Criminal Justice and Policing SPY00011H - york.ac.uk 3r… · Web viewJulie Rugg. Timetable and Format: Three hour session per week: lectures, seminars, group discussions and presentations

Department of Social Policy and Social Work

Short Outlines of year 3 Modules available to SPS students 2015-2016

Table 1: Option Modules Available in 2015-2016 for SPS

Autumn Term 2015 Spring Term 2016

Criminal Justice and Policing SPY00011HHousing Policy SPY00001H Death and Policy SPY00038HPoverty and Inequality SPY00036H Gender and Youth Cultures SPY00025H

Gender, Citizenship and the Welfare State SPY00032H

Vulnerability, Deviance and Social Control SPY00039H

Sustainable Development and Social Inclusion SPY00017H

Welfare States in Crisis SPY00035H Social Enterprise SPY00033HIllicit Drug Use SPY00012HWelfare State Futures SPY00014HWell Being of Children and Young People SPY00020HYouth Justice SPY00021H

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Module Name: Criminal Justice and Policing SPY00011H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Lisa O’Malley

Duration: One term (Autumn)

Timetable and Format:

Three hours per week: lectures, seminars, group discussions and presentations

Rationale: The police and policing are central to understanding contemporary responses to crime and the fear of crime. In recent years the police have suffered a crisis of legitimacy arising from increasing expectations, high profile public scandals and the threats to their role emerging from new trends in private policing activities. The increasing importance of ‘community’ in modern policing as well as an emphasis on developing international policing methods has extended and fragmented aspects of the traditional police role. In this module we will explore what the police do; how they do it; and the challenges facing the police in the 21st century.

Aims and Objectives: • To facilitate a critical understanding of key issues and policies in relation to contemporary policing• To introduce students to the social, political and cultural aspects of policing• To explore contemporary policing policy and practice in relation to specific types of crime.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the module, students who have attended the lectures and workshops and also undertaken complementary reading will:• Understand the historical context within which contemporary policing has developed• Be in a position to analyse theories and policies relevant to policing and the police

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• Be able to reflect critically on trends and practices in policing• Have an in depth understanding of policing in relation to one particular type of crime

Assessment: One essay of 3,500 words

Module Name: Death and Policy SPY00038H

Credits: 20

Duration: One term (Spring)

Module Convenor: Julie Rugg


Three hour session per week: lectures, seminars, group discussions and presentations

Aims and Objectives: In recent years the notion that death is a taboo subject has collapsed, and in a range of policy arenas an increasing emphasis has been placed on achieving a ‘good death’. This module explores the concept of a ‘good death’ and uses this framework to assess policy intervention in a range of non-medicalised arenas. The module will examine the activities of the major actors and agencies that are involved in funerary activity following a death; consider the role of policy in framing those activities; and review the policy responses to ‘bad’ death that is a consequence of extreme events and circumstances.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the module, student who have attended the lectures and workshops and undertaken complementary reading will:

Understand the historical context that has framed the conception of a ‘good death’

Be conversant with a range of analytical frameworks to evaluate funerary practice

Be able to reflect critically on the role of policy in framing funerary practice

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Module Name: Gender and Youth Cultures SPY00025H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Aniela Wenham



Three hours per week

Rationale: Gender and Youth Cultures will explore how young people perform and regulate their gendered identities. The module aims to give students an appreciation of the changing shape of youth cultures and the importance of differences based on sexuality, social class and ethnicity, amongst a whole range of other complex social dynamics. The module will also consider youth cultures wider afield, appreciating difference and diversity, and the many ways in which young people play out their gendered identities on a global, national and local scale. Students will also explore popular youth culture, in particular youth consumption.

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Aims and Objectives: To gain appreciation of the way gender is performed by young people today

To identify the key dimensions to the changing state of youth over time

To explore distinct features of contemporary youth cultures

To consider youth cultures and gender in the global context

To appreciate the holistic nature of young people’s lives and the interplay of social inequalities to their emerging identities

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the module students should be able to identify the importance of differences based on gender, social class, sexuality and ethnicity in relation to youth cultures. Students will be aware of the changing shape of youth over time as well as the more recent literature in relation to contemporary experiences and understandings of youth culture. An awareness of the complexity of how young people construct their identities in relation to differing structural contexts will be gained.

