Sociology and Criminology - BSc (Hons) *

This core Level 5 module builds on Sociological Perspectives by engaging students with contemporary social theories whilst also exploring the ways in which they are produced through globally entangled histories of power, knowledge, and resistance. Rather than treating theory as originating within Europe and subsequently applied elsewhere, the module approaches contemporary social theory as emerging through colonial, imperial, and postcolonial formations, as well as through struggles over race, gender, and epistemic authority. In doing so, it foregrounds how what is often presented as the ‘canon’ is historically produced, contested, and incomplete. 

A central aim is to interrogate how social theory is constituted: not only what counts as theory, but who is recognised as a theorist, and under what conditions. Students engage with thinkers from different locations within global knowledge production, including those writing from and about colonial and postcolonial contexts, alongside feminist and Black intellectual traditions. Rather than positioning decolonial, feminist, and critical race perspectives as external critiques, the module places them at the centre of analysis, showing how they reshape key concepts such as power, culture, and identity. For example, not only do we examine Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, but we also explore it in relation to colonial domination and subaltern politics; Foucault’s analyses of power are understood alongside feminist and postcolonial interventions; and Bourdieu’s cultural capital is also examined in relation to racialised and gendered inequalities.  

By the end of the module, students will not only have acquired an in-depth understanding of these theories, but also the ability to apply them to the world around them, as well as to the topics and issues raised in other modules.  

Sociology is an exciting and illuminating field of study that attempts to analyse and explain the most important social, cultural and political questions of our time. This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your knowledge and understanding of a range of “problems” or “issues” that currently dominate both the social and political climate. All of these are areas of social and political policy.  

Throughout this module you will be encouraged to develop your skills as an independent learner. You will be given the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge within an assessment that gets you producing a video campaign. You will use sociological insights to analyse social problems and provide policy suggestions for a range of relevant stakeholders. 

This module introduces you to the sociological understanding of contemporary social and political events and areas in which policy is developed. It aims to provide insight into how these events can be read socially, politically and culturally; and how they can be theorised and analysed using a sociological lens. Because of the topicality of the module its content will be routinely updated contingent on specific current events and issues occurring, globally. Therefore, you will be introduced to cutting-edge understanding of the events and issues that are contemporarily present and around you in your everyday lives. You will firstly be introduced to the particular events and issues, before locating them in the existing literature and debates. Relevant sociological theory will be introduced as to provide you a conceptual base that can be applied to establish new understandings to the events and issues being examined. 

This module develops your ability to critically engage with quantitative data and data-driven knowledge as an informed sociological thinker. Rather than training you as a producer of statistical tests, the module equips you to read, interpret, question, and critique the numbers that shape contemporary social life. 

Alongside this critical engagement, you build practical data literacy: understanding key statistical concepts (e.g. averages, distribution, correlation, significance), reading and interpreting tables and graphs, and gaining introductory experience with relevant software. 

This module provides you with an opportunity to experience/reflect upon real world work and/or work-related activity in relation to one of five pathways. The five pathways are:

1. an external work-experience placement with a third sector/public/commercial organisation
2. directed use made of current and relevant work-experience as an active volunteer or as an active paid employee
3. an agreed BCU internal placement or an agreed student-initiated (desk-based) project supportive of entrepreneurial endeavour
4. a directed set of employment-relevant activities to be informed through a recounting of and reflection upon past employment/volunteering experience along with the complementary use of BCU employment-support resources
5. a variation to or a hybrid combination of the preceding forms (1 to 4) to be agreed between tutor and student with reasonable regard to situation and circumstance and with an option to include a critical account of your personal ‘placement search’ activity with a focus on skill application and experiential learning. 

It is expected that each one of the five pathways will engage students for a target of 128 hours over a semester. You will be assigned a ‘pathway’ tutor. Where external or internal placements operate, a workplace-based supervisor will be sought in addition. 

To advance/support learning, a short series of workshop sessions will be provided on module-relevant topics. As relevant and in a timely manner, you are expected to provide the module tutor with a copy of an agreed ‘work plan’ providing an indicative timetable of pathway tasks to be undertaken. All students will be supported via Moodle throughout the module. All pathways are to be agreed by the University.  

This module is designed to develop your understanding of the emergence and development of key theories of punishment through an exploration of the history of penal theory and its contemporary challenges and controversies. Furthermore, this module seeks to refine and expand upon traditional theoretical perspectives of punishment and the current reliance upon imprisonment as a dominant form of punishment in England and Wales. In doing so, it will require you to critically engage with some of the strengths and limitations of such an approach and consider possible alternatives. 

