Module SGIA2351: CLASS, NATION AND BRITISH POLITICS

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA2351: CLASS, NATION AND BRITISH POLITICS

Prerequisites

• Any Level 1 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To enable students to gain a detailed empirical knowledge of the changing nature of the British political system.
• To familiarise students with debates about the relationship between identities and the politics in Britain.
• To provide an empirical and theoretical basis for the further study of both British politics and the relationship between identities, ideology and political action at level 3.

Content

• One vision of the British political system over the past century is that it has been structured around rival identities of class and nation. This module will examine the major debates about these themes as a way of understanding the nature and development of the British democracy. In this offers a carefully structured analysis of the British political system over a substantial period of time which will enable students to appreciate the inter-relationships between long-run economic, social and political change. The module will include analysis of debates such as those about:
• The decline of the Liberal Party and the 'Forward March of Labour'.
• The place of empire in British politics.
• The relationship between political thought and political practice.
• The changing basis of electoral politics in Britain.
• Continuity and change at the ideological level.

Learning Outcomes

• Key episodes in recent British political history.
• Theoretical debates about political identities and the character of the British political system.
• The main sources of evidence used to develop arguments in the study of British politics.
• The relationship between forms of analysis in political science and adjacent disciplines such as history and sociology.

• Accurately and effectively describe alternative theoretical positions.
• Select appropriate empirical material to support argumentation.
• Apply frameworks from theoretical debates to structure detailed empirical discussion.
• Evaluate rival theories and interpretations with reference to factual evidence.

• Retrieve and utilise in written form resources students have been directed to.
• Assess the suitability and quality of resources for research purposes.
• Review, reinforce and integrate knowledge independently in preparation for an examination.
• Demonstrate these and the above acquisitions in written form under pressure of time.

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

• Teaching will take the form of lectures accompanied by tutorials.
• Lectures provide the substantive spine of the module, offering context and evaluation of the materials and arguments presented in the reading list and acquired independently in students' preparation time. They are designed to inform and provoke but represent only a foundational core on which students necessarily then need to build. There will be sixteen lectures in total, fourteen of which are devoted to the substantive content of the module. There will be ‘no lecture weeks’ in week #5 of both terms, in order to allow the tutorials to catch up with the lecture topics. There is and one introductory lecture and one revision lecture. If considered desirable and practicable, the module convenor can substitute one of the substantive lectures for a formative essay feedback lecture providing an overview of performance in the formative essay early in Term #2.
• Tutorials will be discussion-based student-led activities facilitated by a tutor but primarily relying on student contributions and thus consolidating knowledge and developing argumentation and critical ability.
• A formative essay will provide practice in the organisation of material acquired through lectures, tutorials and research in response to a specific question.
• The final examination will promote the ability to organise learned material independently and to bring it to bear in answers to specific questions under time constraint.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two formative essays of 1,500 words and one tutorial presentation.

■ 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