SOC-30034 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

none

Barred Combinations

none

Description for 2025/26

This module will enable students to explore psychological theories of society and social relations and understand the psychological origins of violence and criminality. Following an introduction, which links psychoanalysis to the history of sociology and in particular ideas of alienation, disenchantment, and anomie, the module looks the key principles of Freudian psychoanalysis and core texts in the Freudian tradition, using examples drawn from popular culture.
The core purpose of the module is to show how psychoanalysis can be seen to contain a general meta-psychology of universal human behaviour that might be used to understand social phenomenon through what Freud saw as the fundamental human concerns: sex, death, and desire. Throughout the module we seek to think through the possible application of key psychoanalytic concepts - repression, projection, anxiety, perversion, sadism, Thanatos or the death drive, paranoia and so on - to concrete social examples in order to illuminate a new dimension of socio-psychoanalytic explanation.

To provide students with a historical survey of psychoanalysis through a consideration of key texts in the Freudian tradition
To teach students about the methodology of psychoanalysis and show them that key theoretical principles can be abstracted from the analytic session and employed as concepts for the general analysis of human behaviour in society
To enable students to understand how psychoanalysis can be useful for the study of society through a discussion of particular exemplary texts
To allow students to understand how psychoanalysis can explain both particular and universal human behaviours in social context

Intended Learning Outcomes

critically assess the sociological value of psychoanalytic theory informed by works at the forefront of the subject: 1,2
make independent judgments about the strengths and weaknesses of psychological theories of society based on a consideration of practical examples: 1,2
develop sociological interpretations of psychological theory: 1,2
apply psychological theory to social questions in order to generate psycho-social answers: 1,2
apply key concepts in sociology through psychological interpretations of primary source material on the relationship between self and society: 1,2
Deliver an oral presentation, applying psychosocial theory to a topic of social, cultural, or political relevance: 2

Study hours

22 hours contact - 11 lectures / 11 tutorials
40 hours tutorial preparation
40 hours independent study
48 hours assessment preparation
TOTAL 150 HOURS

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment