economics, and society, and China’s changing position on the international stage. 

It covers a range of topics including:

the 1949 revolution and the Mao Zedong era

the post-1978 reform and opening-up era

recent changes under Xi Jinping

Students will be expected to think critically about the transformation of China, including the main forces that shaped it, as well as the domestic and global implications.

20 credits

Planning, Viability and Development

This module explores the real estate development process and the various influences on the viability of successful development projects. It examines the structure of real estate markets, the roles and objectives of the various stakeholders involved in real estate development, the main aspects of real estate development appraisal and the ways which planning, risk and design influence profitability. Students will work towards recommending a development proposal that offers the greatest likelihood of a successful outcome and in doing so, learn to balance the competing demands of planning, viability and real estate development.

20 credits

Choose one from:

Political Philosophy

We are citizens in a democratic capitalist society, we vote and choose our representatives and our government, our representatives make laws that we must then follow. We do not only obey the laws only for fear of being punished; we believe that our system of government is just, and that it is just for us to obey the laws. We believe that - by and large - we live in a just society. Do we? What justifies our system of government? Are there alternative possible relations, alternative forms of citizenship; alternative forms of government, alternative ways of organising a society? Is ours the only just one?
We will look at the history of political philosophy and explore various systems of citizenship, government and economic arrangements. Our main aim will be to understand how these different systems justify or legitimise the existence of government and its authority to make and enforce laws. We will also look at the more general notion of 'justice' that accompanies and grounds these systems of government.
Two side concerns will be:-
1. The relation between a philosopher's view of ethics and her political philosophy.
2. The relation between a philosopher's view of human nature and her political philosophy.

20 credits

Children and Digital Cultures

Digital technology has transformed the lives of many, impacting on culture and society. Many young people have quickly seen ways of extending and deepening social networks through their uses of technology, and immersed themselves in Virtual Worlds, Facebook etc and enjoyed browsing on shopping sites. This module examines new technologies and associated social practices impacting on children's lives, considering the nature of new digital practices and how these affect identity, society and culture. Educational implications of new technologies is a developing field of research and students will engage critically with debates within the field alongside examining websites and new practices.

20 credits

Dimensions of Education Policy

This module looks at key issues in education policy. We will explore the origins and evaluate the success of the comprehensive system; look in detail at the debates surrounding grammar schools, faith schools, Academies and free schools; assess a range of policies designed to tackle education disadvantage; critically explore the politics of teaching and assessment; and reflect more generally on the discourse of choice and diversity that frames current education policy as a whole.

20 credits

Territory, Power and Policy

The module introduces students to contemporary debates within political geography, addressing political processes at a variety of spatial scales, from international, national, local and community politics through to individual political behaviour. Questions of power, efficacy and conflict are examined at all these scales with particular emphasis on the spatial and place-specific aspects of politics in relation to issues including: geopolitics and international relations; the state and territoriality; the politics of nationalism and citizenship; civic activism; and individual political participation.

20 credits

Who Gets What? Social Justice and the Environment

Environmental issues continue to be a key area of contemporary public concern and current political debate. They raise fundamental questions about the relationship between society and environment, and the politics and equity of that relationship. This module provides a geographical introduction to these issues and debates with examples from a range of scales from the global to the local. It also considers the role of stakeholders and how they benefit or are disadvantaged by policy that seeks to address issues to do with the environment-society relationship. The module then develops these core ideas through inter-related sections covering debates focused on different empirical themes.

20 credits

Reference and Truth

This module is an introductory course in the Philosophy of Language. The overall focus of the course will be on the notion of meaning. The first part of the course will attempt to shed light on the notion of meaning by investigating different accounts of the meanings of some types of linguistic expressions, in particular names (for instance 'Nelson Mandela') and definite descriptions (for instance 'the inventor of the zip', 'the first minister of Scotland'). We will then look at an influential approach to understanding what it is for words to have meaning and for people to mean things by their words, one due to Paul Grice. And we will examine the role and understanding of conventions and how someone can say something and yet communicate something very different from its conventional meaning. We will also explore the phenomena of "implicature" where people can communicate more (or something different from) what they literally say.

