Humanities and Social Sciences BA (Hons)

Immerse yourself in world literature classics and modern texts written in English or translated from other languages. Analyse stories that address shared human concerns like environment, power, ethnicity and gender.

You’ll discover how reading diverse voices fosters a spirit of intellectual curiosity, and discuss and debate literature’s role in an increasingly connected world.

You'll begin to explore key themes, such as the making of the modern world, war and peace, security, diplomacy, sovereignty, climate change and development, as well as the various ways to conceptualise and analyse these issues.

By the end of the module, you'll have developed a critical understanding of International Relations, gained insights into the historical foundations of the modern world, and engaged with a range of contemporary global issues.

This comprehensive introduction prepares you for further studies and encourages you to question and analyse the complex dynamics of world politics.

You'll explore key psychological theories like behaviourism, psychodynamics and humanism, evaluating how these theories help explain social issues and problems.

You'll also learn to communicate core concepts clearly to non-psychologists, develop analytical skills to recognise psychological theories in action and examine research methodologies.

You'll spend most of your time learning how to analyse data for your research, looking at both quantitative and qualitative methods, and how to examine data ethically.

You'll learn about ways of collecting data, such as surveying, interviewing and observation, before drawing conclusions and presenting what you've learned.

You'll learn how to create clear research plans that investigate real-world issues, and how research can be used to make positive changes in business, government, advocacy or academia.

On this module, you’ll investigate the structures of power, privilege and inequality that shape society. You’ll examine intersectional perspectives on how gender, race, class and other categories intertwine to limit opportunities – discussing urgent issues like educational outcomes, discrimination, welfare failures and more.

You'll also explore ideas that challenge the status quo and innovative policies aimed at balancing the scales.

With sociological research as your guide, you'll tackle thought-provoking questions head on: What barriers do people face at school, work and beyond? How do setbacks compound over a lifetime? And what hope exists for creating a truly just world?

On this module, you’ll learn about the social, cultural, economic and political changes which took place from the mid-eighteenth century until the end of the twentieth century, covering periods of war and peace, revolution and protest, and imperial rivalry and national unification.

You’ll explore how individuals and different communities in countries such as Britain, France, or Germany were affected by the challenges and conflicts of their times but also consider how people actively shaped the events and times they lived through.

You’ll use conceptual tools like gender, class and disability to re-evaluate standard psychological approaches, debating psychology's role in real-world problems.

You’ll develop an understanding of how mainstream psychology has sometimes contributed to social inequalities, while also learning how critical psychological approaches aim to promote social justice.

You’ll discover how within historical study our understanding constantly evolves, and how these changing understandings help us to think about the importance of history in the present.

You’ll hear your lecturers introduce important historical debates in their own field of research.

Through discussing, exploring and bringing to life a number of case studies which draw on a variety of chronological and geographical areas, this module will help you to advance your critical skills in reading and argument.

You'll work as part of a small group with your fellow students, choosing a sociology problem to research and designing a project to investigate it.

You'll work together to create research strategies, collect and analyse data, and share findings - taking your project from idea to completion.

Your research project will help you gain skills in working with others and progressing your work through peer feedback. You'll also learn how sociological research evidence is created and used for different purposes.

You'll learn to apply political theories like intergovernmentalism and supranationalism to real-world issues such as EU enlargement and global influence.

Through case studies and analysis of primary sources, you'll gain the tools to critically assess the EU's evolving role in both European and global politics.

You’ll analyse diverse literary prizes – from the Booker to the Women’s Prize and beyond – and debate the complex criteria applied in judging literary value.

This module gives you access to the commercial world of literary publishing and prizes, offering you the chance to develop professional skills and plenty of opportunity for literary analysis

You'll explore both mainstream and critical perspectives—such as Feminism, Post-Structuralism, and Post-Colonialism—and compare how they interpret and analyse global politics.

The module encourages you to think critically about the role of theory and how different approaches can be used to engage with real-world international issues and strengthen your own academic work.

You'll look at ideas on industrial employment from key figures in history such as Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, considering how these hold up against today's modern workplaces and economies.

