BASS Philosophy and Politics / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course description

Our BA in Philosophy and Politics course is one of the pathways within the BA Social Sciences degree.

It is ideal if you want to keep your options open or study specific topics, such as race, class, crime or religion, from a variety of different perspectives.

This flexible degree lets you study at least three subjects in the first year, and in the second and third year deepen your understanding of the subjects you feel passionate about.

The six main subject areas are:

  • Criminology - The study of the causes and consequences of crime.
  • Philosophy - The study of the nature of knowledge, truth and values. It encourages greater consideration of our reasoning, judgement and ethics.
  • Politics - The study of human organisation, government and power, political systems and institutions.
  • Data Analytics - The study of data and analysis to understand the social world.
  • Social Anthropology - The study of societies and cultures across the globe in comparative perspective.
  • Sociology - The study of society. It examines issues such as social inequalities and forms of everyday life.

You are not tied to the course code you apply to on UCAS and have the option to change after Year 1.

Special features

Professional Experience Year

You apply in Year 1 to boost your employability through a paid Professional Experience Year.

If you meet the criteria, the Professional Experience Team and Careers Service will work with you to find a suitable placement in your second year.

You will then complete your Professional Experience Year in your third year extending your degree to four years, before returning to the University to finish your final year.

Your degree title will be extended to include 'with Professional Experience', giving you the added advantage of relevant work experience when entering the competitive graduate jobs market.

Paid placement opportunity

You can apply for a paid Q-Step internship between Years 2 and 3.

Study abroad

If you would like to broaden your horizons and your degree, you can apply to study overseas for a year at one of our partner universities. You apply in Year 2 to spend a year abroad in Year 3. If successful, you will put together a programme of study at the host university in consultation with your Academic Exchange Advisor, to complement your studies at Manchester. You will then come back to Manchester to study for a fourth year and graduate with a degree title including 'with International Study'. See The University of Manchester Study Abroad pages for more information, including eligibility criteria, destinations, costs and funding.

Teaching and learning

Course units feature formal lectures supported by smaller tutorials or seminars, where you explore the contents of lectures and recommended reading in greater depth. 

Tutorials and seminars are key in improving your written and oral communication skills through group discussions, essay-writing, and presentations. 

You are assigned an Academic Advisor who takes a friendly interest in your progress, and can advise you on selecting course units and career opportunities.

Coursework and assessment

The way that you study and are assessed will depend on which course units you choose. Our methods are designed to promote in-depth learning and understanding, including: 

  • essays, coursework, and other mid-term evaluations; 
  • dissertations; 
  • presentations; 
  • group projects; 
  • exams.

Course content for year 1

Year 1 provides you with a grounding in philosophical traditions, themes and problems.

Course units for year 1

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Critical Thinking PHIL10041 20 Mandatory
Engaging With Social Research SOCS10111 20 Mandatory
Crime and Society CRIM10001 20 Optional
Criminological Research Methods CRIM10072 20 Optional
Foundations of Criminal Justice CRIM10421 20 Optional
Psychology, Crime and Criminal Justice CRIM10432 20 Optional
Foundations of Criminological Scholarship CRIM10441 20 Optional
An Introduction to Development Studies ECON10002 10 Optional
Microeconomics 1 ECON10221 10 Optional
Macroeconomics 1 ECON10252 10 Optional
Criminal Law (Humanities) LAWS10082 20 Optional
Introduction to Ethics PHIL10021 20 Optional
Philosophies of Resistance: Philosophical Reflection on Movements for Social Justice PHIL10101 20 Optional
Ancient Greek Philosophy PHIL10122 20 Optional
Introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology PHIL10622 20 Optional
Introduction to Philosophy of Mind PHIL10631 20 Optional
Introduction to Comparative Politics POLI10202 20 Optional
Making Sense of Politics POLI10302 20 Optional
British Politics: Power and the State POLI10401 20 Optional
Politics of the Global Economy POLI10502 20 Optional
Introduction to International Politics POLI10601 20 Optional
Introduction to Political Theory POLI10702 20 Optional
Power and Culture: Inequality in Everyday Life SOAN10301 10 Optional
Cultural Diversity in Global Perspective SOAN10312 10 Optional
Key Ideas in Social Anthropology SOAN10321 10 Optional
Intro to Ethnographic Reading SOAN10322 10 Optional
Regional Studies of Culture: 1 SOAN10331 20 Optional
Regional Studies of Culture: 2 SOAN10352 20 Optional
Introduction to Business Anthropology: Consumers, Companies and Culture SOAN10361 20 Optional
Environment and Society SOCY10202 20 Optional
Inequalities in Contemporary British Society SOCY10402 20 Optional
Contested Foundations of Social Thought SOCY10421 20 Optional
Contemporary Social Thought SOCY10432 20 Optional
Media, Culture & Society SOCY10441 20 Optional
Global Social Challenges SOCY10461 20 Optional
Getting Personal: Intimacy and Connectedness in Everyday Life SOCY10471 20 Optional
Work, Organisations and Society SOCY10912 20 Optional
Understanding Social Media SOST10012 20 Optional
Measuring Inequalities (Unequal Societies) SOST10021 20 Optional
Applied Statistics for Social Scientists SOST10142 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 40 course units for year 1