Assessment: One project of 3,500 words

Module Name: Gender, Citizenship and the Welfare State SPY00032H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Naomi Finch


Students: Third year undergraduates



Aims and Objectives: To introduce students to how social

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policies treat men and women, and how this varies cross-nationally;

To help students develop a critical understanding of the concepts underpinning the welfare state, and how gender sits within these;

To help students develop a critical awareness of how welfare state theories incorporate gender;

To introduce students to the extent that men and women are treated differently in social protection, the labour market and how this varies cross-nationally;

To highlight to students how care has been treated by welfare states, and the implications of this;

To highlight to students the impact that welfare states have upon gendered poverty outcomes.

Learning Outcomes: Subject content Understand why cross-national

research is useful for understanding gender and its limitations

Have a critical understanding of the normative concepts underpinning the welfare state

Have familiarity with the key theories concerning welfare state models, specifically in relation to gender

Understand the cross-national differences in policy inputs and outcomes in relation to gender

Understand the part that welfare states play in shaping gender differences

Assessment: 3,500 word essay

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Module Name: Housing Policy SPY00001H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Centre for Housing Policy (named convenor to be confirmed)




Rationale: To provide students with an advanced knowledge of the nature of British housing and contemporary housing policy and law.

Aims and Objectives: The module is designed to increase awareness of the development of British housing policy during the 20th century and to evaluate current issues, particularly regarding the interface between social policy, law and housing.

Learning Outcomes: Students will be aware of key issues in housing policy and will be able to apply for professional training in housing management.


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Module Name: Illicit Drug Use SPY00012H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Sharon Grace




Rationale: Illicit drug use is a key contemporary concern both for our country and globally. Opinions about the dangers of illicit drug use vary as widely as the drugs which are used - but few are in doubt that the number of people using drugs has increased hugely over the last twenty years and that it is therefore, if for this reason alone, an issue that requires detailed examination. Drugs are also of course always a political ‘hot potato’ – particularly the link between drugs and crime - and the laws and policies related to illicit drug use are never without controversy. This course is designed to provide students with a critical understanding of contemporary drug misuse and its impact; treatment and prevention services; and related international and national laws and policies.

Aims and Objectives: The course aims to provide students with:• accurate information about the main illicit drugs and their effects• detailed knowledge of the legal and policy framework relating to drug misuse• a clear understanding of the reasons why individuals might use illicit substances and the potential health and social costs of that use• an appreciation of the consequences of illicit drug use for families and communities, and• an awareness of the key medical and criminal justice-related responses to drug problems.

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Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students who have attended the lectures and undertaken complementary reading will be able to:• identify the risk of drug misuse amongst key social policy groups;• locate drug misuse with a broad social policy framework that incorporates health, housing, the family, education, un/employment, and crime;• understand common theoretical perspectives used in explaining addiction, and• critically evaluate contemporary policies and practice for tackling drug problems.


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Module Name: Poverty and Inequality SPY00036H

Credits: 20

Duration One term (Autumn)


3 hour weekly sessions

Aims and Objectives: Preventing poverty, and the negative outcomes associated with it is a key purpose of the welfare state. Yet, how to define and measure poverty are hotly debated issues. Definitions of poverty matter. They determine whether individuals, households and particular groups have enough income or material goods to a level for them to live in a manner deemed fair and acceptable for the society in which they live. Moreover, the definition adopted determines appropriate policy responses to prevent and lift people out of poverty. This module will enable students to understand how to define poverty, the outcomes of poverty, and the various ways measuring poverty including both historical and contemporary measures. Students will gains hands on experience in how the decisions made in these respects impact upon the poverty rate across different groups both in the UK and comparatively across nations.

