A Sociology of 21st Century Britain

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module will use contemporary Britain as an empirical base for exploring wider sociological perspectives. As an introductory degree level sociology module the emphasis is on developing a sociological sensibility to the social world. The questions that will be posed throughout the module are how are sociological explanations derived? how do different people come to different conclusions about similar social phenomena? what is distinct about sociological explanations - as opposed to those from other disciplines?

The relationship between empiricism and theory will be explored using examples from recent sociological research. The topics chosen broadly reflect established key themes in sociology however the exemplar material will be drawn from studies no older than five years. We shall be looking at how sociologists have interrogated a range of issues in 21st century Britain including work and employment, family, sport, intimacy, life online, nationalism, death and wealth. 

The first engagement with degree level sociology should be exciting and the module is designed to demonstrate the capacity of sociology to explore the social world in interesting, challenging and critical ways.

Making the Familiar Strange

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

'Making the Familiar Strange' is predicated on the question how do sociologists do sociology? The module introduces you to epistemological and methodological issues in sociology. From an engagement with epistemology, methodological questions arise and these will be addressed - largely demonstrated through examples.

You will be introduced to particular epistemological approaches and then asked to reflect on worked examples of these. This is done by counterpoising a classic sociological studies with a contemporary examples - similarities and differences in epistemological and methodological approaches are critically examined.

It is intended that the examples will open up space for discussion about appropriate ways of understanding social phenomena with particular ontological and epistemological frames

The Early Modern World

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

This module introduces you to the early modern period by exploring some of the central themes of early modern history, and the various ways in which they have been debated by historians. It also equips you with the writing and research skills essential for a successful university career.  Focusing on the period 1500 to 1700, you will examine the debates surrounding social polarisation, cultural differentiation, cultures of Protestantism, the context of the English civil war, issues of gender, and the meanings of monarchy and republicanism.

The Making of the Modern World

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

This module will introduce a period of momentous social, political and cultural change in British and European history by focusing on some of the key debates that have preoccupied its historians.

Historical controversies over events such as the British Union, the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution will be examined and used to introduce various historiographical approaches. You will consider central themes such as gender, popular culture, concepts of the state (from absolutism to democracy), sociostructural and demographic change, and empire and nationalism, which will give you a range of perspectives on the past and issues of continuity and change.

Themes and Perspectives in Sociology I

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 1

Modern sociology developed in the 19th century in tandem with the rise of industrial capitalist society. It had a number of key concerns which reflected changes in, and the structure of, society at the time. These concerns have continued to preoccupy sociologists though in the context of contemporary societies, which have redefined key categories and experiences. This modules looks at such themes and at sociological perspectives on them as they have developed in both classical and contemporary forms of the discipline

Themes and Perspectives in Sociology II

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 1

Modern sociology developed in the 19th century in tandem with the rise of industrial capitalist society. It had a number of key concerns which reflected changes in, and the structure of, society at the time. These concerns have continued to preoccupy sociologists though in the context of contemporary societies, which have redefined key categories and experiences. This module looks at such themes and at sociological perspectives on them as they have developed in both classical and contemporary forms of the discipline.

Doing Sociological Research: working with qualitative data

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

You will be introduced to thinking about how to conduct sociological research using different methods. In this part you will focus on qualitative approaches. You will be introduced to debates in the social sciences related to research design, epistemology and studying sensitive and ethical issues, and will get practical experience in key methods for gathering and analysing qualitative data including interviewing, participant observation and textual analysis. Assessment will include a mini- or 'pilot' project carried out using one method.

Doing Sociological Research: working with quantitative data

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

The aim of this module is to introduce students to different ways of designing and doing social research. In this part we focus on basic features of quantitative survey research, both analysing other people's research (using secondary data) and creating your own. In Part II we focus on different methods of qualitative data collection and analysis. The aim of the module is to give you important skills for life as well as the labour market, and more prosaically to prepare you to carry out project work in the third year. In both halves of this module you build up activities week by week to carry out a kind of 'pilot' or 'mini-project' on a topic of your choice. This is more closely supported than in year 3: you will discuss ideas for the project in your workshops; you will be helped to apply for ethical review; you will have formative feedback on your proposals and your research instruments (in this case surveys) and lots of help in workshops to bring it all together.

Global History 1500-2000: Trade, Science, Environment and Empire

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Global history has emerged as an innovative and powerful approach to understanding the past and its implications for the present and future. Global history is a history of connections. It addresses the contexts and the structures through which societies and communities interacted with one another. The overarching theme of global history is the emergence of an ever more integrated global society, but the field looks to explain and understand particular circumtances as well as universal experiences.

The topics of global history transcend any particular national or local history. You study a theme for between two and three weeks, and lectures support the thematic concerns of the modules. The course looks at several topics in detail:

• communication and war
• race, slavery and anti-slavery
• colonial encounters and environments
• civil and human rights
• global order and disorder
• empire, science, trade and environment.