Course content for year 2

In Year 2 you begin to specialise.

If you specialise in one subject, you take 60 to 80 credits in it.

If you specialise in two subjects you take 40 credits in each.

Course units for year 2

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Policing and the Police CRIM20051 20 Optional
Explaining Crime and Deviance CRIM20412 20 Optional
Making Sense of Criminological Data CRIM20441 20 Optional
Modelling Criminological Data CRIM20452 20 Optional
Understanding Punishment CRIM20692 20 Optional
Criminology and Criminal Justice in Action CRIM20701 20 Optional
Islamic Philosophy PHIL20001 20 Optional
Philosophy of Religion PHIL20021 20 Optional
Applied Philosophy PHIL20032 20 Optional
Philosophy of Race PHIL20042 20 Optional
Formal Logic PHIL20141 20 Optional
Ethics PHIL20231 20 Optional
20th Century Analytical Philosophy PHIL20242 20 Optional
Philosophy of Science PHIL20261 20 Optional
Phenomenology PHIL20612 20 Optional
Politics by Numbers POLI20311 20 Optional
Security Studies POLI20332 20 Optional
Questions About International Politics POLI20521 20 Optional
Politics & Society in Britain Since 1940: From Blitz to Brexit POLI20531 20 Optional
Arguing About Politics: Political Theory in the World POLI20602 20 Optional
The Politics of Globalisation POLI20711 20 Optional
The Politics of Development POLI20722 20 Optional
Gender and Politics in Comparative Perspective POLI20742 20 Optional
The Politics of Policy Making POLI20802 20 Optional
Ideals of Social Justice POLI20881 20 Optional
Injustice and Resistance POLI20961 20 Optional
Environmental Politics POLI20982 20 Optional
Comparative West European Politics POLI21001 20 Optional
Southern European Politics POLI21012 20 Optional
Asia-Pacific Security POLI21041 20 Optional
Anthropology of Kinship, Gender and Sex SOAN20802 20 Optional
Anthropology of Religion SOAN20812 20 Optional
Political and Economic Anthropology SOAN20821 20 Optional
The Ethnographer's Craft SOAN20841 20 Optional
Materiality and Representation SOAN20852 20 Optional
The Human and the Digital SOAN20871 20 Optional
Work, Economy and Society SOCY20032 20 Optional
Education and Society SOCY20051 20 Optional
Qualitative Research Design & Methods SOCY20091 20 Optional
Sustainability, Consumption & Global Responsibilities SOCY20231 20 Optional
Social Change in China SOCY20282 20 Optional
Decolonising Sociology SOCY20302 20 Optional
Youth, Politics & Activism in Contemporary Europe SOCY20412 20 Optional
Family, Relationships and Everyday Life SOCY20701 20 Optional
Gender, Sexuality and Culture SOCY20892 20 Optional
Racism and Ethnicity in the UK SOCY20961 20 Optional
The Survey Method in Social Research SOST20012 20 Optional
Essentials of survey design and analysis SOST20022 20 Optional
Market Research SOST20042 10 Optional
Answering Social Research Questions with Statistical Models SOST20131 20 Optional
Applied Statistics for Social Scientists SOST20142 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 51 course units for year 2

Course content for year 3

In Year 3 you pick your final areas of specialisation.

If you specialise in one subject, you take 60 to 80 credits in it.

If you specialise in two subjects you take 40 credits in each.

