Module Details
The information contained in this module specification was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change, either during the session because of unforeseen circumstances, or following review of the module at the end of the session. Queries about the module should be directed to the member of staff with responsibility for the module.
Title THE RISK SOCIETY: CRIME, SECURITY AND PUBLIC POLICY
Code SOCI320
Coordinator Prof GG Mythen
Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology
G.Mythen@liverpool.ac.uk
Year CATS Level Semester CATS Value
Session 2020-21 Level 6 FHEQ Second Semester 15

Aims

- To investigate the impacts of risk in contemporary society
- To evaluate risk management strategies in the areas of crime, security and welfare
- To scrutinise the efficacy of social policies designed to reduce risk
- To explore conceptual and theoretical approaches to risk within the social sciences

Learning Outcomes

(LO1) Evaluating the impacts of crime, welfare and security risks on lived experience in the contemporary UK

(LO2) Identifying and understanding the social and cultural processes which shape the construction of security risks.

(LO3) Comprehending the relationship between the distribution of health risks and traditional forms of social stratification.

(LO4) Comparing theories of risk with ethnographic research into the effects of risk on everyday experience.

(LO5) Understanding policy approaches towards crime and security risks in terms of institutional regulation, legislation and management.

(LO6) Articulating the links between identity, individualization and reflexivity in contemporary western cultures.

(S1) Information skills - Evaluation

(S2) Information skills - Critical reading

(S3) Critical thinking and problem solving - Critical analysis

(S4) Critical thinking and problem solving - Evaluation

Syllabus
 

1.Introducing the Risk Society
2.Theorizing Risk
3.Fear, Risk and Perceptions of Crime
4.The Media, Crime and Moral Panics: Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault
5.New Terrorism, Risk and Regulation
6.Counter-Terrorism, Radicalization and the Policing of Minority Groups
7.Risk, Surveillance and Urban Culture: Gated Communities
8.The Environment, Disaster and Risk: Hurrican Katrina
9.Wikileaks: Risk Communication in the Modern Age
10.Sex Work: A Risky Business?
11.Risk Taking, Identity and Pleasure: Parkour and the Art of Running Free
12.Module Review: Synthesis and Implications

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: Hybrid - asynchronous pre-recorded lectures
Attendance Recorded: Not yet decided
Notes: This module utilises contemporary cases to elucidate problems and issues and involves screening of film and documentary footage. As such, lectures and seminars may be replaced in certain weeks by 2 hour workshops as advised

Teaching Method 2 - Seminar
Description: Face to face synchronous seminars, safety permitting
Attendance Recorded: Not yet decided

Mixed, hybrid delivery, with social distancing on campus,

Teaching Schedule
  Lectures Seminars Tutorials Lab Practicals Fieldwork Placement Other TOTAL
Study Hours 24

 10

         34
Timetable (if known) 120 mins X 1 totaling 24
  		60 mins X 1 totaling 10
  		         
Private Study 126
TOTAL HOURS 160

Assessment
EXAM Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
             
CONTINUOUS Duration Timing
(Semester)		 % of
final
mark		 Resit/resubmission
opportunity		 Penalty for late
submission		 Notes
Assessment 1 There is a resit opportunity. Standard UoL penalty applies for late submission. This is an anonymous assessment. Assessment Schedule (When) :Second Semester  4000 Words    100       

Recommended Texts
Reading lists are managed at readinglists.liverpool.ac.uk. Click here to access the reading lists for this module.