Alongside these themes the course addresses particular questions such as the emergence of the 'great divergence': the widening gap in the 19th century between living standards in the Atlantic basin and those in the rest of the world and the global expansion of European empires.

Ideas in History

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module begins with the revival of classical ideas about politics during the Renaissance and Reformation, goes on to consider the debate between ancients and moderns in the 17th and 18th centuries, and finally looks at the nature of modern political thought as it developed from the middle of the 19th century to the present. The aim of the module is to give you an ability to place modern ideas about politics in their historical context, through the study of central figures and themes whose writings continue to be cited in political argument.

The authors considered include: Machiavelli, Milton, Hobbes, Locke, Harrington, Mandeville, Montesquieu, Hume, Rousseau, Smith, Bentham, Hegel, Constant, Tocqueville, Marx, Weber, Lenin, Gramsci, Schmitt, Arendt, Chomsky, and Rawls.

The topics of the module include:

• virtue and security
• the origins of democracy
• absolutism and empire
• perpetual peace
• reason of state and amoral politics
• the debate about commerce, luxury and markets
• the size of the state and its form of government
• the nature of liberty and the means of maintaining it
• totalitarianism and slavery in politics
• modern democracy, philosophy and the modern state
• civil liberty, war and empire.

Beyond the Vote: Citizenship and Participation in Sociology

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Citizenship and participation is a module looking at the sociology of political involvement beyond the vote. It introduces different forms and sites of citizenship in the contemporary state - in relation to welfare, health, work, consumption, family life and the city or urban community - and also considers different expressions of social or civic activism, from volunteering to violent protest. The use and limitations of direct democratic experiments is examined, through analysis of various types of deliberative forum and citizen polling, and we consider the appeal of notions of 'responsibility' and 'choice'. You will learn through examining specific cases each week.

Classical Sociological Theory

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The aim of this module is to provide a reasonably comprehensive introduction to classical sociological theories and theorists and issues arising from their work. We will cover classical sociological theory from its origins in the Enlightenment period to the post World War II period. The module is concerned with these broad movements of thought with a focus on specific theorists and a close reading of extracts from classic texts. You will acquire an in-depth knowledge of the work of major classical sociological theorists.

Constructing Sexuality

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module will explore and analyse theories of sexuality and sexual politics, both historically and across cultures, and current debates within feminism and postmodernism. Connections will also be made between lived experiences and cultural representations and expectations. The module will explore theories concerning the social construction of gender, biological essentialism, patriarchy, the conceptualisations of the identity 'woman' and 'man', sexuality and sexual practices and the ways these are affected by class, race, disability and age.

You will explore theoretical issues within the following themes: pre-20th century legal, medical and scientific constructions of sexuality; the development of theories since the 1960s; current debates relating to sexuality such as heterosexual/homosexual/lesbian/bisexual identities; femininities and masculinities; love and romance and pornography.

Constructing Sexuality

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module will explore and analyse theories of sexuality and sexual politics, both historically and across cultures, and current debates within feminism and postmodernism. Connections will also be made between lived experiences and cultural representations and expectations. The module will explore theories concerning the social construction of gender, biological essentialism, patriarchy, the conceptualisations of the identity 'woman' and 'man', sexuality and sexual practices and the ways these are affected by class, race, disability and age.

You will explore theoretical issues within the following themes: pre-20th century legal, medical and scientific constructions of sexuality; the development of theories since the 1960s; current debates relating to sexuality such as heterosexual/homosexual/lesbian/bisexual identities; femininities and masculinities; love and romance and pornography.

History Short Period: American History 1877-2000

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module probes the social, political and economic development of the United States since the end of Reconstruction. It is organised on a broadly chronological basis with primary stress on key topics such as the emergence of racial segregation in the South, the construction of a modern, industrial society, the emergence of the United States as a Great Power, progressive reform, the economic crisis of the 1930s, the American experience in World War II and the ensuing Cold War, the civil rights and New Left movements of the 1960s, and the concomitant rise of conservativism. Notable themes include the growth of federal power, the steady erosion of localism, the development of a corporate-dominated consumer society, the limitations of modern liberalism and the political influence of American religion. The module introduces you to landmark political change such as the failure of Populism and the changing Republican party constituency in the South as well as important legal rulings such as Brown v Board of Education and Roe v Wade. A close analysis of the New Deal, a transformational moment in twentieth-century US history, frames an extended assessment of the rise and fall of the so-called New Deal order. In addition the module familiarises you with critical historiographical debates over the role of American labour, the impact of war on American society and culture, and the growth of the imperial presidency. Although the focus is primarily on domestic events and structural trends, the United States' growing engagement with the wider world receives full attention.

History Short Period: Britain in the 20th Century

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module concentrates on British history since 1914. You will be introduced to the major themes in the social, cultural and, to a lesser extent, economic and political history of twentieth century Britain. You will critically examine the most important contributions and debates within the historiography of each topic. You will also be introduced to some of the historical sources available for this period. The module covers a number of topics chronologically including War, Work, Leisure, Youth Culture and Immigration.