You'll study the ways that workers themselves have shaped employment through fighting and negotiating for their rights. Through class discussions and activities, you'll also develop an understanding of modern sociological ideas about the changing divisions of work, labour and employment, such as Emotional and Aesthetic work.

By the end of the module, you'll be able to explain complex ideas about shifting workplace dynamics and social divisions, and the evolving nature of employment in our rapidly changing world.

You'll learn diverse perspectives on formulating and presenting policy, taking into account key variables like leadership, security, and global dynamics.

You'll deploy theories to critically analyse major decisions and their outcomes, strengthening your understanding through case studies of milestone events.

You'll also debate and discuss how policy intersects with national interests and global security, and build skills to explain and evaluate policies coherently.

On this module, you’ll critically analyse the complex economic, political, cultural and environmental impacts of consumption, thinking creatively about alternatives and solutions to the many controversies surrounding consumerism today.

By evaluating theories and research on consumerism, advertising, fashion, credit, debt and more, you’ll develop an insightful understanding of the profound consequences of our consumer lifestyles.

You'll analyse key crime writing texts from detective fiction to philosophical writings on crime and punishment, considering the way they represent criminals, the police, the ethics of the death penalty, as well as historical contexts and theoretical approaches.

This module invites you on an investigative journey through the ethics, identities and politics underpinning tales of crime.

You’ll begin by exploring how countries like Argentina, Chile and Brazil transitioned from military dictatorships to democracies towards the end of the 20th century.

You’ll also learn about the dramatic public protests and negotiations that eventually toppled these dictatorships in the late 20th century as part of the "Third Wave" of democratisation.

However, installing democratic systems has not been easy - you’ll also analyse the political, economic and social challenges that societies across the region are grappling with in the 21st century. To what extent have the region's new democracies been able to challenge deep seated inequalities in class, gender and race/ethnicity? And what do ordinary people think about development and democracy across the region?

You’ll discover how literature draws on our modern anxieties around climate change, as well as our conflicted relationship with nature, and helps us address these issues.

By investigating the methods and motivations behind ecocritical approaches in literature, you’ll consider the ways in which ecocriticism, ecofeminism, and postcolonial ecocriticism can be used to focus on issues of ecocrisis, environmental justice, sovereignty and power.

There’s also a strong focus on gender, identity, the body, and the relationship between humans and environmental others.

You’ll explore ideas around modernisation, colonialism and nationalism and how they shape education, gender roles, ethnicity, class, sexuality and everyday life in this part of the world.

By comparing the experiences of different countries when it comes to industrialisation, democratisation and conflict, you’ll learn how to appreciate complex regional dynamics.

You'll learn to apply political theories like intergovernmentalism and supranationalism to real-world issues such as EU enlargement and global influence.

Through case studies and analysis of primary sources, you'll gain the tools to critically assess the EU's evolving role in both European and global politics.

Armed with sociological, feminist and queer theories and real-world examples, you'l discover how gender and sexual norms permeate society and everyday life. You'll examine how we 'do' gender and sexuality through everyday activities, how bodies are policed and categorised, as well as how norms and expectations around gender and sexuality can be and are being resisted and subverted. Paying critical attention to how contemporary societal structures continue to maintain inequality, you'l learn how to engage with and challenge contemporary 'common sense' understandings that we now live in an equal 'post-feminist' society. We'l take a strong intersectional approach, looking at how gender and sexualities intersect with other social categories and positions such as race, age, class and disability.

You'll learn to apply political theories like intergovernmentalism and supranationalism to real-world issues such as EU enlargement and global influence.

Through case studies and analysis of primary sources, you'll gain the tools to critically assess the EU's evolving role in both European and global politics.

You’ll debate ideas relating to wellness culture, self-help and self-improvement.

By examining theories of psychiatry and mental health, you’ll gain tools to analyse how individuals make sense of themselves and their own levels of happiness amidst complex social scripting.

This module will help you form your own nuanced perspectives on humanity’s timeless quest for meaning and inner peace.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

The learning objectives of this module are to be confirmed.

You'll learn to apply intersectional theories to decode how racism intersects with privilege and oppression, and look at the rise of 'colour blind' racism in recent decades.