20 credits

Feminism

Feminists have famously claimed that the personal is political. This module takes up various topics with that methodological idea in mind: the family, cultural critique, language. We examine feminist methodologies - how these topics might be addressed by a feminism that is inclusive of all women - and also turn attention to social structures within which personal choices are made - capitalism, and climate crisis .

20 credits

Core modules:

Advanced Research Project in Quantitative Social Science

This module requires the student to prepare, organise, research and report a piece of original work on a social science topic. The student will decide on the topic and will either be expected to collect original material in order to investigate it, or to perform secondary analysis on information drawn from existing source (and in both cases using quantitative methods to analyse the data). The finished product is presented in the style, and at the length, associated with academic journal articles.

40 credits

Research Dissemination in Social Sciences

This unit is focused on students preparing and presenting a body of work in various forms, and to various audiences. The aim of the unit is to develop students' ability to disseminate the findings of their L3 dissertation/independent project to both specialist and non-specialist audience, and in a variety of written and verbal forms. This will culminate in a conference towards the end of the year.

20 credits

Doing Mixed Methods Research

Research in the social sciences is increasingly using mixed methods to explore the social world. This module covers the principles and practices of conducting mixed methods research (MMR), through an enquiry-based learning approach. By designing and completing their own projects, students will learn how to apply mixed methods and appreciate the value of bringing together both qualitative and quantitative approaches in conducting research. Students will develop their ability to collect, analyse, and present MMR data, alongside critically reflecting process of using MMR.

20 credits

Optional modules - two from:

Civilisation, Empire and Hegemony

With American power seemingly all powerful today, this unit provides a rethink of the origins of great power politics/economics. Mainstream Eurocentric theories in International Relations view great power politics/economics as having universal materialist properties. And they view America and Britain as hegemons that provide global public goods for the benefit of all. This module problematises this view by revealing the differing moral foundations and 'standards of civilisation' that inform the various directions that great power can take. It examines Britain and China in the pre-1900 era, contemporary America, Japan, and the potential role of China in the coming decades.

20 credits

Terrorism, Violence and the State

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the nature and legitimacy of forms of protest against the modern state. In particular the module focuses on issues of contemporary terrorism. However, in order to understand the nature and motivations of terrorism it is necessary to understand the nature of the modern state and other, non-violent forms of protest such as civil disobedience.

20 credits

Marx and Contemporary Marxism

This module will familiarise students with Marx's corpus and enable them to evaluate key historical processes-such as the development of capitalism and modernity, the birth of the nation-state and the international system-through a Marxist lens. The first part of the module surveys the development of Marx's thought against the background of the socio-economic and political transformations of the nineteenth century. The second part focuses on thematic issues, reviewing how Marx engaged with the questions of strategy, mobilisation, gender, culture, imperialism, and colonialism. This puts Marx and Marxism into dialogue with other critical approaches, including feminism, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism.

20 credits

The Making of the Modern Middle East

This module offers an interdisciplinary examination of the socio-economic and political dynamics of the modern Middle East by exploring the region's major historical developments from a non-Eurocentric perspective, and investigating how the region has been represented and analysed in the social sciences. Students will have the opportunity to reassess the imperial and colonial legacies by retracing the trajectories of state formation and economic development in the past two centuries. The overall aim is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to 'de-exceptionalise' the Middle East and enable them to study it as any other region in the international system.

20 credits

Narcopolitics

Drugs are big business and politically salient, yet their production, trade, distribution and regulation are understudied in politics. Narcotics are rooted in complex webs of public, private and criminal power, with diverse consequences for growth, development, security and health. This module explores this evolving panorama: it traces the political evolution of therapeutic/psychotropic substances from the opium wars to prohibition, before analysing the 'War on Drugs', the attendant creation of mafia violence, and the emergence of 'narco-states'. Later classes address contemporary experiments in legalisation and decriminalisation, the development of licit recreational narcotics industries, and the implications for the global prohibitionist architecture.

20 credits

Party Politics: Competition, Strategies & Campaigns

This module provides an in-depth analysis of party politics. It offers a detailed exposition of the multiple issues related with parties, looking at the interactions both within and outside parties. The module covers key aspects of party politics such as the different types of parties, their organization, party membership, types of party systems, political competition and issue positioning, campaign strategies, formation of new parties, the effects of cleavages, coalition formation, party financing and the number of parties.

