Violence, Transgression and Society explores who is policed and disciplined in societal, popular and political cultures. It thinks about why some people and their behaviour are seen as especially threatening and transgressive, while others are not. It explores which forms of behaviour have historically been characterised as dangerous or unacceptable and charts the ways in which those people and behaviours have been governed through both the institutions of the state and popular culture. The module explores the relationship between these responses and historical and social context, geographical location and intersections of social identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, faith and age.
Teaching Block 1 focuses on one of the forms of transgression about which most people are currently most anxious: violence. The module traces the history of violence through the lens of the ‘civilizing process’, subjecting this idea to critical scrutiny. We will examine the historical use of violence as a form of social control and the increasing problematisation of violence in the modern period. We follow this by looking at the ways in which people have responded to violence and subject the ideas of social control and social discipline to critical scrutiny. In Teaching Block 2 we move on to examine ideas of the ‘underclass’ and the intellectual heritage of the ‘dangerous classes’. Students will learn about the relationship between social control and social policy, particularly relating to ‘problem families’, homelessness and worklesness.
Throughout the module, the question of who is policed, how and why, is explored through national and global real-world events and case-studies. Students bring academic knowledge to real-world events and issues in weekly interactive workshops and individual and collaborative module assessment. The academic and professional abilities that students develop on this module are academic writing, group work and presentation skills.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to
The module will be delivered via weekly three hour-long workshop sessions, led by an academic staff member. These sessions bring together the tradition of a lecture format with the interactive potential of seminar sessions. Workshops are supported by open-door sessions with teaching staff throughout the year and learners are encouraged to attend these on a regular basis.
Students are introduced to what constitutes ‘opinion’ in academic thinking and writing. This will support students’ transition into higher education and develop critical thinking skills relevant for their degree programme. It will be especially useful as students come to evaluate and analyse the sorts of controversial and contested issues and events that are a key feature of the module.
Workshops are also supported by information about available resources, which enable students’ ability to engage with the summative assessments of the module, as well as academic reading and writing. Resources and relevant learning materials will be made available via ‘Studyspace’, located in the module handbook and ‘signposted’ in workshop sessions. Resources will include digitised reading materials, use of virtual space ‘My Reading Lists’, lecture slides and templates and guidance for formative and summative assessments. All learning outcomes will be achieved via guided independent study, primarily reading and substantive learning in the weekly workshops.
The formative assessments in each teaching block will be used to provide a ‘mock’ experience of group presentations. This will allow academic staff to give students feedback in preparation for their summative assessments. It is a ‘feed-forward’ opportunity for students.
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 21 workshops of three hours each | 63 |
| Guided independent study | 237 | |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
Theassessmentstrategyinvolvesacademicwriting, groupworkandpresentationskills.
Summativeassessment 1:
1500 wordessay: 50% overallmodulemark.
Summativeassessment 2:
Grouporalpresentation, with the grade split between a group and an individual component: 50% overallmodulemark, 75% of this weighted to the group, 25% to the individual contribution.
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| Identify the ways that different policies, organisations and societies are engaged with the social discipline of transgressive and violent behaviour and people. | Summative Assessment 1 Summative Assessment 2 |
| Evaluate the construction and regulation of transgressive and violent behaviour and people, as global social phenomena, and as linked to questions of social identity. | Summative Assessment 1 Summative Assessment 2 |
| Analyse real-world social problems and ‘problem people’, and the responses to these, using theoretical and conceptual academic knowledge | Formative Assessment 2 Summative Assessment 2 |
| Understand how academic knowledge can be used to analyse and communicate real-world issues and events through collaboration and group work, and oral presentations. | Formative Assessment 2 Summative Assessment 2 |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| CWK | 1500 word essay | 50 |
| PRC | Group presentation | 50 |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module
Core Text(s):
Burney, E. (2009) Making People Behave, London, Willan
Welshman, J (2013) Underclass, London, Bloomsbury
Young, J (1999) The Exclusive Society, London, Sage
Patel, T. and Tyrer, D. (2011) Race, Crime and Resistance, London: Sage
Pearson, G (1983) Hooligan, A History of Respectable Fears, Basingstoke, Macmillan
Squires, P (eds.) (2008) ASBO Nation; the criminalization of nuisance, Bristol: Policy Press
Tyler, I (2013) Revolting Subjects: Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain, London: Zed Books
Waquant, L (2009) Punishing the Poor, New York, Duke