Through reflective analysis of case studies on both sides of the Atlantic, you'll develop your sociological imagination, critical thinking abilities, and passion for social justice.

You'll challenge assumptions about the subjective nature of personal taste as a marker of social class, examining how people make judgments about 'good' and 'bad' taste and how this brings them together and sets them apart. You'll consider whether cultural attitudes have become more tolerant, as well as how culture provides meaning in the world through stories, symbols and sounds. By examining celebrity culture and the attribution of value in society, you'l learn about cultural production and tensions with market forces, individual expression vs societal norms, and cultural appropriation vs appreciation.

You'll explore early modern Europe's complex world through everyday objects, analysing diverse artefacts - shoes, monuments, religious objects, food - and how they offer new perspectives for our understanding of the past and the present.

You'll consider how the study of objects can lead to new interpretations of historical narratives such as 'the consumer revolution', the development of a global economy, the emergence of new forms of inequality, and changing understandings of public and private.

You'll unearth the multiple lives and 'afterlives' of objects, engaging with debates about their significance and importance in heritage contexts in the 21st century, with access to some of the rich material culture available within the city, including the Mary Rose Museum.

You’ll evaluate sources such as legal records, cheap print, newspapers and novels, to discover what was considered a crime during this period and explore changing approaches towards ‘deviant’ behaviour.

You’ll see how behaviours we now consider private were publicly policed, and how this involved religion and the community. You’ll analyse changes from corporal punishment and torture towards modern ideas of policing.

You’ll also consider debates about the impact of urbanisation on patterns of crime, and the use of criminal prosecution as a means of social control, for example in relation to enforcing gender roles and controlling the poor.

You’ll look at diverse genres that shed light on historical moments such as slavery, post-colonialism, suffrage, second wave feminism and post-feminism.

You’ll analyse how transnational and gender identities are constructed and expressed in a global context, honing skills for contextual literary analysis alongside independent research.

You'll look at ideas on industrial employment from key figures in history such as Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, considering how these hold up against today's modern workplaces and economies.

You'll study the ways that workers themselves have shaped employment through fighting and negotiating for their rights. Through class discussions and activities, you'll also develop an understanding of modern sociological ideas about the changing divisions of work, labour and employment, such as Emotional and Aesthetic work.

By the end of the module, you'll be able to explain complex ideas about shifting workplace dynamics and social divisions, and the evolving nature of employment in our rapidly changing world.

You’ll explore real-world questions—like is there a link between fake news and the outcome of elections? Or how far does aid help in establishing 'safe' and 'secure' societies and liberal democratic norms?

This will help you develop the tools to critically assess evidence, and then carry out your own independent research.

Move beyond traditional psychology to see how people actively 'do' critical processes like prejudice, motivation and identity through words.

You'll compare perspectives from cognitive, social and discursive psychology to build a rounded understanding of what drives human behaviour.

With real-world texts and conversations, you'll apply new analytical concepts to reveal the discursive patterns lurking under the surface.

Come ready to critically evaluate dominant theories and form your own conclusions on the role of talk and text in society.

You'll learn about major economic, political and cultural changes in Western Europe over the nineteenth century, and how these affected the rest of the world as time went on.

You'll explore the big ideas that have shaped the modern world, and weigh up the benefits and perils of globalisation. Skills you'll develop on this module include independent research, critical thinking and effective communication.

You'll also learn to understand the opportunities and challenges of today's world from an informed, global perspective.

You’ll use case studies and exercises to see how research develops from initial ideas to finished works.

You’ll review resources and arguments to improve your research skills, and work with other students to refine your dissertation proposal through feedback and peer review.

This module will also help enhance your employability skills through bespoke activities and assessment.

You'll explore this question on this module, looking at the uncertainties of our world and how these risks impact our everyday lives. Examine how social institutions shape people's perceptions of risk and how aspects of our own identities, such as class and gender, affect the way we approach risk as individuals.

You'll also have the chance to investigate risk and society in relation to a topic you're most interested in, for example, health, crime or technology.

