Component

MA Public Opinion and Political Behaviour
BA Childhood Studies options

Year 2, Component 06

Autumn Term Option from list
PA135-5-AU
Care, Intimacy, Vulnerability: an Introduction to Psychosocial Theory
(15 CREDITS)

This second-year undergraduate module provides a grounding in theories of the psychosocial with a special focus on care, dependence, intimacy, and vulnerability. It enables you to critically engage with a range of theoretical approaches from psychoanalysis, sociology, critical theory, postcolonial and decolonial theory. Using ‘care, intimacy and vulnerability’ as its main pillars encourages you to reflect on practices of care, being card for and caring for others, as well as how these phenomena intersect with social and clinical processes. The module encourages you to engage with academic debates in a robust way and strengthen your reflexivity by enabling you to explore your own lived experiences of care. It is suitable for you wishing to work with people in various professional roles such as psychotherapy and mental health, social policy and research, human resources, education, and management. The module tallies with the University’s ongoing commitment to tackling the under-representation of ethnic minority groups and follows the principles of a decolonial curriculum by incorporating scholarship from BAME scholars. Finally, in building a solid, decolonial curriculum, the module also promotes greater visibility and inclusion for BAME students. You may find some of the readings included in this curriculum challenging. Whenever possible readings from non-scholarly sources are included to enable you to engage with ideas written in more accessible ways. The readings will be discussed in the lecture and seminars. You are encouraged to engage with the readings as much as you can manage. Questions considered include: 1. What is care? What is intimacy? Are care and intimacy central to cultivating strong interpersonal relationships? 2. What circumstances and structures – social, political, and personal – enable the emergence of caring relationships? 3. In what ways and to what extent does care play a crucial role in the organisation of socio-cultural and psychic life? 4. At a time of increasing alienation and loneliness, how can we reclaim meaningful, intimate relationships?

PA233-5-AU
Developmental Trauma, Autism and ADHD
(15 CREDITS)

Study a range of difficulties encountered by some children, such as developmental trauma, autism and ADHD. Learn how these can impact on children’s development and increase your knowledge of the strategies that have been developed to try and improve their situation.

PS406-5-AU
Developmental Psychology
(15 CREDITS)

Explore classical and contemporary themes of child development such as prenatal and perceptual development, early language acquisition, and cognitive and social development, whilst examining the research methods and designs employed in Developmental Psychology.

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