Foundations of Social and Political Science

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 4
• Convenor: Dr Laura Richards-Gray
• Assessment: an in-class quiz (20%), two-hour examination (60%) and group presentation (20%)

This module provides training in the key skills required for studying social and political science, while at the same time addressing some of the central social and political problems of the present. You will learn skills of critical reading, explore the main forms of reasoning and the handling of evidence in social and political science, and develop writing and presentational skills crucial to your further studies. Weekly topics are on important problems from across political and social science that relate to the broader content of the undergraduate programmes and subject areas in the School of Social Sciences, for example, the state and international politics, social and political identities, knowledge and society, and power.

Indicative syllabus

• The state and international politics
• Social and political identities
• Knowledge and society
• What is power?
• The nature of politics
• Making an argument
• Critical reading
• The role of theory
• Selecting and evaluating evidence
• Data in the social and political sciences

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

• understand the character of the study of social and political science and of key concepts
• recognise, analyse and criticise various arguments made and evidence employed in the study of social and political science
• understand the relationship between theory and empirical evidence in the study of social and political science
• demonstrate developed skills in reading, note-taking, summarising, critical argument and essay writing that can be employed on other modules.