On this module, you’ll learn how the practice of academic history can be transferred and applied to a vast range of practical projects that involve thinking about, working with, or drawing-upon knowledge and understanding of the past.

You’ll also carry out a self-guided project, with support from tutors and potentially in collaboration with internal or (subject to availability) external partners. Your project will reflect the opportunities that history will provide for your future career.

You’ll explore the rise of the US across the twentieth century from a regional power to a global superpower and the domestic and international pressures upon the USA that caused it to go through alternating periods of isolationism and global engagement.

You’ll also delve into the two global wars and why the US entered them later than most other nations, the isolationist interwar years, the start of the Cold War, the Vietnam Conflict and the War on Terror.

You will look at what a wide range of artefacts, from automobiles and advertising to music and television, can tell us about the changes and challenges that faced ordinary people in twentieth-century Europe.

These cultural artefacts not only changed the ways in which people perceived and understood the world around them, they also provide the means to explore the profound and transformative changes wrought by the destruction and renewal of Europe's turbulent century.

You’ll dig into the cultural context of violence in Shakespeare's age, analysing how poetry and performance play on complex dynamics of authority, resistance and ideology.

Through Shakespeare’s works, you’ll develop your own perspectives on the role of war and peace in sixteenth-century English culture.

You’ll explore sociological perspectives on the emotional experience, looking at how factors like gender and culture make a difference.

You’ll consider the growth of therapy and self-help culture and the complex nature of distinct emotions like anger, fear and love.

You’ll evaluate debates around emotional labour in service sector jobs and the gendering of emotion management in family life. Working in small groups and with real-world case studies, you’ll learn how to apply academic concepts to our emotional lives.

In this module, you’ll explore European colonisation of Africa, asking questions like - how did they justify colonial rule, and how did African peoples respond to these colonisers?

You’ll learn how, after World War II, colonial rule was increasingly challenged from both within the empire, by growing African demands for political rights, and in the international arena, with the global trend towards trusteeship, development and self-determination.

You’ll also explore European relations with Africa in the post-colonial era, looking at themes which may include ideas about civilisation, universalism and race, modern attempts to 'rehabilitate' empire in the media, and the legacies of colonialism in Britain, Europe and Africa.

On this module, you’ll explore radical frameworks for understanding and eradicating intersectional oppression. We'll analyse different ways of challenging injustices, from interrupting homophobic microaggressions to disrupting the social impacts of global issues like the climate crisis.

You'll learn about how ideas like feminism, anti-racism and inclusive education can challenge domineering structures like capitalism, racism and patriarchy. You’ll examine the politics of knowledge itself alongside ideas that empower the disadvantaged.

By reviewing theories and debates around concepts like work-life balance and gender roles, you'll gain insight into how career choices can be influenced by social expectations and family pressures.

You'll bring these ideas together and consider the interesting ways in which 'what we do' and 'who we are' exist in a very close relationship with each other.

You'll engage with key theories and tackle major issues like global inequality, climate change, and shifting power dynamics between regions.

By examining who governs the global economy and in whose interests, you’ll gain the critical tools to understand and analyse today’s most pressing economic and political challenges.

You'll learn about major economic, political and cultural changes in Western Europe over the nineteenth century, and how these affected the rest of the world as time went on.

You'll explore the big ideas that have shaped the modern world, and weigh up the benefits and perils of globalisation. Skills you'll develop on this module include independent research, critical thinking and effective communication.

You'll also learn to understand the opportunities and challenges of today's world from an informed, global perspective.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you’ll apply what you’ve learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You’ll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

You’ll analyse American texts against the backdrop of intellectual, social and political change, evaluating how writers grappled with emerging ideas around national identity, race, gender and more.

By honing skills for contextual analysis and independent thought, you’ll form your own interpretations of iconic works that reflect the American experience.

You'll explore this question on this module, looking at the uncertainties of our world and how these risks impact our everyday lives. Examine how social institutions shape people's perceptions of risk and how aspects of our own identities, such as class and gender, affect the way we approach risk as individuals.

You'll also have the chance to investigate risk and society in relation to a topic you're most interested in, for example, health, crime or technology.

