Social Work and Social Policy

SSU11010 Introduction to Psychology

Description

“It may be argued that of all the social science modules available to social workers, psychology is especially important because it offers potential explanations of complex aspects of human behaviour and development” (Ingleby, 2010, p. ix). Psychology examines how humans think, feel, and behave.

The course aims to give you insight to psychological theories and research, and how we can use psychology to understand people and their behaviour. This 44-hour module comprises of one (two-hour) lecture each week, across Michaelmas and Hilary terms. In Michaelmas Term, the module will provide a broad introduction to the major areas of study within psychology. Throughout Hilary Term, special attention will be paid to psychological approaches to understanding social processes, such as group interaction and prejudice.

SSU22042 European Refugee Policy

Description

The number of people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced from their home as a result of conflict, systemic discrimination, persecution, and other human rights violations has been steadily growing over the last decade to reach an unprecedented 65.6 million in 2016. The protection of stateless people, the internally displaced, asylum seekers and refugees has correspondingly become an urgent global policy issue.

SSU11051 Introduction to Social Policy Concepts

Description

The Principles of Social Policy module introduces students to the dynamic field of Social Policy and is designed to provide a critical knowledge and understanding of the principles that underpin social policy affecting all citizens’ lives. Throughout this module, students will develop an appreciation of the influences that have shaped the development of social policy to allow them contemplate future directions of government and society. Students will learn to critically examine definitions and approaches to social policy that facilitate deeper appreciation of the breadth and hybrid nature of the subject area. This will involve critically examining parameters and frameworks that guide social policy analysis, research and investigation.

This module equips students to recognise the extent to which ideology, 16 politics and values influence and shape social policy and encouraged to question patterns, assumptions and normative concepts and constructs generated by social policy. Students will explore multiple contexts shaping social policy across international, supra-national, national and local levels. Learners will be given an appreciation of the key skills of rigorous analysis and critical reflection informed by continuously evolving political, ethical, theoretical, and material contexts that shape social policy making. The module is designed to equip learners for a deeper exploration of specific policy issues and debates throughout further studies of social policy.

SSU11052 Introducing Social Policy in Action

Description

This module will focus on social policy in action. The role of frameworks for understanding the process of policy making will be introduced. Current frameworks for understanding the policy making process will be considered. Recent developments in selected applied policy issues will be described. Related policy initiatives will be assessed to consider how elements of the stages model feature in the selected initiatives.

SSU33011 Youth and Society

Description

This section of the module is inter-disciplinary and will draw upon research linked to Youth Studies, Sociology, Criminology, Psychology and Social Policy. The core aim is to provide students with an in-depth, research-based understanding of youth, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. The course will focus on key theoretical approaches to understanding youth in society and will consider a range of substantive issues and areas within contemporary research on both ‘mainstream’ and ‘marginalised’ youth, but with a strong emphasis on youth ‘at risk’, including homeless youth, young people with care experience, and young people who use drugs. Varying approaches to the study of youth will be reviewed and we will explore how social and economic forces influence the lives and experiences of young people generally and marginalised youth in particular.

The aim of this section of the module is:

• To enable students to identify the theoretical constructs that have been used to conceptualise and understand ‘youth’ across time.

• To critically analyse the impact of social context, social diversity and inequality on the lives and experiences of young people.

• To highlight challenges faced by young people due to structural inequalities within contemporary society, particularly during the transition from ‘child’ to ‘adult’.

• To consider how governments, and Irish social policy in particular, have conceptualised and responded to the lived experience and needs of both mainstream and marginalised young people.

SSU33301 Global Social Policy and Comparative Welfare States

Description

This course will examine the issues of social policy from global as well as historical perspectives. It will also look at the welfare states, comparing welfare solutions, tools and policies across different times and places. Rather than trying to take a snapshot of certain “regimes”, this course will compare various systems to create a “library of solutions” from which one could “mix and match” depending on the specific social challenges and contexts.

SSU44020 Ageing Societies

Description

The purpose of the module is to explore the sociology and social policies of ageing societies (social gerontology) and to consider relations between generations from this perspective. The module will provide students with an opportunity to discuss a range of substantive topics that are relevant to both individual and population ageing, and to both ‘young’ and ‘older’ people. In order to help students acquire a critical understanding of the opportunities and challenges that demographic ageing presents, the module will introduce students to issues relating to the social construction of ageing, theories of ageing, and ideas of ‘active’ and ‘successful’ ageing, and policy approaches to care in old age. The contributions of older adults to their families and society through multiple channels such as grandparenting and volunteering are highlighted.

SSU44110 Poverty, Inequality and Redistribution

Description

The purpose of the module is to explore the conceptualisation and measurement of the concepts of poverty and inequality, and how public policy impacts upon them. Students will examine how our understanding of these concepts has developed over time, and critically analyse the different ways in which we measure them. Students will consider how effectively different measures capture the experience of poverty and inequality.

SSU44030 Disability & Human Rights

Description

This module focuses on disability as a human rights issue. The module explores the development and influence of the human rights based approach in developing disability policy. Specifically, this module examines the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2006) using a critical approach. Drawing from current international research and policy in the areas of supported decision making, community living and inclusive education, students will have the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of disability and human rights-based policy from a critical and contextual standpoint.