Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 4 x 2 Hour Seminars |
| Lecture | 18 x 1 Hour Lectures |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 2,500 Word Essay | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 2,500 Word Essay | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 2,500 Word Essay | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 2,500 Word Essay | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Critically analyse the key historical and theoretical explanations of global inequality.
2. Independently apply key concepts relevant to understanding the relation between global inequality and world politics.
3. Critically analyse regional variations in patterns of inequality by drawing on relevant theories and concepts.
4. Discuss systematically and in detail the distinctions between old and new patterns of global inequality.
5. Evaluate systematically the differential cultural, social, and political impact of global inequality.
6. Critically analyse strategies of resistance to global inequality at multiple societal levels.
Brief description
The module offers a broad historical and theoretical understanding of global inequality, both as a durable feature as well as one of the most significant propellants of world politics. Relying on a sustained reading of conventional and critical explanations in the social sciences, the module examines old and new patterns of inclusion and exclusion within classical and neoliberal contexts. Finally, the module explores the linkage between inequality and politics on a world scale, marked by difference and variation.
Content
Section 1: Provides students an introduction to the concept of global inequality, and the principal theoretical perspectives on global inequality.
Section 2: Examines the historical foundations of global inequality and explores its contemporary dynamics in the context of neoliberalism. It also seeks an understanding of new patterns of inequality across regions that defy standard North/South divisions.
Section 3: Focuses on ‘landscapes of abandonment’, particularly with regard to human vulnerability, insecurity, precarity, and risk. This section also considers strategies of coping, resistance & renewal and micro and macro levels.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | NA |
| Communication | The module will encourage students to present their ideas in writing as well as verbally and to develop the ability to make effective argumentation. Students will be required use multiple sources to enhance their presentation. The importance of clarity in communication will be highlighted. Students will be required to learn the salience of recognising the relevant aspects in texts, make proper use of language and style, and develop the ability for coherence and accessibility. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The module stresses the importance of developing self-management with all the available support mechanisms available from the convenor. Individual initiative and autonomous learning will be encouraged, including the ability to conduct independent research and learning the technique to write effective essays. |
| Information Technology | Students will enhance their proficiency using Blackboard, where all supporting material will be made available. Students will also develop important IT skills in their research: searching and scrutinising relevant information online; preparing for their lectures and seminars by using IT. All assessed work will be presented in electronic format, according to established standards. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The module is designed to enhance and examine skills of considerable relevance to their working lives, particularly in public speaking in small groups, develop listening habits, and thinking and responding to arguments and opinions. The written assignments are designed to further clear expression, a prerequisite in the work environment. Students will be encouraged to show demonstrate the capacity for critical reflection on their performance and to consider relevant lessons in their careers. |
| Problem solving | Independent project work and problem solving will be one central goal of the module; the submission of two essays and preparation for seminar discussions will require that students develop independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. The ability of students to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt differing points of view; organize data and estimate an answer to the problem; consider extreme cases; reason logically; consider similar cases; look for patterns; divide issues into smaller problems. |
| Research skills | The module relies on the expectation that students will conduct independent research for their assignments. Relevant skills will include marshalling of data, using multiple sources of information, including scholarly books and journal articles, official and reputable agency reports, as well as organizational websites. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Ample opportunity will be provided in the module for students to develop, apply, and test a wide range of subject skills that foster understanding, better conceptualisation and evaluation of ideas an illustrations in the module. These subject skills include: •Gather, organise, and analyse a diverse range of information relating to the module •Assess divergent approaches and perspectives •Apply a wide range of methodologies to multifaceted historical and contemporary phenomena. |
| Team work | Seminars will be used to organise team exercises. Small-group discussions will allow team work. The core elements of a topic will be approached in a spirit of collective and cooperative learning. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6