SWRK4002: Contemporary Social Issues 1: Power, Inequality and Everyday Life
- Terms Taught: Michaelmas
- US Credits: 5
- ECTS Credits: 10
- Pre-requisites: None
Course Description
The module aims to develop comprehensive understanding of how powerful social structures shape lives, and to consider way to challenge them. The module encourages students to explore the forces behind today’s most pressing social issues and develop a comprehensive understanding of inequality and discrimination. Through exploring the complex relationship between individual agency and societal structures, students will begin to develop skills in critical questioning. This module is rooted in the transformative potential of social work and the aim is to inspire students to discover how injustice can be challenged, social change promoted, and individuals and communities empowered.
Educational Aims
Upon successful completion of this module students will be able to…?
- Engage with information and technologies competently and communicate insights that conform to academic conventions and regulations.
- Demonstrate understanding of the causes and impact of inequality and discrimination.
- Draw upon research and theory to consider potential ways to challenge inequalities, promote social change or impact on sustainability.
- Clearly communicate ideas and arguments in writing.
- Contribute to a learning community and take responsibility for your own learning and skills development.
Outline Syllabus
How can the world we live in be understood and why does it often feel unequal?
This module introduces ways of looking beneath the surface of everyday life to understand how power, inequality and social norms shape what comes to be seen as normal, fair or just. It explores how ideas about success, poverty, gender, race and belonging are formed, challenged and changed over time.
Rather than focusing on abstract theory, the module connects key ideas directly to contemporary life, from media narratives and political debates to everyday experiences. It encourages questioning of taken for granted assumptions, recognition of less visible forms of power, and understanding of how social problems come to be defined in particular ways.
By the end of the module, students will move beyond describing social issues to recognising how they are produced, sustained and contested in society.
Block 1: Learning to See Differently
Block 2: Power Beneath the Surface
Block 3: Individuals vs Systems
Block 4: Judgement, Blame and Social Control
Block 5: Identity, Belonging and Inequality
Block 6: Can things change?
Assessment Proportions
- 40% research piece
- 50% project
- 10% attendance and engagement