The module will equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary for a historical understanding of Britain across the twentieth century.

History Short Period: Europe in the 20th Century

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module addresses the main political, economic and cultural issues that continue to shape the history of Europe since World War II. Cold War confrontation and division will inform much of the module structure, with particular attention to broad thematic topics such as: the politics of memory regarding the war and the Holocaust; economic and political integration in both Cold War orbits; the crusade for, and resistance against, Americanisation and Sovietisation across a divided Europe; the end of Empire; the crisis and collapse of European communism; and the prospects and perils confronting post-Cold War Europe.

History Short Period: South Asia Since 1880

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module examines the history of South Asia since 1880. It concentrates on the impact of colonialism on the Indian subcontinent and on the formation of the modern South Asian States of India and Pakistan. You will also learn about the culture of colonialism, the nature of the colonial state and the emergence of nationalism. Gandhi and his non-violent struggle for Indian independence emerges as one of the defining moments of Indian nationalism. The module comprises both lectures and seminars.

Race: Conflict and Change

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module will examine and explore the issues of race, racism, racial conflict and race relations in contemporary Britain (Please note: although we will mainly refer to Britain, examples from other countries in Europe and the West will be frequently used). Beginning with colonial discourses of the racial 'other', the post-1945 period following the start of mass colonial immigration to Britain, through to the present day this module will examine the various historical, social, political, economic and cultural forces and processes through which the concept of race and the racialised subject have been constructed, shaped and changed over time.

The module will be divided into twelve 1-hour lectures and twelve 1-hour seminars, each focusing on a particular historical, social, political, cultural or theoretical topic, issue and problem related to race in Britain. These range from: the construction and status of race through various dismodules and contexts of colonialism, immigration and multiculturalism, issues of identity, representation, power, equality and difference, the relationship between race and other social-political identifications, categories and divisions such as nationality, class, gender, ethnicity and religion, the relationship between race and the law, crime and civil unrest, the history of racial conflict and the development of anti-racist activism, policies and legislation, forms of cultural politics, expression and resistance and, finally, current issues and debates concerning the status of race in Britain.

Short Period: The Middle East and North Africa since 1908

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

Sociology of Deviance

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The module falls into two parts. In the first part, the concepts of crime, deviance and social control will be considered alongside the exploration of the sociological explanations for the existence of crime and deviance in society. The module will also critically examine the data sources used to support these perspectives. In the second part of the module, these perspectives will be applied to the study of substantive areas of deviance comprising institutions of social control (the police, the courts and prisons); the distribution of crime and the use of official statistics; the mass media; juvenile delinquency; mental illness; and sexuality.

Sociology of Deviance

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

The module falls into two parts. In the first part, the concepts of crime, deviance and social control will be considered alongside the exploration of the sociological explanations for the existence of crime and deviance in society. The module will also critically examine the data sources used to support these perspectives. In the second part of the module, these perspectives will be applied to the study of substantive areas of deviance comprising institutions of social control (the police, the courts and prisons); the distribution of crime and the use of official statistics; the mass media; juvenile delinquency; mental illness; and sexuality.

Sociology of Education

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The module will first explore historical and current theoretical concepts of education. You will then focus on: the hidden curriculum, the roles and behaviour of the teacher and the student, and higher education, its cultures and customers. We will end the module by looking at key debates related to education: the gender debates, the class debates, and the role of education as a cultural symbol.

Sociology of Education

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

The module will first explore historical and current theoretical concepts of education. You will then focus on: the hidden curriculum, the roles and behaviour of the teacher and the student, and higher education, its cultures and customers. We will end the module by looking at key debates related to education: the gender debates, the class debates, and the role of education as a cultural symbol.

Sociology of Globalisation (Aut)

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

Sociology of Medicine and Health

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The module begins by considering the relationship between socio-economic inequality and health outcomes industrialiSed countries, especially in Britain. You then examines the role played by the state, and the National Health Service in particular, in the heath of the nation. The position of medical and health professionals is also analysed in order to understand processes of professionalization and medicalization. Attention then turns to medicines themselves, how they are tested for safety and effectiveness by the pharmaceutical industry and how this process in regulated by governments. The implications of pharmaceuticals and drug prescribing for public health will be carefully scrutinised. You will also gain sociological insights into reproductive technologies and some of the health and social implications of the 'new genetics'. Finally, the module discussed lay public and mass media perspectives on medicine.

The African American Experience

15 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 2

This module examines the rich history of African Americans in the United States, from 1863 to the present. One of your main objectives will be to contextualise and analyse the debates, disagreements, and downright fights that African Americans have had among themselves between emancipation and the beginnings of the modern Civil Rights Movement, thus establishing a deep historical understanding of the ongoing freedom struggle in the late 20th- and early 21st centuries.

