Module HUSS2311: THE LIFE CYCLE AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Department: Anthropology (Human Sciences) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

HUSS2311: THE LIFE CYCLE AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Prerequisites

• HUSS1121 Understanding Society and Culture.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To introduce students to the anthropological study of the stages and processes of human life.
• To introduce students to the analysis of social change in past and present societies.
• To discuss contemporary as well as historical views of the past.
• To debate the relative validity of theories used by anthropologists and sociologists in attempting to account for social and cultural change.

Content

• Part 1: processes of maturation and the stages of childhood, youth, old age and death, primarily from a social perspective but with some attention to biological processes.
• Lectures include topics such as the biological processes of growth, the notion of social identity, socialisation, education, initiation, the biological processes of ageing, inter-generational conflict and displacement, social understandings of death, becoming an ancestor.
• Part 2: the development of 'modern' society and of anthropology itself.
• Lectures include topics such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber and subsequent work, including debates over post-industrialisation, post-modernism and globalisation.

Learning Outcomes

• An understanding of the anthropological approaches to human growth, maturation, decay, old age and death.
• An appreciation of the variety of ways in which human maturation and ageing is given form and meaning in different cultural and historical contexts.
• Awareness of the ways that social and cultural forces shape human biography over the life-cycle.
• Familiarity with issues surrounding the analysis of social change.
• Familiarity with characteristics used to define complex or 'civilised' populations.

• Recognise different theoretical approaches used in the study of the human life-cycle and social change.
• Carry out small piece of qualitative research on a specific aspect of the life-cycle and social change.
• Use in-depth interviews to collect biographical data on life-cycle events and social change.

• Communicate through written work.
• Show initiative.
• Plan, organise and manage time.
• Conduct research on a given subject using print and electronic resources.
• Extract and integrate key concepts from primary research material.
• Formulate a coherently argued research project.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures
• Tutorials
• Essay
• Project.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Project plans and essay plans submitted and returned with comments; feedback on seminar (oral and written) contributions.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University