BASS Politics and Criminology

This course is about the problem of crime. It aims to introduce some of the central issues, themes and concepts involved in thinking critically about crime. We will be concerned with exploring how perspectives drawn from across the social sciences can inform our understanding of this significant contemporary social issue

Indicative weekly topics: (1) Defining and measuring crime; (2) The politics of crime; (3) Media representations of crime; (4) Approaches to understanding crime; (5) Gender and crime; (6) Race and crime; (7) Age and crime; (8) Crime, power & inequalities; (9) Bringing it all together; (10) Course overview & exam preparation. 

To (1) introduce students to the concept of crime and criminality; (2) introduce key approaches to studying and understanding crime; (3) critically explore the social and political context of crime.

Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) a weekly whole-class lecture or workshop; (3) a tutorial; and (4) one-to-one support via subject specific office hours.

Explain, critique and evidence key issues connected with crime and society.  Apply concepts from different disciplines to the study of crime and criminality.  Construct a clear argument about crime in a diverse society to develop critical thinking;
 

Accurately summarise relevant literature on crime into clear explanations.  Research, collate and evaluate relevant materials to construct a clear argument about crime in a diverse society to develop critical thinking.

Apply academic writing skills to meet required word limits. 
 

This unit is summatively assessed by 100% coursework consisting of two parts.  Part A: 150 words per question x 5, Part B: 2 essays from a choice of 4 - 750 words per question. Formative assessment is by a practice of a part B question. 

You will have the opportunity to practice the short answer questions similar to Part A of the assessment in your lectures and tutorials. You will  receive formative feedback during the weekly lectures and in your tutorials as well as being provided with example answers to the short answer questions. Towards the end of the course unit, you will have the opportunity to practice an essay similar to Part B of the assessment only. You will receive formative feedback on your essay prior to the assessment period. 
 

Liebling, A, Maruna, S and McAra, L (Eds) (2023), The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 7th Edition. Oxford: OUP.

Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a ‘working week’ of around 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands around 10-11 hours of study per week consisting of (i) 3 timetabled teacher-led hours, (ii) 7-8 independent study hours devoted to preparation, required and further reading, and note taking.

Restricted to BA (Criminology) students for which this subject is compulsory.  Open to BA Social Sciences (BASS) students as an optional unit and other students may be accepted at the discretion of the Course Unit Director.  Available also to incoming study abroad students university wide.

Cannot be taken in conjunction with CRIM10122.

Tuition fees for home students will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year. In England and Wales, tuition fees for home undergraduate students are subject to the Government fee cap, which the Government has announced will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year.

Government policy is to increase the fee cap on an annual basis to reflect inflation (i.e. increasing costs), and the tuition fee home students pay in subsequent academic years will reflect any increases in the Government fee cap (which we will communicate to you as soon as we can in advance of the relevant academic year).

Tuition fees for international students will be £29,200 for the 2027/28 academic year. For subsequent academic years, the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fee by up to 7% each year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our education and wider student experience.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

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 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.