You will critique arguments over the proper relationship of blacks to the US government, over racial and class identities, and over diverse tactics and strategies for the advancement of the race. In addition, the lectures will interrogate the connections between African American history and its broader, more diffuse, cultural mythology.  Full attention is given not only to well-known black leaders - such as Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and Martin Luther King - but also to less celebrated figures such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker.

Time and Place 1851: Science, Empire and Exhibitionism

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Time and Place1926: The General Strike

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

At one minute to midnight on 3 May 1926, the British Trades Union Congress called a general strike in support of coal miners, who were refusing to accept their employers' demands for a longer working day and reduced wages. What followed was one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the British labour movement. Up to two million men, along with one million miners, downed their tools with more poised to follow before the general strike was called off on 12 May. The miners continued their fight for a further seven months before they finally returned to work. This was a defining moment in an era of economic, social and political strife. It had a huge impact on working-class identity for decades to come, and remains one of the most significant examples of industrial action Britain has ever seen.

During the module you will explore the experience of the General Strike in depth, looking at its causes and its consequences, and the impact it had on the lives of those involved. Using oral history, autobiography, contemporary writings and social surveys, this will lead to a broader examination of working-class life in interwar Britain, dealing with themes such as:

• Working life (industry and labour, industrial relations, unemployment and poverty)
• Family life (neighbourhood and community, gender roles, children's experiences)
• The State (welfare, housing, policing)
• Working-class identities (culture, leisure and collective mythologies)
• Political struggle (trade unions, the rise of the Labour Party and its opponents, Conservative hegemony, political extremism).

Time and Place: 1688: The Glorious Revolution

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

In November 1688 the Dutch prince William III of Orange invaded England, and James II, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland, fled London. By February 1689, William and his wife Mary were offered the English crown.

The constitutional settlement following the Glorious Revolution shaped the formation of the British state for centuries to come, and the ensuing military strife contributed to Britain’s rise as an international power. At the same time, the revolution created conditions for the development for a thriving commercial society and a vibrant civil society.

This module will examine the political and religious strains that gave rise to these momentous events. You will see how they were perceived at the time, and how they are interpreted by present-day historians. You will also examine the revolution’s consequences.

Time and Place: 1838: The Coronation of Queen Victoria

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 brought to the throne the first woman in over one hundred years. Almost at once the initial popular interest in her desirable qualities - her youth, her femininity, her purity - began to sour as she was revealed to be a staunch partizan of the unpopular Whig government, and then chose for her Consort a German, the soon-­to­-be Prince Albert.

This module will examine two major themes. Firstly, it will use the early years of Victoria's reign to explore the painful birth of 'Victorian' England, ­ caught between the aristocratic assumptions of the eighteenth-century and the more middle-class principles of the nineteenth. Secondly, it will tie together these threads by returning to the Coronation of 1838 and examining its place in the long development of royal ritual, in order to assess how far the 'invented traditions' of British monarchy have contributed to the stability of the nation.

Among topics to be considered will be the rise of the middle class, the role of women in early Victorian England, the conflicts of religion, the politics of reform and the struggle for the constitution, the rise of respectable society, the impact of technology, and the rise of the popular press.

Time and Place: 1861: The Coming of the American Civil War

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Time and Place: 1916: The Somme

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

There were nearly 60,000 British casualties on the first day of the Somme. The final tally was nearly 420,000 British casualties. This represents a significant proportion of total British war casualties. Nearly all of those that fought are now dead and the war is rapidly passing from living memory.

This course will ask: what were the experiences of those who fought? how did experience and expectation vary by class and age? is it true that the ‘flower of British youth’ perished in Flanders fields? what long term impact did the carnage have on the attitudes of the British people? how is the war represented in art and literature and in what ways have these representations been used to portray particular views of war?

The war is often seen as a great watershed - between the Victorian nineteenth century and the modern twentieth century - but historians increasingly question the extent to which changes brought about by the war were anything more than transitory. Nevertheless, the lives of many who were non-combatants did change profoundly. About 800,000 women entered the workplace to replace men who were called up.

This course asks: how did war work affect women’s lives and expectations? in a wider context, did the needs of ‘total war’ and desire to secure victory at all costs transform the political aspirations of working people?

Time and Place: 1929: The Weimar Republic

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

In 1929 the stock market crashed and further de-stabilised the already fragile Weimar Republic.  This year also marks the publication of Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz, one of the great works of modernist literature. 

This module looks at the history, politics, art and philosophy of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933).  In addition to reading excerpts from Berlin Alexanderplatz and Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, you will also study the innovative cinema of Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, Bertolt Brecht and Leni Riefenstahl, developments in German Expressionist painting during this period, and Bauhaus architecture.  You will read some seminal political and philosophical works of the period in the writings of Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin and Martin Heidegger.  You will take a multi-disciplinary approach to some of the most important political and artistic experiments in the twentieth century, and will acquire invaluable background knowledge about the collapse of Weimar and the rise of National Socialism. 

