Module Catalogue 2024/25

SOC3064 : Crime, Culture and Society (Inactive)

SOC3064 : Crime, Culture and Society (Inactive)

  • Inactive for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Prof. Elaine Campbell
  • Owning School: Geography, Politics & Sociology
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System
Pre-requisite

Modules you must have done previously to study this module

Pre Requisite Comment

None

Co-Requisite

Modules you need to take at the same time

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

This module will provide a critical introduction to the emerging sub-disciplinary field of cultural criminology. At its most basic, this new field of academic study is formed from an integration of the critical tradition within criminology, sociology and cultural studies. It aims to introduce students to:

- Critical criminological and sociological perspectives on culture, from classical theories to postmodern scholarship
- A range of contemporary theoretical and conceptual frameworks for understanding the relationship between culture and questions of crime, punishment, victimisation, justice, law and order
- A range of cultural theoretical frameworks for making sense of crime and space, particularly urban space
- A range of methods for analysing representations of crimes and punishment using different cultural media and forms
- Ways of thinking about the cultural communication of crime and punishment across time and space
- Ways of understanding the cultural constitution of transgressive selves and others

Module Summary (For pre-entry promotional purposes):

The module is structured around the following thematic components. 1. The Marriage of Cultural Studies, Sociological and Criminological Theory; 2. Cultures of Transgression and Governance; 3. Crime and the City; 4. Methodological Approaches to Cultural Criminology; 5. Cultures and Spaces of Communication; 6. Transgressive Selves and Others

Outline Of Syllabus

Theme 1: The Marriage of Cultural Studies, Sociological and Criminological Theory
- The Legacy of Classical Theories
- Modernist theories
- Postmodernist theories
- British cultural studies
- French cultural studies

Theme 2: Cultures of Transgression and Governance
- Crime as culture
- Culture as crime
- Cultural politics of transgression and governance

Theme 3: Crime and the City
- The crime-city nexus
- Criminogenic spaces
- The misanthropic city

Theme 4: Methodological Approaches to Crime, Culture and Society
- Narrative analysis
- Visual research methods
- Discourse/textual analysis
- Ethnographic approaches

Theme 5: Cultures and Spaces of Communication
- Print media
- The Internet
- Global-local relations of transgression
- Punitive communities

Theme 6. Transgressive Selves and Others
- Transgressive/transgressed subjectivities
- Embodied and affective responses to crime and governance
- Aesthetics of punishment

Learning Outcomes

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

The module will enable students to acquire a knowledge and understanding of the field of cultural criminology constituted by the following:
- A knowledge and understanding of critical criminological and sociological perspectives on culture, from classical theories to postmodern scholarship
- A knowledge and understanding of a range of contemporary theoretical and conceptual frameworks for understanding the relationship between culture and questions of crime, punishment, victimisation, justice, law and order
- A knowledge and understanding of the relationship between crime and space, most especially at the intersections of crime and the city
- A knowledge and understanding of a range of methods for analysing representations of crimes and punishments using different cultural media and forms
- A knowledge and understanding of ways of thinking about the cultural communication of crime and punishment across time and space
- A knowledge and understanding of ways of understanding the cultural constitution of transgressive selves and others

Intended Skill Outcomes

- Critical reading/reflection of criminological, sociological and cultural theories, academic literature
- Ability to apply cultural analysis to matters of crime and society
- Ability to design research methodologies for the analysis of primary and secondary data (related to cultural aspects of crime and society)
- Develop students’ organisational and planning skills
- Develop students’ writing, presentational and team-working skills

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture62:0012:00N/A
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching61:006:00Seminars
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops21:002:00Assessment preparation
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops61:006:00Student presentations and discussion
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops61:006:00Case study analysis workshops
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesFieldwork14:004:00N/A
Guided Independent StudyStudent-led group activity61:006:00Workshop preparation
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study1158:00158:00N/A
Total200:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures (2 hours) introduce students to the key theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches to cultural criminology; Case Study Analysis (1 hour) provides students with the important ‘hands-on’ experience of applying theoretical understanding of cultural criminological frameworks to a range of empirical data. CSA helps to build confidence in undertaking the group-based workshop tasks, and the individual critical case study assessment. Workshops (1 hour) are based on and develop lecture content; they are student-led and based on an analysis of different kinds of cultural criminological materials and case studies (selected by students) which enable students to make sense of the cultural relations of contemporary perspectives on crime and punishment. Seminars (1 hour) provide a forum for presenting, reviewing and critically debating journal articles relevant to the particular thematic. Students will be directed toward particular articles for the seminars and will be expected to prepare a critical review of these articles. Assessment preparation workshops (1 hour): these are compulsory sessions in which students can explore the key features of the assessment requirements and raise questions and concerns as appropriate. Fieldtrip (4 hours); this is organised to complement and develop the theories and ideas introduced in Theme 3 of the module programme.

Reading Lists

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Essay1M40Conceptual review (1500 words)
Case study1M60Critical case study (2500 words)
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

(1) Conceptual review: students will be required to critically review a concept in the light of, and informed by their knowledge and understanding of different theoretical and conceptual approaches to cultural criminology. These approaches are introduced and taught in Themes 1, 2 and 3 of the syllabus. Students will choose from a short list of key concepts selected by the module leader.
(2) Critical case study: students will be required to submit a critical case study which will assess their knowledge and understanding of the theoretical, analytical and methodological insights which have been developed and explored over the module programme. This assessment requires students to demonstrate their grasp of the module material taught as an inclusive and linked body of knowledge. Students will be free to select for themselves the material and focus of the
critical case study. There are optional formative assessments for both the Conceptual Review and the Critical Case Study; these will provide students with an opportunity to write outline plans of their review and/or critical case study.

Timetable

Past Exam Papers

General Notes

N/A

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