Course units for year 3

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Drugs and Society CRIM30601 20 Optional
Journeys out of Offending CRIM30662 20 Optional
Victims, Crime and Justice CRIM30791 20 Optional
Serious and Organised Crime CRIM30811 20 Optional
Criminology and Mass Violence CRIM31051 20 Optional
Youth, Crime and Justice CRIM31101 20 Optional
White-Collar, Corporate and Environmental Crime CRIM31142 20 Optional
Crime Mapping: an introduction to GIS and spatial analysis CRIM31152 20 Optional
The Criminal Psychopath CRIM31172 20 Optional
Dissertation Semester 1 PHIL30001 20 Optional
Dissertation Semester 2 PHIL30002 20 Optional
Dissertation (40 credit) PHIL30030 40 Optional
Founding Mothers: Women Philosophers and their Role in The Development of Analytic Philosophy PHIL30352 20 Optional
Philosophy of Action PHIL30552 20 Optional
Phenomenology PHIL30612 20 Optional
Advanced Topics in Aesthetics PHIL30621 20 Optional
Language & Oppression PHIL30811 20 Optional
The Politics of the European Union POLI30032 20 Optional
Morality and Markets POLI30112 20 Optional
The Politics and Philosophy of Nationalism POLI30191 20 Optional
Gender, Sex and Politics POLI30231 20 Optional
Elections and Voters in Britain POLI30242 20 Optional
Liberalism and Empire POLI30252 20 Optional
Dimensions of Peace and Conflict: Disciplinary and Regional Approaches POLI30262 20 Optional
Political Morality and Dirty Hands POLI30271 20 Optional
Chinese Politics POLI30282 20 Optional
Public Policy Problems POLI30292 20 Optional
Dissertation A POLI30300 40 Optional
Ethical Issues in World Politics POLI30321 20 Optional
Using Nudge to Change Lives POLI30331 20 Optional
Dissertation B POLI30380 20 Optional
Introduction to International Political Economy POLI30721 20 Optional
Gender, War & Militarism POLI30791 20 Optional
Africa & Global Politics POLI30862 20 Optional
War Memories and Reconciliation in East Asia POLI31011 20 Optional
Intimate Geopolitics of Global China POLI31021 20 Optional
Children, Family and Social Justice POLI31032 20 Optional
Understanding Political Choice in Britain POLI31041 20 Optional
American Politics: Why Do They Do That? POLI31061 20 Optional
Knowledge Production in Peace-building: Practices and Processes POLI31082 20 Optional
Global Capitalism, Crisis and Revolt POLI31091 20 Optional
Contemporary Parliamentary Studies and the British Political Tradition POLI32041 20 Optional
Postcolonial Politics POLI32062 20 Optional
Sex, Bodies and Money: Feminist, Queer and Intersectional Political Economy POLI32091 20 Optional
United States Foreign Policy: Dominance and Decline in a Complex World POLI32132 20 Optional
United Nations Security Council in Practice POLI32151 20 Optional
Race, Ethnicity, Migration POLI32162 20 Optional
Ukraine Rises: Democracy, Protest, Identity and War in Comparative Perspective POLI32171 20 Optional
Capitalism and Sexuality POLI32182 20 Optional
Indian Politics in Comparative Perspective POLI32192 20 Optional
The Anthropology of Health and Wellbeing SOAN30251 20 Optional
Anthropology of Childhood, Youth and Education SOAN30372 20 Optional
Ethnographies and Adventures in Manchester SOAN30381 20 Optional
Pharmaceutical Worlds: Markets, Medicines and Metaphors SOAN30462 20 Optional
Black Identities and Cultures in Latin America SOAN30661 20 Optional
Screening Culture SOAN30791 20 Optional
Anthropology of Vision, Senses and Memory SOAN30811 20 Optional
Food and Eating: The Cultural Body SOAN30882 20 Optional
Sociology of Human Animal Relations SOCY30042 20 Optional
Cities and Urban Life SOCY30061 20 Optional
Racism and Resistance in Education SOCY30102 20 Optional
Material Culture: The Social Life of Things SOCY30192 20 Optional
A Sense of Inequality SOCY30242 20 Optional
Sociology of Mental Health & Illness SOCY30261 20 Optional
Connections matter: Sociological Applications of Social Networks SOCY30292 20 Optional
Power and Protest SOCY30461 20 Optional
Social Thought from the Global South SOCY30501 20 Optional
Art and Society SOCY30731 20 Optional
Theory & Method in Demography SOST30012 20 Optional
Network Analysis SOST30022 20 Optional
Answering Social Research Questions with Statistical Models SOST30031 20 Optional
Data Science Modelling SOST30062 20 Optional
Quantitative Evaluation (of Policies, Interventions and Experiments) SOST30172 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 73 course units for year 3

Course content for year 4

If completing a year professional placement, you will take the Year 3 course content in Year 4.

If completing a year abroad, you will take the Year 3 course content in Year 4.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk