Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

The idea of 'justice' is a long established, indeed ancient, concern that in the social and political sciences can be taken up globally in feminist, anti-racist, anti-carceral, post-colonial, anti-poverty, environmental and disability movements. This postgraduate course will invite students to critically examine contemporary perspectives on justice, to consider what this means outside the realm of ideal theory, and address what Charles Mills once described as the 'intellectual chasm' between struggles and discussions of justice. The course will therefore examine some leading perspectives - rather than rehearse textbook definitions - and introduce students to their global entanglements, and especially reflect on what these mean for our notions of the state, identity, liberalism and citizenship today. The course is taught with an interdisciplinary approach that draws on materials from sociology, political theory, criminology, gender studies, social and public policy. Key questions running through this course include: Who is included and excluded from ways of operationalizing justice? How is normative thinking about justice entangled in freedom and equality? Where is justice located and what role do our social relations play in pursuing it?

2 hr weekly session X 10 weeks

None

n/a

n/a

Summative Assessment 1

A class presentation accompanied by a 500 -700-word reflection piece that may discuss a critical reading of the text selected in light of the class discussion (30%).

Weighting: 15% Presentation and 15% Written

Reasonable adjustments will be made where required to support students e.g.., where presentation to the class is not the most conducive to gauge learning, either recorded presentation to be viewed by marker, or through a one-to-one presentation.

Summative Assessment 2

Final essay (3000 words) answering a set question examining a set of themes, theories or concepts from the course (70%).

This course aims to convey knowledge and understanding of approaches to justice from a variety of social and political science perspectives, and to help students grasp the connections between global ideas of justice and their application. In so doing, it aims to establish with students the distinctive contributions that the social and political sciences can make to our understanding of justice today.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Describe and evaluate theories, concepts and arguments deployed in contemporary debates about justice.

2. Demonstrate critical appreciation of how social and political science advances understand of justice outside the realm of ideal theory.

3. Distinguish between different concepts and arguments central to the understanding of justice and identify their correct context.

4.Apply modes of analysis acquired from the course to think reflexively about everyday relations of power.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.