Race and Ethnicity in Society

Learning Outcomes

Disciplinary Specific Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Understand and conceptualise race and ethnicity at the intersection of both institutional/social structure(s) and individual agency through social interaction
• Develop an in-depth knowledge and understanding of sociological perspectives on race, ethnicity, and difference
• Appreciate and treat race and ethnicity as historically variable and contextually-situated social constructs
• Reflect on own experiences, as well as public discussion and media reports, to evaluate race, ethnicity, and difference in a theoretically and empirically-informed manner.

Cognitive Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Logically synthesise information across different perspectives
• Challenge conventional/common-sense thinking about social phenomena and social divisions such as race and ethnicity
• Think critically, analytically, and comparatively
• Understand the possibility and impact of social change in an increasingly global world

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use a range of software (e.g. word processing, presentation software, and Virtual Learning Environments such as Blackboard)
• Conduct research, collect, and analyse data
• Present evidence and argument, question, and debate
• Administer projects, plan work, manage time, write and edit, give oral presentations

The curricular content of this module focuses on sociological interpretations of concepts, themes, issues, and debates around Race and Ethnicity, Colonialism and Postcolonialism, Citizenship and Multiculturalism, and Post-raciality and Racelessness. Each of those terms has a long, complicated and often contested history and development both as theoretical ideas, as well as social, cultural and political practices. Lectures will therefore be organised thematically around those broad themes to familiarise students with what such terms mean, how they have been used and how useful and meaningful they are and/or can be as potential resources for social justice in a global world.

The proposed teaching methodology for this module consists primarily of lectures and seminars. While lectures and seminars will occupy a central part as a teaching and learning activity, the use of an mobile phone app (#Everyday Racism) will also be introduced as a teaching innovation. This is intended to help students ‘develop’, ‘appreciate’, ‘understand’, and ‘reflect’ on the specific module content and orient them towards achieving the learning outcomes described above. This mix of teaching and learning activities will be directly linked to assessments by asking students to produce a portfolio that will draw directly on their experience of using that app. Details about the app will be provided in the Module Handbook and during lectures.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.