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On Violence

Module description

This module addresses three key questions: What is violence?  How can we understand why it takes place? What can be done to reduce social harms? You will study the patterning of violence, its causes, and the social responses to it. You will learn to understand it from many academic perspectives and to critically appreciate methodologies for assessing harm.  A deliberately broad range of violence is considered, including violence taking place in inter-personal communications, organizational behaviour, physical conflict, and symbolic representations.

There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this module.

PLEASE NOTE: You cannot take this module if you have already taken SOC2095

Module aims - intentions of the module

On Violence aims to increase your confidence in developing independent thinking, expressing that thinking verbally and in written materials, and responding to other people’s contributions, in a seminar environment.  It also exposes you to an issue that is challenging in many ways, and cross-disciplinary by nature. On Violence aims to:

• Provide student with the opportunity to develop confidence and skills to apply social science theories and concepts to pressing contemporary issues.
• Foster the ability to assembly, critique, and interpret factual information.
• Offer a stimulating approach to understanding the intersection of politics, society and culture 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a significant understanding of the types of social science research into violence
• 2. Considerately evaluate how the different sources of information about violence, both quantitative and qualitative, and how they are produced - including their location in particular political and social frameworks - and how they can be interpreted

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Develop and deploy arguments grounded in theoretical frameworks;
• 4. Draw substantiated thematic comparisons between material from different sources;
• 5. Clearly and articulately present research, policy debates and your own arguments;

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Present an argument orally in a clear, organized, effective and persuasive manner;
• 7. Evaluate own work and those of others;
• 8. Demonstrate collaborative skills, e.g. group work, including the presentation and discussion of material in groups.
• 9. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

Syllabus plan

The module will examine a wide range of type of violence.  Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following themes over one or more weeks:

• Defining Violence - Primary Question: How is violence defined?
• Communication and Violence - Primary Question: How is communication characterized by violence?
• Seeing Violence - Primary Question: How are violent acts rendered seen and unseen?
• Bounding Violence - Primary Question: How are social limits placed on violence?
• Ignoring Violence - Primary Question: How do societies learn to ignore harm?
• Remembering Violence - Primary Question: How do societies remember violence? 

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

When students’ ability to participate in seminars is severely impaired for condonable reasons, an alternative to contributions to discussions will be offered.   

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Rosenberg, M. (1999) Nonviolent Communication

Pachirat, T. (2012) Every Twelve Seconds

Rappert, B. (2012). How to Look Good in a War

Safran Foer, J (2009) Eating Animals

Price, R. (1997) The Chemical Weapons Taboo

Proctor, R. (2011) Golden Holocaust

WHO. (2002) World report on violence and health

Key words search

Violence, crime, harm, communication