You'll look critically at corporate, state, technical and consumerist norms within our society, and how these powers-that-be are challenged by resistance from protest movements that highlight the ways society is failing those with the least power.

By investigating historical and modern case studies of revolutions and revolts, you'll think about how we can apply social justice and ethical practices to other societies by generating ideas and developing creative solutions of benefit to society and the economy.

On this module, you’ll explore philosophical ideas around spaces and places in texts from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century.

You’ll learn how to interpret spatial narratives through your evaluation of interior and exterior spaces, town and country, rooms and landscape.

You’ll analyse how creative works draw on wider cultural anxieties around industrialisation, race, class, and evolving gender roles.

You'll assess the strategic control of space and resources alongside economic competition, and examine Africa's rich potential alongside its enduring struggles, from human security to gender equity and beyond.

You'll develop a nuanced understanding of the continent as a crucial nexus of cooperation and conflict between foreign interests.

You’ll analyse diverse transitional justice approaches balancing community healing and judicial accountability after mass atrocities.

Comparing mechanisms like war crimes tribunals, truth commissions and reparations programmes, you’ll evaluate effectiveness in restoring dignity and preventing recurrence.

With case studies from Europe to Africa, from Latin America to Asia, you'll examine tensions between western models and local cultural perspectives, assessing what ‘justice’ means to vulnerable peoples.

Throughout, you'll trace incremental human rights legislation advances, assessing global institutions’ roles protecting civilians from authoritarian regimes and wartime abuses.

You'll examine key theories and research methodologies for understanding personal life, relationships, sexuality and generational change.

You'll have the opportunity to pursue topics matching your interests, whether that's shifts in dating cultures, new family forms, LGBTQ identities, or issues like consent, respect and ethics.

The module develops critical thinking skills by evaluating different frameworks and perspectives on contemporary intimacy and relationships. There is an emphasis on inclusivity, diversity, and social justice throughout.

You'll develop a research project which can take many forms, depending on the aims and focus of the dissertation. As an extended project requiring significant levels of critical engagement with subject knowledge, independent research and initiative, ethical research practice, and project management, this module enhances many key areas of knowledge and critical skills.

This real-world, project-based module lets you address an identified need or gap by designing an innovative product, service or resource.

With support from university staff and external partners, you'll demonstrate critical thinking, ethical awareness and project management abilities.

Your final project and presentation will showcase your employability and capacity for high-impact solutions.

Research from diverse lenses to build a questioning, reflective grasp of celebrity's principles and boundaries. Hone skills in independent thought, analysis, and articulation of ideas. Use presentations to illustrate arguments around the societal role of fame.

On this module, you’ll critically analyse the complex economic, political, cultural and environmental impacts of consumption, thinking creatively about alternatives and solutions to the many controversies surrounding consumerism today.

By evaluating theories and research on consumerism, advertising, fashion, credit, debt and more, you’ll develop an insightful understanding of the profound consequences of our consumer lifestyles.

Building on what you've learned about social influence and group dynamics, you'll discuss the potential and challenges of co-produced research using arts-based techniques, while connecting them to conceptual, empirical and methodological tools in psychology.

You'll identify similarities and differences in creative approaches, evaluate their application to research, select analysis methods supporting theory-building, and carry out quality research reporting.

Considering diverse theories from sociology, feminist and queer studies, you'll evaluate everyday 'common sense' ideas alongside norms that police our bodies and behaviours.

You'll examine how today's societal structures continue to maintain inequality, building your ability to question assumptions, identify bias and pursue equity across intersections of race, age, class and more.

You'll tackle questions such as, what is capitalism and in whose interests does it work? Do some models of capitalism work better than others? Can we reconcile capitalist modes of production and consumption with protecting our environment?

Examine relevant political economy theory and open up debates about power, multinational capital, gender, identity and climate crisis.

You’ll debate ideas relating to wellness culture, self-help and self-improvement.

By examining theories of psychiatry and mental health, you’ll gain tools to analyse how individuals make sense of themselves and their own levels of happiness amidst complex social scripting.

This module will help you form your own nuanced perspectives on humanity’s timeless quest for meaning and inner peace.