Time and Place: 1938: Kristallnacht

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

During the night of the 9th of November 1938, SS and SA forces launched an assault on German Jews; on their property, their synagogues, and their businesses. This so-called ‘Kristallnacht’ can be understood as a violent rehearsal for the Holocaust which Nazi Germany implemented three years later. It also marks the end of over a century of a prolific and (mostly) peaceful co-existence between Jews and Christian non-Jews.

This module concerns the relationship between Jews and Christian no-Jews since the early 19th century. It focuses on the complex processes of political emancipation, of social integration, and of cultural adaptation through which Jews became an integral part of the German political, social and cultural life. At the same time, these processes changed Jewish religious, economic, social and cultural life.

This module will concentrate on the period from the mid-19th century to the beginning of the Holocaust, emphasizing Jewish life in imperial and Weimar Germany as well as under Nazism. Issues of Jewish identity will be discussed along with aspects of modern anti-Semitism. You will gain an understanding of this history of Jewish/non-Jewish relations in all its richness, alongside its problematic aspects leading up to 1938 and the Holocaust.

Time and Place: 1942: Holocaust

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

This module looks at the attempt by the Nazis to create a ‘Master Race’ by exterminating the Jews of Europe and by targeting other groups including gay people, Gypsies and people with disabilities. You will study the legacy of anti-Semitism and racism towards Gypsies, along with other forms of discrimination inherited by the Nazis and used by them to create their own racist policies.
You will consider issues such as: how was the so-called ‘Final Solution to the Jewish problem’ put into effect? why is 1942 a key year in the development of the Final Solution? what part was played by the perpetrators across occupied Europe? is it accurate to characterise most people as bystanders? what sort of people were rescuers? what were the experiences of the victims and what were the possibilities of resistance?
The issues will give rise to many questions about why the Holocaust happened. The module will examine how it was possible to  carry out this plan of mass murder so effectively, and to do so in such a short time, when the plan relied on the active involvement of many people, and the passive acceptance of even more.

Time and Place: 1956: The Battle of Algiers

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

The starting point will be 30 September 1956 when four Algerian women placed bombs in the European quarter of Algiers - a key moment in the Battle of Algiers. The module will commence with the precise context for this action, namely the unfolding war in Algeria between the National Liberation Front (FLN) and the left-wing Republican Front government. It will examine the motivations for this violence and the particular involvement of the Algerian women in the anti-colonial struggle.

The course will then move on to consider the wider international context for the Algerian crisis. In this way 30 September 1956 will be related to:

• the rise of pan-Arab nationalism encapsulated within Nasser's Egypt
• British and French imperialisms expressed through the Suez Crisis
• the Cold War confrontation in the Middle East and North Africa
• the role of Israel in the Middle East
• US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa and the tensions this produced between the old colonial powers and the USA
• the foundation of the EEC
• splits within the left and the rise of the new left that criticised the USSR
• the rise of the non-aligned movement
• Americanisation and the Western European 'economic miracle'. 

Time and Place: 1963: Sexual Revolution in Britain

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

According to the poet Philip Larkin, sexual intermodule began in 1963, and the ‘swinging sixties’ have been characterised as a decade when sexual relationships were subject to fundamental change.

Taking 1963 as a starting point, this module will examine the shifting nature of sexual and emotional intimacy across 20th century Britain. You will examine how appropriate it is to characterise certain decades as periods of sexual revolution and others as periods of sexual conservatism, and how to account for such a historical change.

You will pay close attention to long-term demographic shifts and attempt to account for the rising popularity of marriage until the late 1960s, and its declining popularity during the 1970s. You will examine the social implications of birth control availability, the significance of historically-specific shifts in the age of first marriage, courtship etiquette, changing sexual practices and cultural constructions of ‘love’.

Time and Place: 1968: Rivers of Blood

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

Time and Place: 1984: Thatcher's Britain (Observing the 1980s)

15 credits
Spring teaching, Year 2

George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984 describes a totalitarian government bent on total manipulation. For many on the left, Margaret Thatcher's government represented elements of an 'Orwellian state', in which the social democratic consensus established after the end of World War Two was replaced by a free enterprise economy and a centralised state. For those on the political right, the 1980s Thatcher governments championed the re-assertion of individualism, British nationalism and a retreat from the so-called 'nanny state' in which the fight against the 'enemy within' was as important as the fight against the enemy without. In cultural terms, most writers point to the 1980s as being marked by creative pessimism, with 'anti-Thatcherism' the dominant cultural theme.

This module will examine key events of the 1980s and reflect upon whether Margaret Thatcher's most famous quote, 'There is no such thing as society', is a suitable epitaph for the 1980s. Topic studied include: 1982 Falklands War; the 1984 miners' strike; the re-emergence of mass unemployment, peaking in 1986 at over 3.5 million; privatisation of industry and challenge to trade union power and the violent mass protest against the Community Charge (1990). Rather than producing a top down political history of the period, this module is interested in exploring the wide variety of evidence available to the contemporary historian. It is built around the Observing the Eighties project which includes oral histories from the British Library and holdings of the Mass Observation Project and ephemera from the University of Sussex.