20 credits

Parliamentary Studies

This module focuses on how parliaments and legislatures operate and is founded on the basis of theoretically-informed but policy-relevant teaching. It therefore attempts to provide students with a sense of why cultures, traditions and informal relationships matter as much (if not more) than formal procedures. Although the House of Commons and the House of Lords provide the main institutional focus for this module students will be encouraged to adopt a comparative approach whenever possible and to situate their analysis within an appreciation of the changing role of parliament within evolving frameworks of multi-level governance.

20 credits

Animals, Ethics and Politics

This unit explores the debates surrounding what we owe to animals politically. It introduces students to the main debates in animal ethics, and asks how they affect our political practices, norms, institutions and policies. Particular attention is focused on the tensions between animal welfare and other political values and goods, with students exploring such controversial policy debates as animal experimentation, animal agriculture, conservation and the use of animals for entertainment. The overall aim of the unit is to investigate the implications of taking animals seriously for current political practice.

20 credits

Sex, Race and Death: Feminist Perspectives on War, Violence and (In)Security

This unit produces a critical take on war, violence and security from feminist perspectives. Particular attention is focused on feminist theories that foreground the interconnectedness or 'intersectionality' of different power relations, including postcolonial, transnational and queer approaches. How are different forms and sites of violence connected? How do technologies of gender, sex and race shape understandings of certain forms of political violence as lawful, legitimate and necessary? What are the gendered legacies of (ongoing) histories of colonialism and imperialism? What are the (feminist) ethics of researching and possibly reproducing violence and suffering? Among the themes we will explore are the erotics of conquest and slavery; military masculinities; sexual violence in conflict; private military and security companies; torture and surveillance; women as agents of violence; Orientalism and the War on Terror; human rights and international law; imperial feminisms and just war theory; occupation and resistance.

20 credits

Political Theory in An Age of Total War

This module presents an overview of the major figures and themes in twentieth century continental political theory, ranging temporally from Max Weber to Jacques Derrida. In reflecting on the dynamics of modernity and rationalization, contemporary European political thought responds to the atrocities of Europe's age of total war. Much of this work is an attempt to come to grips with reason and unreason in the capitalist, industrialized, mass democracies of Europe in light of the legacies of two world wars and the rise of totalitarianism. Key themes include: the legacy of the Enlightenment, the role of technology in modern life, the bureaucratization of politics, the possibility of human freedom, collective memory and forgiveness and the role of philosophy in the aftermath of mass genocide. We will approach this material both historically and hermeutically in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these responses to these problems.

20 credits

Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is the idea that the world should in some sense be understood as a single political entity. 

This module will engage with ‘cosmopolitanism’ from the perspective of normative political theory. It will start by discussing the historical origins of cosmopolitanism, from the Cynics in Ancient Greece to Immanuel Kant and will then move to a discussion of the contemporary wave of cosmopolitanism theorising that began in the latter part of the 20th century. 

There have been two core strands to this wave: 

claims about the global scope of justice

claims about the need for a global democracy

Both strands have come in for considerable criticism: 

Is justice really global in scope?

Is it an idea that belongs within the state or nation? 

Do we really need a global democracy, and is it feasible? 

Does cosmopolitanism imply a world state? 

Is the whole notion of cosmopolitanism dangerously imperialistic? 

During the module students will discuss all of these questions, and more.

20 credits

Public Policy and Democratic Politics

Recent years have seen a tide of pressures impact on policy makers. Fuelling distrust and disaffection with public policy making, populist politicians have blamed civil servants for alleged corruption. Political leaders have also pushed for fundamental changes in how states operate. From the bottom up, social movements have put pressure on policy makers to revolutionise racial and gender equality, and respond to climate catastrophe. Technological innovations confront policy makers with a new and alienating future.

Amidst a plethora of global crises, and with historically tight budgets and rapidly reducing timeframes, policy makers at multiple levels, from transnational bodies to local authorities, are now under extreme pressure to deliver. They need to find solutions for sustainability, stop pandemics, end inequality and protect fundamental rights. How can they make radical change happen? This module examines precisely this question. Students will gain a nuanced understanding of the pressures everyday policy makers face and how they manage these pressures with the aim of successfully implementing radical shifts in how we respond to the most pressing policy issues of our time.

 



 

20 credits