You'll explore diverse literary perspectives on the Holocaust, from first-hand accounts to contemporary post-memory texts.

Through critical reading and innovative creative projects both in groups and on your own, you'll grapple with the ethics of memorialisation and the role of cultural memory.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

You'll investigate grassroots campaigners alongside major international NGOs - evaluating their tactics, contributions and accountability.

By probing the relationships between volunteer networks, businesses and government, you'll develop new ideas on what can and cannot be achieved by public advocacy. Do civil society organisations challenge or reinforce the prevailing world order?

You'll examine three pivotal themes: the lead-up to and aftermath of the UK's EU referendum, the evolving dynamics of post-Brexit politics, and the shifting global role of the UK, Europe and the EU.

Throughout the module, you'll explore visual aspects of Brexit politics, key policy shifts and the roles of major political players in areas like immigration, foreign and security strategies, and party politics.

You'll learn to apply intersectional theories to decode how racism intersects with privilege and oppression, and look at the rise of 'colour blind' racism in recent decades. Through reflective analysis of case studies on both sides of the Atlantic, you'l develop your sociological imagination, critical thinking abilities, and passion for social justice.

You'll critically examine the concepts of ethnicity, race and culture historically and theoretically, using regional case studies from Latin America, Africa and those of indigenous peoples.

You'll consider these regional case studies alongside recent developments at the international level regarding cultural and indigenous rights and struggles around racial inequality and violence.

You'll complete the module with a major project on a region of the world of your choice.

You'll get to grips with some of the most pressing security challenges currently facing policy makers, reflecting on new debates in security studies while critically examining the enduring relevance of strategic thought in the face of contemporary challenges.

You'll consider a range of contemporary events and issues, analysing the various modes and causes of contemporary global threats and the options and responses of those security actors tasked to deal with them.

You'll challenge assumptions about the subjective nature of personal taste as a marker of social class, examining how people make judgments about 'good' and 'bad' taste and how this brings them together and sets them apart.

You'll consider whether cultural attitudes have become more tolerant, as well as how culture provides meaning in the world through stories, symbols and sounds.

By examining celebrity culture and the attribution of value in society, you'll learn about cultural production and tensions with market forces, individual expression vs societal norms, and cultural appropriation vs appreciation.

Led by a subject specialist, you'll study how the practice and ideas related to empires and/or identities shaped the lives of people in a specific time period, and how they themselves resisted or negotiated the impositions of forms of inequality.

Example topics include:

The Opium War, 1839-1842

Explore how two empires – Great Britain and China – came into direct confrontation for the first time in the nineteenth century and how the military campaign has been remembered by successive regimes in generations afterward.

Reformers, Rebels and Refugees: Religious Identities in Elizabethan England

Investigate how a range of people supported, resisted or conformed to a period of profound religious and political change, and how identities and communities were formed and reformed in late 16th century England. 

Racism and Anti-Racism in Post-war Britain

Discover how questions of migration, race, identity, and belonging were being understood and negotiated as Britain transitioned away from its role as an imperial power. Examine the various ways in which people experienced racism, and as well as the myriad means by which this discrimination was challenged. 

The Making of the German Nation: Germany during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century

Examine the fluid concept of German national identity across a turbulent history spanning war, empire, division and crisis. You’ll discover how Germans defined themselves and their nation from the early 19th century through Nazism's ascent and the difficult rebuilding of broken post-war societies. 

In doing so, you'll explore how they were impacted by political change, and also how they challenged inequalities.

You'll start by studying two topics for the first half of the module. For the second half of the module, you'll choose to focus on one of the strands to prepare for the module’s final assessment.

Example topics may include:

Sex, Gender and Power in Early Modern England

Explore how gender and sexuality were debated and understood, and how these ideas impacted the lives of people across English society c.1450-1700. Examine the role that sex and gender played in the exercise of power and influence in early modern society.

Shock Cities: Slums, Crime and Cultural Conflict in Victorian Britain, c.1850-1914

Delve into fears that the modern city was spiralling out of control due to slums, crime, class and racial tensions, and how these were seen as threats to civil order and the Empire. Investigate urban elites’ attempts to stem this threat by categorising the urban poor, and promoting local and imperial loyalty through schools, pageantry, and civic architecture.