History Special Dissertation

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

Alternative Societies (Spr)

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

Contemporary Social Theory

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

This module provides a critical assessment of the some of the most prominent sociological theorists in the late 20th century. This period can be described as post-classical in the sense that the various schools of classical sociological theory associated with Marx, Weber, Durkheim and their later followers gave way to a range of new approaches such as those linked to post-structuralism, such as Foucault - as well as to new interpretations of the classical approaches, such as social constructionism, western Marxism and critical theory. The central aim of the module is to show how contemporary thinkers have understood the major transformations in modern society (ie from industrial to post-industrial society, globalisation, new social movements such as feminism, environmental movements, identity politics). This will involve a consideration of some of the most important debates in sociological theory, such as the debates about modernity versus postmodernity, structure versus agency as well as the influence of psychoanalytic social theory emanating from feminist theory and from post-structuralism.

The weekly topics include: social constructionism; Foucault and govementality; Habermas and critical theory; recognition theory (Honneth); marxism after postmodernism; Bourdieu and recent French sociology; poststructuralism and psychoanalysis: Derrida, Lacan, Deleuze; Bauman's postmodern ethics; network theory: Latour and Castells; theories of modernity; cosmopolitanism and social theory; culture and social theory (performativity, Alexander).

Death of Socialism

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

This module looks at the contemporary condition of socialism following the collapse of state socialism in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the erosion of the central principles of Western social democracy and the prevalence of free market and capitalist ideas at the start of the century. Is socialism a relevant, feasible or desirable idea in contemporary society? Or is it dead, merely a historical relic of the 20th century?

We will start by looking at the two predominant conceptions and experiences of socialism of the twentieth century - ­ Marxist and social democratic socialism. What are the main features of these models of socialism? You will then examine criticisms of socialism from liberals and libertarians ­ such as Hayek and Nozick ­ and from new social movements ­ such as the women's movement and the green movement. What critical points are raised by these perspectives and how telling are they? We will look at reasons for the collapse of state socialism in the late 1980s and at attempts in the West to rethink socialism during an era in which neo­liberalism was a predominant force. Do liberal and new social movements' criticisms and the collapse of state socialism suggest that socialism is dead? Do attempts to redefine socialism (as market socialism or radical democratic socialism) escape the criticisms of liberals and the new social movements and the problems experienced under old social democracy and state socialism? Or do they indicate that the era of socialism has well and truly passed?

In the final two topics we shall address this question a little more. We will examine the attempt of New Labour and current European social democrats to respond to the crisis of social democracy and will ask whether there is anything remaining of socialism in such attempts. And we shall examine theses such as that of Fukuyama: that the day of socialism has passed and that capitalism has won the battle.

Development, Human Rights and Security (Spr)

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

Globalisation: History, Theories, Culture

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

We live in a fast-moving world where companies and trade are often international and money can be globally mobile in an instant. Media images and cultural products are transported globally, and tourism and migration are important parts of everyday social experience. Politics is often carried out at supranational levels, whether through international organisations or global social movements. Processes such as these make distance over space less important, and interdependency across the globe affects all societies raising questions to do with cultural identity, power, inequality and conflict.

This module looks at different meanings and concepts of globalisation. It analyses the history of globalisation and the extent to which it is a premodern, modern or postmodern phenomenon. The module examines perspectives on globalisation, such as those from globalist, transformationalist and sceptical perspectives. You will examine theories of globalisation from key sociologists. The module goes on to look at technological developments in media and the way they have led to the globalisation of culture, and whether culture has been made more homogeneous or hybrid. The module looks at the way processes of globalisation have intersected in global cities.
 

Globalisation: Migration, Economy, Politics

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

We live in a fast-moving world where companies and trade are often international and money can be globally mobile in an instant. Media images and cultural products are transported globally and tourism and migration are important parts of everyday social experience. Politics is often carried out at supranational levels, whether through international organisations or global social We live in a fast-moving world where companies and trade are often international, and money can be globally mobile in an instant. Media images and cultural products are transported globally, and tourism and migration are important parts of everyday social movements. Processes such as these make distance over space less important and interdependency across the globe affects all societies.

This module looks at causes, types and effects of global migration, both historically and today. It examines the degree to which world economics have been globalised by factors, such as the growth of transnational corporations, the mobility of money and international economic interdependency. It examines the degree to which global trade helps to include poorer countries or leads to greater inequality. You will examine the extent to which politics has been globalised through factors such as the rise of international organisations and the global nature of social problems, and whether the nation-state is in decline. The module also looks at war and power globally in the 21st century, the nature of the world order, and at the distribution of power among states in the world.