This module will help you to acquire numerous employability skills, such as critical thinking and reflective practice. Vocationally it is linked to a range of potential criminal justice professions in the statutory, voluntary and non-governmental sectors, building your knowledge and understanding of core functions and debates in the prison and punishment realms. 

This module will develop students’ understanding of advanced criminological theory through engagement with a range of contemporary perspectives on crime, deviance, harm, and social control. It is designed to extend prior knowledge by introducing students to more complex theoretical traditions within the criminological canon. The module draws on a diverse body of thought, including Foucauldian approaches to power, control and governmentality, existentialism and phenomenology, critical race criminology, southern theory, green criminology, ultra-realism, hauntology, queer theory, and abolitionist perspectives. These traditions are considered in relation to one another, with attention to their underlying epistemological assumptions, points of conceptual tension, and areas of philosophical overlap. 

The emphasis throughout the module is on introducing students to these different theoretical frameworks as part of the wider ‘toolbox’ of criminology and how each of these traditions approach the definition and explanation of crime, deviance, harm, and social control, and how they inform wider debates around social justice and inequalities. Students will engage closely with key theorists, concepts and texts, working to evaluate the strengths and limitations of different perspectives and their relevance to contemporary issues. The module supports the development of a more confident and reflexive approach to theory, enabling students to move beyond description towards analysis, comparison, and application. 

Students will be assessed through a critical comparative portfolio that requires them to critically discuss different criminological traditions, assessing their conceptual tensions, epistemological assumptions, and practical approaches to crime, deviance, harm, and social control. The portfolio is designed to evaluate students’ ability to synthesise complex theoretical material, construct logically developed and concise arguments, and apply advanced criminological perspectives to contemporary issues in a critical and coherent manner. Emphasis is placed on clarity of argument, depth of theoretical engagement, and the ability to draw meaningful connections and critique between traditions. Overall, the module provides an introduction to advanced criminological theory, equipping students with the conceptual and analytical tools required for independent, critically informed study at Level 6. 

This module examines fascism, the far right, and forms of extremism through a sociological lens, situating them within wider processes of power, inequality, identity, and social change. It explores how extremist ideologies emerge, how they are sustained, and how they operate across historical and contemporary contexts. The module also considers genocides as extreme manifestations of social exclusion and violence, alongside their cultural representation and collective memory. 

Drawing on key sociological theories and contemporary research, the module engages with themes such as nationalism, racism, populism, authoritarianism, and political violence. It critically examines how social divisions (including race, class, gender, religion and citizenship) are mobilised within extremist movements, and how these relate to broader structures of power and inequality. 

Alongside this, the module explores resistance to fascism and extremism, including grassroots activism, cultural opposition, digital resistance, and policy responses. It also considers ethical challenges in researching and representing violence and atrocity. 

Teaching is delivered through a weekly 3-hour interactive workshop format, combining short lectures, group discussion, collaborative tasks, and engagement with visual, textual and digital sources. A weekly 1-hour optional drop-in session provides you with additional academic support and space for discussion. You are expected to undertake weekly reading, directed online activities, and independent study to support your learning. 

By the end of the module, you will have developed a critical, research-informed understanding of extremism and resistance, and will be able to apply sociological concepts and methods to complex and contested social issues. The assessment is designed to develop advanced analytical, research and communication skills. 

This module provides you with a critical, theoretical framework to appreciate the gendered nature of crime and criminal justice.  In doing so, it considers both the individual and social aspect of the gendered site of crime and victimisation. 

The module commences by introducing you to four key theoretical frameworks of relevance to gender and crime: feminist theory, masculinities theories, queer theory and critical race theory. As such, it encourages you to challenge the traditional binaries that have underpinned criminological and administrative approaches to gender and crime. Thereafter, the module critically examines the gendered nature of five types of crime: domestic abuse; homicide; stalking; rape; prostitution. In so doing it draws upon case studies to enable you to explore lived experiences of social divisions in criminal justice.  

We take an intersectional approach, exploring gender not as a standalone variable, but one of a range of different social divisions that impact upon people’s experiences of crime as victims, perpetrators, and criminal justice workers – for example age, social class, ethnicity, and disability.  