Thomas Jefferson and the Making of the Early American Republic

Discover the era of the American Revolution by examining the life and actions of Thomas Jefferson - politician, statesman, reformer, intellectual and enslaver - which helps to reveal how state and society were transformed by revolutionary upheaval.

You'll trace the social anxieties and ideological structures conveyed in literary depictions of vampires, monsters and more as you explore every dark corner of this remarkable genre.

You'll develop and apply critical theories unveiling Gothic representation of identities, revolutions, environments and more, and express your ideas creatively through an essay or podcast.

On this module, you’ll analyse constructions of masculinity across US culture, interrogating literary and cinematic stereotypes.

You’ll work in groups to compare key theories and concepts, and consider how ideas of masculinity relate to other cultural and social constructs such as gender, nationality, race, class and sexuality.

You'll draw on the principles of community psychology in a local and global context to prepare for action in community settings.

You'll work with real-life case studies of community projects in the voluntary and statutory sectors, underscoring the challenges of translating psychological concepts such as social influence into everyday hands-on practice.

You'll critically examine representations of appetite, consumption and the body across literary and historical texts from the era.

Debate themes like hunger and self-starvation, gluttony and excess, even vampirism and cannibalism.

Through close reading and contextual analysis, you'll uncover what writings on food can tell us about how the Victorians viewed issues such as gender, race, class, nation and sexuality.

You’ll consider the growth of interest in emotions in sociology, and examines their role in classical sociological theory. Working in groups and workshops, you’ll weigh up debates on emotional life and apply them to real examples.

You’ll also explore sociological approaches to a range of distinct emotions, as well as the rise of therapy and self-help culture in contemporary western society.

On this module, you’ll explore radical frameworks for understanding and eradicating intersectional oppression. We'll analyse different ways of challenging injustices, from interrupting homophobic microaggressions to disrupting the social impacts of global issues like the climate crisis.

You'll learn about how ideas like feminism, anti-racism and inclusive education can challenge domineering structures like capitalism, racism and patriarchy. You’ll examine the politics of knowledge itself alongside ideas that empower the disadvantaged.

On this module, you'll explore the surprising interconnections between generations, personal relationships, life stages and the changing meaning of a 'career'.

By reviewing theories and debates around concepts like work-life balance and gender roles, you'll gain insight into how career choices can be influenced by social expectations and family pressures.

You'll bring these ideas together and consider the interesting ways in which 'what we do' and 'who we are' exist in a very close relationship with each other.

You'll explore France's foreign policies, defence strategies and power dynamics within Europe and beyond.

Spend time thinking critically about its international influence and motivations, and learn how other regions of the world view its actions, from 'special' ties with former colonies to controversial stances on key issues.

This module will help you develop the skills to unpack complex geopolitical questions. You'll gain a deeper understanding of France's bid to remain an influential force in our rapidly changing world.

You'll analyse how history, geography, culture, economics and politics converge to impact wellbeing in specific countries and worldwide.

You'll weigh up interventions on issues from malnutrition to maternal mortality, and consider how ethical, evidence-based recommendations can advance health equity, drawing on statistics and on-the-ground experiences.

You'll get an overview of the power politics in the region, including China's resurgence, Japan's constraints and the United States' rebalancing.

You'll examine both traditional and non-traditional security issues across the region, from tension on the Korean peninsula, to the human costs of illiberal politics in Southeast Asia.

You'll consider schools of thought from socialism to transhumanism, thinking about how they have created social movements that lasted decades.

By applying diverse ideological lenses to different ideas about human progress, you'll weigh up the insights and limits of utopian and dystopian thought in relation to how societies understand and address the challenges facing humanity in the twenty first century.

You'll investigate diverse definitions and famous examples of the genre from across the globe, honing advanced textual analysis skills.

Through lively debates, you'll explore magical realism's relationship with history, culture and narrative form, focusing on issues including postcoloniality, the limits of realism, postmodern narratorial techniques, historiography and transculturation.