Learning Outcomes: • Understand how poverty and equality are defined• Understand how poverty and equality are measured, and the value of different measures• Understand the methodological issues in measuring• Understand the policy responses to difference measures.• Introduce students to some key data sets for exploring poverty and equality

Assessment: Project 3,500 words

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Module Name: Social Enterprise SPY00033H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Rebecca Tunstall



3 hour weekly session

Module Aims: The module aims to introduce students to the concept of ‘social enterprise’, and the role that it has played and may play in future in the theory and practice of social policy in the UK and elsewhere. By focussing on the business and voluntary sector elements of the mixed economy of welfare, the module provides an alternative perspective on social policy theory and practice, which has tended to be dominated by consideration of the state and its activities. It allows students to focus on a sector which has a growing role in social policy, and which policymakers in many countries would like to see extended further.The course content is as follows:

1) Introduction: What is social enterprise?

2) Theories and ideologies of social enterprise

3) Social enterprise and the voluntary sector

4) Social enterprise, business and the market

5) Social enterprise and social policy6) The development of social enterprise

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7) The size and shape of the social enterprise sector

8) Social enterprise people and organisations

9) The performance of social enterprisesKey questions raised throughout the course include: why social enterprise has not played a larger role in many areas of social policy, whether social enterprise offers distinctive and distinctive valuable practice to some areas of social policy, to what extent the reverse is true, and the potential for social enterprise growth. Empirical material used in the course will be drawn from the UK, other high income countries and medium and low income countries. Teaching methods include case study work and outside speakers from the social enterprise sector. Students will be required to integrate this material with more traditional secondary sources, while exposing them to practical dilemmas in social policy and to a sector which may provide career opportunities.

Learning Outcomes Subject content Understanding of concept of ‘social

enterprise’, and related terms such as ‘non-profit’, voluntary sector’, third sector’, ‘civil society’, ‘non-governmental organisation’, ‘co-operative’ and ‘ethical business’

Ability to apply these terms critically to organisations and processes in social policy in the UK and elsewhere

Knowledge of data sources on social enterprise, and knowledge about variation in prevalence, types and impact of social enterprises over time, between service areas and between countries

Critical awareness of theories developed to explain this variation

Understanding about the potential and actual role that social enterprises and

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related organisations play in the provision of social services

Critical awareness of the arguments about the distinctiveness of social enterprise as a means of delivering social policy, and its strengths and weaknesses

Assessment: 3,500 word essay

Module Name: Sustainable Development & Social Inclusion SPY00017H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Carolyn Snell



A three hour session each week, incorporating talks, videos, seminars, debates, workshops and role play at different stages in the module.

Rationale: Human activity, at both an individual and social level, changes the natural environment

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which in turn changes the limitations on and potential for social development. There is a clear case for considering the environmental factors that can contribute to social disadvantage and for analysing the distributional effects of policies designed for environmental protection.

Aims and Objectives: The module aims to increase awareness of the complex relationships between many social and environmental problems. It encourages students to think beyond the traditional boundaries of social policy and to consider how the environmental effects of human activities result in changes that alter the extent to which others can meet their needs, now and in the future.

Learning Outcomes: After completing the module students should be able to explain why sustainable development has a valid place on the social policy agenda and should be able to incorporate a consideration of environmental impacts into their analysis of social policy.

Assessment: One 3,500 word essay

Module Name: Vulnerability, Deviance and Social Control SPY00039H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Kate Brown


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Aims and Objectives: To introduce ideas and theories related to social control and the close relationship between ‘support’ and discipline in contemporary policy and practice

To explore the intensifying behavioural regulation of ‘problem’ groups in contemporary society and, in particular, how this impacts of the lives of vulnerable citizens

To facilitate a critical understanding of issues of ‘difference’ and power in relation to social control, focussing on key social factors such as class, gender, ethnicity and age.

Learning Outcomes: Have an understanding of how behaviourist policy agendas affect vulnerable individuals and groups

Understand contemporary behaviourist trends within a broader historical context

Be in a position to analyse theories, policies and practices related to social control

Be able to recognise and critique close links between ‘care’ and ‘control’ in contemporary systems of welfare and discipline


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Module Name:

Welfare State Futures SPY00014H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor:

Stefan Kühner

Duration One term (Spring)


Three hours per week: lectures, seminars, discussions, videos and presentations

Rationale: This module is devoted to providing an overview over contemporary debates about the alleged merits and failures of welfare states across the globe. Rather than simply focussing on the British context, one major aim will be to discuss these issues in a comparative and international framework that goes beyond the high income countries of the ‘West’. Thus, the specific circumstances in South-East Asian, Eastern-European, Latin American and African nations will be discussed alongside those in Northern America, Western-Europe and the Antipodes.

