Social Policy

You will explore the history of British social policy and the forces and pressures which have shaped its development.

This module builds upon the module 'The Policy Making Process', taking a more contemporary perspective. For example, it looks at the way fatherhood has become an increasingly significant issue in the making of social policy.

The module aims to provide you with a firm grounding in sociological substantive and factual knowledge, help build interpretive capacity, and encourage the development of evaluative thought. You will also be encouraged to develop a range of allied transferable skills. Teaching will include formal delivery of material via lectures, supported by online materials, alongside seminars, for which you will be expected to prepare and in which you will be expected to actively participate. Tutorials will give you the opportunity to speak one-to-one to members of the teaching team to discuss any issues, questions or queries they have pertaining to aspects of their learning and development.

This module shows how policy is shaped, influenced and translated and enacted in a range of organisations, professions, and contexts, and how this can enhance employability and employment opportunities for graduates of this course.

This module will help you develop and fine tune a range of study skills, including essay writing, time management, presentations, and critical thinking.

This module will develop your understanding of the integration between health, wellbeing, social care and policy.

This module explores key concepts and ideological and theoretical debates about welfare in Britain.

You will gain an understanding of the concept of citizenship in relation to the UK, EU, and global welfare institutions. Issues examined include disability and citizenship, poverty and citizenship, immigration and asylum.

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.

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.

Issues explored include race and mental illness, chronic illness, attention deficit disorder, ageism and health care.

You will be introduced to the growing literature on gender relations and explore key areas of contemporary debate, including the changing position and status of women and masculinity today.

This module unpacks the meaning of disability, assessing its impact on the individual and society. Among the themes examined is the rise of the disability rights movement.

This module examines social policies directed at young people and explores issues such as teenage parents, sexuality, youth crime and the transition to adulthood.

This module explores the development of social policy and the ways in which this development has been influenced by ideas and beliefs about race, gender, disability and sexuality. There is a particular focus on education policy.

The term social exclusion is a relatively new arrival in terms of social policy. We explore the origins and value of this concept. The experience of a number of excluded groups will be examined, including sexual minorities, travellers and gypsies and people with mental health problems.

Today the family is very much at the centre of the political and social policy agenda. This module explores the connection between families, politics and social policies. You will look at issues such as poverty, child support, domestic violence and divorce.

This module explores the ways that housing is organised and delivered in the UK. Assessing housing need, access to housing, homelessness and tenure are focused on and you will be able to integrate theoretical knowledge of housing policy and practice and relate this to changing societal contexts.

Here you will compare the development of social policy globally, including personal social services, health, and housing.

A supervised research project of 10,000 words.

The placement will offer you an opportunity to gain first-hand experience working in a social policy related setting, and to develop key work based skills such as team work, time management and communication skills.