Skip to main content

Policy, Government and Social Control (Level 6)

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
  • Convenor: Dr Amy Kirby
  • Assessment: a 2000-word policy report (40%) and 3000-word policy analysis (60%)

Module description

In this module you will learn about the key components of contemporary governing structures through focus on the liberal democratic state, its institutions and systems, policies and processes. We will discuss the lived experiences of people who are delivering, and on the receiving end of, these and consider questions of power and inequalities, which are intrinsic to liberal democratic institutions, policies and processes. We will take a critical and social approach to evaluating governing institutions and policies, and their relationships to social control. You will also learn the methodological skills to analyse policies and complete a policy analysis.

Indicative syllabus

  • What is policy?
  • What is government?
  • Government, policy and social control
  • The contemporary governing state: governance, marketisation and networks; social regulation
  • Where is policy made?
  • What does policy produce?
  • Research methods and policy: documentary analysis; interpreting policy; discourse analysis; policy discourses and their effects

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

  • demonstrate advanced knowledge and critical understanding of governing institutions, policies, systems and actors in liberal democratic contexts
  • critically analyse and synthesise social, cultural and critical theoretical approaches to government and policy, assessing their implications for governance and social control
  • critically interrogate the operation of power, inequality and structural injustice within policy processes, drawing on criminological and interdisciplinary perspectives
  • evaluate and synthesise the contributions of key thinkers and contemporary debates relevant to the study of government, policy and social control
  • critically assess and apply different theoretical and methodological frameworks used in policy analysis, and reflect on their epistemological and ethical assumptions
  • produce independent, evidence-based, critical policy analyses in verbal and written formats, using a range of literatures, documents and platforms relevant to policy learning, including academic texts, ‘grey literature’ and digital content
  • apply and critically reflect on theoretical knowledge in relation to complex, real-world policy problems, assessing policy outcomes, unintended consequences and possibilities for change
  • demonstrate autonomy, responsibility and advanced collaborative skills in both independent and group work related to the analysis of criminal justice institutions, practices and policy processes.