Bachelor of Arts (BAEcon)

BAEcon Development Studies

In-depth study into the problems and options faced by the developing world.

  • Duration: 3 or 4 years
  • Year of entry: 2025
  • UCAS course code: L900 / Institution code: M20
  • Key features:
  • Study abroad
  • Industrial experience

Full entry requirementsHow to apply

Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £29,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

Scholarships and bursaries, including the Manchester Bursary , are available to eligible home/EU students.

Some undergraduate UK students will receive bursaries of up to £2,000 per year, in addition to the government package of maintenance grants.

You can get information and advice on student finance to help you manage your money.

Course unit details:
Capitalism and Work

Course unit fact file
Unit code SOCY20031
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 2
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

This course offers an examination of the nature of work in capitalist societies. The first half of the course builds a picture of the development of contemporary, global capitalism. We make sense of the nature of capitalism, and its periods of transformation, through looking at institutions, culture and periods of crisis. In the second half of the course, we turn to an examination of work. Work is presented as a highly pervasive institution, structuring life experience within and beyond the workplace. Observing the nature of work over time also reveals transformations in the operation of power in the workplace, in the way work is organised, and in the cultural values typically attached to work. The course presents these changes, and explains them via the large-scale structural aspects of capitalism covered in the first half of the course. In this way, we can connect macro-level social theory with micro-level depictions of life experience, and thus see how capitalism matters for our everyday lives.

Aims

This course examines the development of global capitalism from a sociological perspective. It aims to equip students with an understanding of important institutions and processes including: the role of the corporation in society; new forms of management and control in the workplace; the relationship between work and identity; the causes and impact of globalisation; and the nature of economic crises. Throughout, the course aims to develop students' capacities for critical thinking and synthesis, particularly through the application of theoretical insights about the nature of capitalist institutions to understand micro-level features such as changes in relations within workplaces. 

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding:

  • Explain the characteristics of capitalism through identifying key institutions and describing the relationships between them.
  • Identify and accurately describe contemporary trends impacting on the organisation of workplaces and the experience of workers.  
  • Evaluate theoretical claims about work and capitalism in relation to empirical evidence presented in academic research.

 

Intellectual skills:

  • Accurately summarise and interpret complex ideas from scholarly sources.
  • Explain relationships between concepts, theories and data in relation to the themes on the course.
  • Analyse and evaluate key claims about capitalism and work that are made in scholarly sources and wider public commentary.  

 

Practical skills:

  • Utilise appropriate online information sources to find relevant information needed to answer specific questions raised throughout the course.  

 

Transferrable skills and personal qualities:

  • Organise information from multiple sources in a manner suitable for interpretation and analysis.
  • Communicate complex ideas in clearly presented, coherently ordered text.

Teaching and learning methods

2 hour weekly lecture; 1 hour weekly small-group tutorial; private study with guided reading list.

Knowledge and understanding

Explain the characteristics of capitalism through identifying key institutions and describing the relationships between them.

Identify and accurately describe contemporary trends impacting on the organisation of workplaces and the experience of workers.

Evaluate theoretical claims about work and capitalism in relation to empirical evidence presented in academic research.

Intellectual skills

Accurately summarise and interpret complex ideas from scholarly sources.

Explain relationships between concepts, theories and data in relation to the themes on the course.

Analyse and evaluate key claims about capitalism and work that are made in scholarly sources and wider public commentary.

 

Practical skills

Utilise appropriate online information sources to find relevant information needed to answer specific questions raised throughout the course. 
 

Transferable skills and personal qualities

Organise information from multiple sources in a manner suitable for interpretation and analysis.

Communicate complex ideas in clearly presented, coherently ordered text.

 

Assessment methods

Non-assessed learning portfolio with selection of entries submitted for feedback mid-semester.

Online exam (max 2000 words, 100%)

Feedback methods

All sociology courses include both formative feedback - which lets you know how you're getting on and what you could do to improve - and summative feedback - which gives you a mark for your assessed work. In this course you will receive individual written feedback on a non-assessed and assessed assignments, as well as general verbal feedback throughout the course in tutorials and lectures.

Recommended reading

Ingham, G. (2008) Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity.

Castells, M. (2009). The Rise of the Network Society (Second edition). Wiley-Blackwell.

Students new to sociology may wish to examine a general sociological textbook. The following is a brief and readable overview:

Jenkins, R. (2002) Foundations of Sociology, Basingstoke: Palgrave

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam 2
Lectures 20
Tutorials 10
Independent study hours
Independent study 168

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Kevin Gillan Unit coordinator

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