Identity and Interaction

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

This module explores microsociological theories of the self, social identity and social interaction, drawing particularly on symbolic interactionism and Goffman's dramaturgical theory. The aim is to show how the ostensibly private world of individual selfhood is created and shaped by social processes, culture and interaction order. The first half of the module examines different approaches to understanding identity: from the philosophy of mind and personhood, through theories of group membership and categorisation; narrative and biographical models of the 'storied self'; performativity; and poststructuralist ideas about identity fragmentation, multiplicity and the discursive constitution of subjectivities. The second part of the module looks in detail at two related theories of social interaction - Symbolic Interactionism and Goffman's dramaturgy - and their empirical applications, using illustrative examples from published studies. Topics covered here include: role-making, taking, play and conflict; meanings, gestures and symbols; strangers and outsiders; Goffman's theatrical analogy; behaviour in public places (etiquette, civility and interaction rituals); deviant and stigmatised identities; the negotiated order of institutional life; and secrecy, lies, betrayal and deception. The module will be assessed by a 6000 word essay, in the form of either a critical commentary on the social formation of one type of social identity or a reflexive portfolio of self-identity.

Madness and Society: Healthcare Controversies

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

The central aim of the module is to develop a critical and analytical understanding of key debates in the field of contemporary mental healthcare in relation to the conceptualisation of mental disorder and critiques of the therapeutic claims of psychiatry in relation to its presumed objectivity, scientific status and social neutrality. You are encouraged to develop critical perspectives when evaluating different bodies of knowledge and evidence, and to consider the relative influence of social, psychological, emotional and physical/biological factors in shaping the way mental disorders are experienced and managed. For example, we address the role of the mass media in shaping lay understandings of madness and constructions of the mentally ill, as well as the power they have to reinforce stigma and prejudice; the role of the pharmaceutical industry in creating new disorders, markets and types of patient; and the agency exercised by service user-led movements to resist biomedical power. We also examine case studies of specific medically-defined disorders. 

Madness and Society: Theoretical Debates

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

This module builds on theoretical approaches and research within medical sociology, with a unique focus on the social factors affecting mental health and illness. The central aim of the module is to develop a critical and analytical understanding of key debates in the field, such as the nature of the conceptualisation of mental disorder and whether medical ways of categorizing and dealing with it are the most appropriate; whether mental illness is really a form of social deviance that is medically constructed, amplified and controlled through the psychiatric system; critiques of the therapeutic claims of psychiatry in relation to its presumed objectivity, scientific status and social neutrality; whether psychiatry is ultimately an instrument of social control; processes of social causation and social construction of mental illness, and the tensions between them; and the role of structural divisions such as social class, ethnicity, gender and age in determining patterns of mental illness.

Sociology of Fun (Spr)

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

Sociology Project

30 credits
Spring teaching, Year 3

The aim of this module is to give you direct experience of carrying out a small scale research project, from the initial stages of design to the final stages of presenting your findings. It is intended to consolidate and build upon the knowledge base gained from the DSR research methods module in the second year, as you will use these skills to research a topic of your choice. You will be assessed on how well you interpret and apply the relevant methodological issues to your research design, manage the practical side of the project, and reflect on the effectiveness of your chosen strategies. You work mainly through independent study, under the guidance of a supervisor. The assessment consists of a research proposal, presentation and 8,000 word written report.

Sociology Research Proposal

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3

The aim of this module is to give you direct experience of carrying out a small scale research project, from the initial stages of design to the final stages of presenting your findings. It is intended to consolidate and build upon the knowledge base gained from the DSR research methods module in the second year, as you will use these skills to research a topic of your choice. You will be assessed on how well you interpret and apply the relevant methodological issues to your research design, manage the practical side of the project, and reflect on the effectiveness of your chosen strategies. You work mainly through independent study, under the guidance of a supervisor. The assessment consists of a research proposal, presentation and 8,000 word written report.

Special Subject Capitalism and Ethnicity

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

Special Subject: Britain and the Second World War

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

This module concentrates on the impact of the Second World War on social, cultural, economic and political relations in Britain 1938-45. The extent to which the war had a profound impact on British society is the subject of vigorous debate among historians in secondary literature. A complicated historiography exists for many of the topics included in this module, and the reasons for this changing interpretation of the past will be explored. The topics covered by this module include: 1930s appeasement, civil defence and preparation for war, civilian evacuation, the blitz, the fall of Chamberlain and the Churchill coalition government, Dunkirk evacuation, war economy, rationing, agriculture, women in factories and auxiliary services, combatants' experience, D-Day landings, American service personnel in Britain, Beveridge report and the post-war welfare state, the General Election of 1945. The emphasis of History Special Subjects is to examine a particular period in detail using primary sources and subsequent monographs and articles. Primary sources include: Parliamentary Papers; government publications, contemporary social investigation and comment; contemporaneous essays and monographs; oral historical accounts; memoirs and diaries, films, paintings, poems, photographs etc. Subsequent analysis, in the form of books and articles are secondary sources.