The module is taught via a weekly lecture, which provides you with the key concepts and theoretical frameworks of relevance to that week’s topic. This is followed by a workshop, in which you will have the opportunity to test and refresh your learning from the lecture before engaging in critical, case-study led discussions with your peers about the applied implications of inequalities linked to gender. You will also receive a weekly bitesize assignment prep activity, designed to assist you in incrementally building up the content for your assessed essay. 

The module aims to enhance your awareness of the nature and extent of gendered disparities as they relate to specific crimes and consider the usefulness of contemporary theory in making sense of these inequalities and identifying how the Criminal Justice System can best support those affected by them. 

Crimes of the Powerful encompasses the damaging and victimising behaviours perpetrated by privately or publicly operated corporations, as well as the state facilitated legalistic and political responses to these activities. Within criminology and wider academia, we generally fail to scrutinise those who operate within the highest levels of society – those individuals or institutions with much economic and cultural capital. This module will address such deficiencies by providing a nuanced and holistic overview of the actions of such individuals, organisations and State actors.  

By utilising critical criminological theories and critical notions of violence underpinned by zemiology (the study of social harm), this module will highlight the contradictions in conventional state and academic approaches to criminality, whilst also demonstrating that some of the most significant harms and dangers we currently face – both in the UK and abroad - are interwoven into very fabric of normality. Specifically, we will look at how many of the harms produced by the powerful are engrained and proliferated within the globalised context of neo-liberal capitalism and consumer ideology.   

By presenting both theoretical discussions and real-life cases, you will be provided an opportunity to develop knowledge and critical understanding of criminology and related disciplines both in theory and in practice. You will also be exposed to one of the areas of excellence of our research centre and the research specialisms of staff. 

This module will provide you with a comprehensive and critical introduction to these topics and encourages you to actively research areas of interest through the development of an assessed case study, culminating in an essay. The assessment will assist in the development of key employability skills including written communication, critical analysis, problem-solving, and ethical and social awareness.   

This module will provide you with a critical understanding of contemporary patterns and debates around intimacy, communities, and belonging. Questions such as: How has romantic and other forms of intimacy changed over time? How do people fulfil their need for community and connection with others? Why do people live the lives they do? What do their behaviours tell us about modern life? 

This module introduces key concepts and theories to help explore, understand, and critically analyse topics such as friendship, casual sex/relationships, consensual non-monogamy, fandoms, online culture, parasocial relationships, AI, nature, loneliness, the manosphere, and social media.  

Through a combination of theoretical engagement and analysis of contemporary case studies, you will develop critical thinking skills that allow them to evaluate various interpretations of people’s behaviours. The module emphasises the importance of understanding wider sociocultural factors when considering how and why people do what they do.  

You will have the opportunity to pursue an assessment on topics that align with your own interests, developing their ability to synthesise academic literature and construct well-evidenced and nuanced arguments. These skills — critical analysis of complex social issues, evaluating multiple perspectives, and presenting reasoned arguments — are highly valued in diverse professional contexts including policy development, human resources, advocacy work, education, and research. 

Ever questioned ‘Who to call if not the police?’ or ‘If not prisons, what else? This innovative module will encourage you to think critically about the meaning of justice in contemporary societies. Rather than accepting criminalisation, policing and punishment as inevitable systems of control, you will explore how differing frameworks of justice explain the function of current criminal legal systems (and wider forms of carceral containment).  

Central to these considerations will be past and current impacts of criminalisation, harm and victimisation for specific social groups. Emphasis will be placed on the interlocking nature of capitalist, patriarchal, racist and colonial power-dynamics that shape how ‘justice’ is conceptualised and delivered on a global scale and who may come to be disproportionately policed, punished and confined as a result.  

Building upon this foundation, you will analyse radical approaches to justice being imagined, created and mobilised by communities around the world. In doing so, you will explore alternative models of justice and examine key differences between ‘reformist’ and ‘non-reformist reforms’. You will engage in critical conversations surrounding defunding the police, decriminalising sex work, addressing violence against women and girls and de-carceration. You will also explore examples of social advocacy, mutual aid and the redistribution of resources through the lens of abolitionism.  

Throughout this module, you will be encouraged to think outside of the box in considering how to best address (and respond to) the interpersonal and structural forms of harm in contemporary societies. This will then be assessed through an in-person assignment with supporting formative tasks throughout the module. By analysing a range of national and international perspectives, policies and practices, while developing your communication and presentation skills, this module will enhance your employability and preparedness for justice-focused roles.