BSc (Hons) Criminology and Sociology

You will be introduced to the form, key features and purpose of the institutions of the contemporary criminal justice system in England and Wales and begin an insight into the issues which are comprised in the question of justice and civil liberties.

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You will be introduced to the key foundational issues, ideas, and ways of thinking within criminology. You will explore the various relationships between crime and society drawing upon contemporary, historical and comparative evidence and demonstrate links between particular theories and concepts and their implications for research methodology and social policy.

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The module will develop your understanding of the nature of collective action, conflict and struggle. You will explore the specificities of collective action and subjectivity involved in riots and other forms of resistance, and identify and debate institutional responses to them. You will identify the fundamental forces and factors behind revolutions and examine the novelty of social, political and cultural resistance.

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You will be introduced to social scientific concepts and theories about the nature of social divisions, diversity and social inequality in advanced industrial societies. You will develop an understanding of evidence about major forms of social division and their causes and social consequences and compare alternative explanations of complexity and differentiation in contemporary society.

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You will become familiar with sociological approaches to the understanding of culture, and the relationship between culture, power and identity. You will examine the social and cultural construction of identity and consider the formation of collective and individual identity, as forces of control and opportunity.

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You will develop knowledge of the major forms of sociological reasoning and the ability to think sociologically about the major problems and issues in society and social life. You will gain an understanding of key concepts in sociology and of the contribution of sociological inquiry to explaining social dynamics.

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You will develop an understanding of the range of theories of crime and criminal justice and locate the key issues of criminology within their socio-political and historical context. You will gain a knowledge of the most important theories, and their relevance for understanding crime matters in contemporary society.

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You will develop an understanding of the key schools of thought in sociological inquiry and evaluate the contribution of sociological inquiry to social life. You will analyse the relationships between individuals and their social settings and groups, and critically compare different sociological approaches and their implications for understanding the dynamics of social structures.

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You will develop an understanding of competing methodological approaches to social research. The focus throughout this module will be on learning and experiencing applied methods to address “real world” research social problems. You will gain a working knowledge, and practical experience of, alternative methods of collecting,  reporting and presenting qualitative data.

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You will gain an understanding of the survey research process, including forming a suitable research question, operationalisation, and types of sampling strategy. You will gain knowledge of key concepts in quantitative research, including statistical significance and probability and practical experience of alternative methods of analysing qualitative data.

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You will gain an understanding of the relationship between news and popular media, crime, criminal justice, and cultural, social and political justice more broadly. You will focus on four key areas: media influence and effects; news media reporting of crime and criminal justice; fictional representation of crime and criminal justice; and new media and new forms of crime and justice.

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You will analyse the sociological and socio-legal dimensions to the construction of guilt and develop a critical analysis of the key debates surrounding the use of forensic evidence in the detection of crime and in relation to expert evidence in the courtroom. You will assess the problematic nature of “facts” and “truth” in constructions of guilt and use selected high profile criminal cases as case studies.

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You will gain an understanding of the construction of deviant labels based on variables of ethnicity, gender and youth, and the relationship between these labels and crime. You will engage with  issues surrounding experiences of crime and encounters with the criminal justice system. You will also compare crime policies on a national and international scale and look at a number of historical and contemporary case-studies.

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You will be introduced to issues surrounding the policing and social control in the past, in contemporary society and in the future, and analyse how social control and surveillance are manifested. You will identify the implications for policing and social control studies on wider sociology as well as policy and practice.

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You will develop an understanding of the evolution of the modern prison and of the relationship between prisons, probation, the courts and the media and the economic and social environment in which they operate. You will gain an understanding of the impacts of punishment with regard to age, gender and ethnicity and consider criminal justice institutions, policies, and practices in their contexts.

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You will critically analyse state violence and transitional justice and prominent examples of them. You will appraise the meanings of “terror,” “truth” and “justice” and assess the results of transitional justice mechanisms.

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You will develop an understanding of how and why people become victims and of the relationship between victimisation and social and cultural variables. You will critically explore the place of the victim in the criminal justice system, and how they are processed.

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An overview of the conceptualisation of “violence”. You will examine debates concerning violence in various aspects of life, consider the contemporary debates surrounding violence in a range of contexts, trace the development of theorisations of violence and consider ethical, methodological and practical issues involved in the researching of violence.

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This module aims to denaturalise your understanding of the body and promote a sociological conception of both biology and human emotion. You will become familiar with sociologically thinking about the body, including the gendering and racialisation of bodies and you will explore the impact of modern genetics and other technological advancements on contemporary social life.

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You will be introduced to different forms of social connections, from gemenschaft to gesellschaft, and explore the meanings, practices and roles of family, friendship, kinship, and community within the context of capitals, localities, and policy debates.

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You will gain an understanding of the features of interactionist sociology and recognise how interactionist sociology differs from other ways of studying the social world. You will look at the ways in which theoretical approaches can be applied in areas such as socialisation and education, work and employment, and health and illness, and gain an understanding of the problems and opportunities of ‘working in a tradition’.

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You will gain an understanding of the major perspectives on modernity, the modern state and modern metropolis, and consider the major perspectives on modernity and its disputed meaning, its promises and its dark sides. You will consider theoretical approaches to the modern state and politics, and examine modern political ideologies. You will also explore the modern/postmodern city and life in modern metropolis, and analyse utopian and dystopian visions of the urban 'site’.

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The aim of this module is to give you an understanding of the role and location of popular culture, consumption, leisure and media and within contemporary society.  You will consider the historical processes, theoretical and political debates, underlying and informing the nature of these practices, institutions and texts, as well as our understandings of these.

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You will examine recent and contemporary social science debates and evidence about the modern preoccupation with ‘risk’ in society. You will address questions about social constructionist and realist accounts of risk, the emergence and impact of regulatory processes to ‘manage’ risk, and their manifestation at individual and institutional levels.

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You will be introduced to the concepts of utopia and dystopia and key debates on these topics. You will gain an understanding of the complex relationship between the material world and utopian projections, and develop a critical approach to a variety of texts which seek to represent various utopias and dystopias.

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This module examines a variety of themes and issues – practical, substantive, theoretical, methodological, textual and ethical- about the use of visual materials to account for social phenomena. You will address these matters through a range of work in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.

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You have the option to study a foreign language through the UWLP, which is practical in content and available at four levels (stages): Stage 1 (complete beginner), Stage 2 (Grade A*-C at GCSE), Stage 3 (Grade C or below at AS level), Stage 4 (Grade D or below at A2 level). The lower stages help you cope with everyday situations abroad or when dealing with visitors to this country, and the higher stages enable you to use the language in more professional contexts.

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You will gain an overview of the philosophy, nature, significance, outcomes and consequences of the criminal justice process and explore how it functions. You will think critically about key aspects of the criminal justice process and examine the interaction between different actors and agencies involved, and between the criminal justice process and politics, the community and the media.

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You will look at the origins, development and scope of the principles of human rights. You will gain an understanding of socio-legal mechanisms for promoting and protecting both 'civil and political' and 'economic, social and cultural' rights, and an understanding of the problems posed by their violation. You will also engage with theoretical and contemporary debates surrounding citizenship, activism and social change.

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You will develop an area of interest through TWO pieces of extended Sociological or Criminological prose, without having to meet the demands of research-based activity associated with the Dissertation., examining topics of your choice.

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You will examine a Sociological or Criminological topic of your choice in an independent piece of research, exploring an area of your own academic, professional or personal interest.

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You will engage in work based learning, making practical and conceptual connections between the academic study of sociology and criminology and work based activities. You will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of critical reflection. 

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