Special Subject: Democracy and War

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

Special Subject: Domesticity and its Discontents: Women in Post-War Britain

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

Special Subject: Modernism

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

Special Subject: The American Civil War in Historical Memory

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

The ongoing Sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War in the United States highlights the continuing capacity of that sanguinary conflict to generate controversy in the present. This module provides you with a detailed examination of the war's impact on generations of Americans since 1865. It focuses specifically on the construction of southern white, African American and official unionist memories of the Civil War. These three key strains of historical memory evolved in the late nineteenth century under the press of postbellum reconciliation between North and South and the concomitant growth of a segregated society. They took a variety forms, notably the potent and profoundly racist 'Lost Cause' memory of the Confederate cause which underpinned the Jim Crow South for more than half a century, a marginalised African-American 'counter-memory' which sought to keep alive remembrance of emancipation and black military service in the armed forces of the United States, and an official national memory which depicted the Civil War as a tragic brothers' war which nevertheless had the effect of unifying and strengthening the United States in preparation for its emergence on the world stage as a Great Power.

The module will focus on the impersonal social and economic forces at work in the construction of these distinctive and frequently intertwined memories as well as the inherently political activities of different groups involved in the memory-making process. These groups include southern white women who founded the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the veterans themselves who contributed significantly to sectional reconciliation, novelists, poets and historians of all kinds, filmmakers and dramatists, and politicians with a wide range of vested interests. The module will introduce you to a broad range of illustrative 'texts' in order to familiarise you with the diverse manifestations of Civil War memory -- not only writings by Ulysses S. Grant, Carl Sandburg, and Douglas Southall Freeman but also monuments such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, movies like Gone With the Wind and Glory, and commemorative events including the ill-fated centennial of the 1960s which was moulded by both the Cold War and the modern civil rights movement.

In many respects the module functions as a detailed case study in historical memory, a concept of growing interest to historians and one that has already generated a rich secondary literature. You will be encouraged to engage closely with this broader literature in order to make cross-national comparisons and to apply at least a modicum of theory to the primary and secondary texts at their disposal.

Special Subject: The Century of the Gene

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

At the beginning of the 20th century no-one knew anything about genetics (the word itself had yet to be coined), yet by the century's end, you could buy cheap, do-it-yourself genetic tests on the internet. You will investigate the ways in which advances in scientific knowledge have affected our sense of ourselves, so that the very phrase 'human nature' has increasingly come to mean something fixed by our genes. The language of genetics has had a powerful effect on political dismodule; the eugenic ideal of creating a superior type of human was supposed to have died with Hitler, yet seems to live on in routine genetic testing and screening, and in the fantasy of 'designer babies'. The idea of a genetic blueprint, and of being able to read, and perhaps to edit and re-write, the DNA 'code', has shaped popular culture, from television and cinema to novels and computer games.

You will examine a broad and diverse range of primary sources, from accessible scientific texts to science fiction (novels, TV and movies) to examples of how the mass media report science, in order to track the often imaginative uses of ideas like cloning, mutation and genetic engineering. No knowledge of biology is needed for this module. The goal is for you to understand the ways in which non-expert publics have understood genetics. Biology's grip on the public imagination helped it become the defining science of the 20th century. Genetics redefined the public sphere in 20th century because of the promise, or threat, that it would reshape humans and the world we live in.

Special Subject: The Civil Rights Movement

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

You will assess the triumphs and tragedies of the movement for racial equality in the United States during the decades that followed the Second World War. You will begin by looking at the broader societal forces that created the context for the movement, including the decline of the agricultural economy of the American South, the migration of millions of African Americans from rural to urban communities, and the impact of the Second World War. You will analyse the movement from the perspective not only of its leaders but also grassroots activists and evaluate the intellectual and institutional forces that shaped movement activism, especially the role of Christianity. In assessing the civil rights conflicts of the post-war decades, you will also study the ideology and tactics of white racists who opposed reform.

You will learn how the domestic struggle for civil rights was based in a broader global framework and assess how international events impacted on American race relations. One of the narrative threads woven throughout the module is the influence, both positive and negative, of the Cold War on the black freedom struggle. In the short term, the rise of domestic anti-communism had an adverse effect on civil rights protest since white supremacists used popular fears of political subversion to accuse movement activists of being 'un-American'. Nonetheless, in the longer term Cold War politics impelled positive change. You will also study the influence of other international forces such as the decolonisation of African and Asian nations and the emergence of the United Nations.

Through your study of the civil rights movement, you will address a number of issues that relate to your broader critical understanding of history. In addition to sharpening your ability to engage with historiographical debate, you will tackle such issues as political agency, the strengths and limitations of state power, and the commemoration of controversial events in collective historical memory. You will also be encouraged to hone your skills in the interpretation of a wide range of primary sources, including speeches, publicity material and newsreel footage. You will have access to the extensive electronic primary sources available through the university library, including the Chicago Defender and African American Newspapers Collection.

Special Subject: The European Experience of the First World War

30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, Year 3

The Cultural Life of Capital Punishment (Aut)

30 credits
Autumn teaching, Year 3