Aims and Objectives:

• To introduce the comparative and international approach to the analysis of social policy• To explore the origins of welfare states around the globe and the rationale behind its introduction• To introduce some of the key criticisms of contemporary welfare states by pointing to processes of economic, demographic and societal change as well as different ideological schools of thought• To give an overview over the proposed policy solutions to help move welfare states ‘out of crisis’• To stress the range of possible future developments in social policy making in different geographical regions

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module students should have developed:• An awareness of the merits and limitations of a comparative and international approach to the study

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of social policies• An appreciation of the vast range of policy goals and delivery mechanisms in welfare states across the globe• Familiarity with the key theories concerning welfare state development and change• Familiarity with some of the arguments to be found in the media and academia about the ‘crisis of the welfare state’ and the possible solution of this ‘crisis’• An awareness of the vast range of proposed solutions of major policy dilemmas within contemporary welfare states• The ability to manipulate data provided in major comparative and international datasets used in welfare state research

Assessment:

One 3,500 word essay

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Module Name: Welfare States in Crisis SPY00035H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Kevin Farnsworth/Zoe Irving




Aims and Objectives: This module is designed to provide students with a critical appreciation of contemporary debates about the impact of the ongoing economic crisis on welfare states.

Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of the module students should be:

familiar with key theoretical arguments about the nature of the economic crisis that has unfolded since 2008

familiar with key social, economic and political trends connected to the crisis

be aware of key reform strategies adopted around the OECD (and beyond)

able to understand the different varieties of response to the crisis that have been adopted by governments

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across the OECD


Module Name: The Well-Being of Children and Young PeopleSPY00020H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Christine Skinner




Rationale: The course is designed to focus on outcomes. How can we measure the well-being of children and young people? How does well-being vary by income, age, gender, ethnicity, family type? How does the well-being of children and young people in the UK compare with other countries?

Aims and Objectives: The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main sources of evidence on the well-being of children and young people. It will begin with a discussion of the notion

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of well-being. It will then critically review the main sources of evidence on well-being covering: the demography of childhood (where children live); poverty and social exclusion; mortality and morbidity; the physical environment; threats to children; risky behaviours; work and caring; emotional well-being and mental illness and disability; educational attainment; the well-being of looked after children.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the option students will be able to:

Understand different ways in which well-being can be understood.

Be familiar with the main sources of evidence on well-being and their strengths and weaknesses.

Be familiar with comparative sources on the subject.

Have a detailed competence in the evidence in at least one domain of well-being.

Have presented a seminar paper on that subject.


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Module Name: Youth Justice SPY00021H

Credits: 20

Module Convenor: Kate Brown




Rationale: Young people who break the law have been the target of specific government policy since the beginning of the twentieth century. This module is designed to help students understand why they are the focus of government scrutiny and intervention, to explore what shapes society’s response to them and to be able to evaluate how effectively such policy is delivered.

Aims and Objectives: The course aims to enable students:• to understand the socially constructed nature of youth and youth crime;• to explore the relationship between welfare and justice;• to know the history of youth crime legislation and contemporary systems to deal with young offenders;• to engage with contemporary debates about youth offending in England and Wales.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the module, students should be aware of the history and development of youth justice services in England and Wales, be familiar with current legislation and the systems used to uphold it. They should have explored the tensions generated by approaches that seek to deliver welfare and justice for young people and be able to analyse the political and moral forces that shape society’s approach to young people who break the law.

Assessment: One project of 3,500 words

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Documents

Criminal Justice and Policing SPY00011H - york.ac.uk 3r… · Web viewJulie Rugg. Timetable and Format: Three hour session per week: lectures, seminars, group discussions and presentations