You'll learn about the job application process from the perspective of both candidates and recruiters, thinking about what employers look for in graduates and how you can optimise your own professional profile.

Through mock interviews and assessments, you'll hone your skills and learn how to communicate your achievements and career goals, ready to take the next step after you graduate.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you'll apply what you've learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You'll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

You'll evaluate diverse cases of religion intertwining with critical issues like nationalism, peacebuilding, violence and more.

Discussing the perspectives of policymakers to extremists, you'll tackle intriguing questions head on.

How do religious ideas still drive political agendas worldwide? How does faith unite communities yet fuel divisions? And could rediscovering religion's role in human life hold keys to solving global problems?

You'll look critically at corporate, state, technical and consumerist norms within our society, and how these powers-that-be are challenged by resistance from protest movements that highlight the ways society is failing those with the least power. By investigating historical and modern case studies of revolutions and revolts, you'l think about how we can apply social justice and ethical practices to other societies by generating ideas and developing creative solutions of benefit to society and the economy.

These cultures reflected perspectives on the world and changing values, revealing important insights into the hopes, fears, and identities of people and society.

Many forms of popular culture have substantial historical roots - including literature and music - whilst others are very modern - such as film and television.

You'll start by studying two topics, before deciding to specialise in one of these for your final assessment.

Example topics may include:

Cinema-Going in Wartime Britain

Explore how cinema functioned as both a form of propaganda and escapism in wartime Britain, and examine the ways that class, gender and national identities were challenged, negotiated and reinforced on and off the screen. 

Accidents and Safety in Britain, c.1850-1970

Examine how accidents and risks tell us about the ways modern British society was structured, including people’s day-to-day concerns, how they lived their lives and how aspects such as class and gender had an impact on people’s safety.

Magic and Modernity: Supernatural Britain, 1800-1920

Investigate the changing nature of magic, the occult and supernatural beliefs in the nineteenth century. This history of the modern supernatural causes us to rethink how we view Victorian and Edwardian society and culture.   

Led by a subject specialist, you'll study a specific example of how a society was transformed by the forces of revolution: the political, social, and cultural pressures that fomented a revolutionary response leading to new ways of conceiving and ordering society.

Example topics that you may study include:

Britain in Revolution: the impact of the British Civil Wars, 1637-1662

Explore a defining event in the history of the British Isles: a violent and traumatic struggle which affected the lives of everyone who lived through it, and which unleashed ideas which transformed British society and had a profound influence worldwide.

Civil Rights USA

What makes a successful civil rights movement?  This module explores and contrasts a range of social movements, from African American, second-wave feminism, Native American, Asian American, Hispanic, LGBTQ+ and youth movements.

The French Revolution, 1789-1799 

Study the events and individuals that drew France into the great Terror of 1793-94, assess the political ideals and social goals that brought such deadly conflict, and consider the complex question of the Terror's legacy to the politics of radicalism and revolution throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

You'll rethink European (market) integration from the perspective of state, non-state, and regional actors across the globe, focusing on the question of how and to what extent EU institutions and policies have contributed to shaping international economic governance.

Tackling different interpretations of the EU as a regional and global power, you'll explore though-provoking questions: As the EU negotiates new trade deals and economic partnerships, who really benefits? Does the EU attempt to use its global market power to create a safer world? And to what extent have colonial legacies shaped the EU as an economic superpower?

You’ll get an introduction to the role and representation of time in contemporary fiction, as well as to philosophies of time and temporality.

You’ll also consider the role of time in narrative - what time is and how it underpins and affects narrative structures.

Topics you'll cover may include the present; temporal direction, time, gender and sexuality, reading and readers, contemporary times, and endings and end times.

You'll examine key theories and research methodologies for understanding personal life, relationships, sexuality and generational change.

You'll have the opportunity to pursue topics matching your interests, whether that's shifts in dating cultures, new family forms, LGBTQ identities, or issues like consent, respect and ethics.

The module develops critical thinking skills by evaluating different frameworks and perspectives on contemporary intimacy and relationships. There is an emphasis on inclusivity, diversity, and social justice throughout.