POL36180 Politics of Care

Academic Year 2024/2025

Care is a complex social good and an integral part of individual and collective lives. Politics of Care is an undergraduate module that aims to introduce students to the field of care by presenting the main contributions of intersectional political theories, analysing comparative care regimes, and discussing contemporary developments in the field of care. The first part of the module introduces theoretical foundations and crucial concepts. It presents mainly feminist political economy theories on social production and political theory on care ethics. These concepts and theories establish our toolbox for empirical analysis. In the second part, the course takes a closer look at policies and institutions, integrating care into the welfare state analysis. It examines indicators, frameworks and actors relevant to empirical and comparative analysis of care regimes. Finally, the third part of the module addresses contemporary developments such as health crises, migration, and digitalisation. We will discuss how these developments impact care arrangements in society and what type of social risks are associated with them.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the module, the students will:
- be familiar with crucial concepts, basic theories, and current academic research around the politics of care;
- learn the universe of policy measures and frameworks for the gendered analysis of welfare regimes;
- be able to assess the care mix in different political institutions critically;
- understand the dilemmas and social risks associated with recent developments in the field of care;
- develop transferable skills, including teamwork, independent research ability, and written communication.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Autonomous Student Learning

176
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Teaching and learning activities will require students to engage with current academic research and to link theories of social reproduction and politics of care to specific empirical cases. Sessions include theory lectures, empirical examples, group work, and class discussions. The module will inform and deepen our theoretical understanding of contemporary political events and bring insights from a diverse range of empirical cases in order to fully develop an understanding of the benefits and limitations of using scholarly research to analyse the operation of real-world political institutions. Participants are expected to prepare thoroughly for each class, particularly engaging with core compulsory readings, and allocate a substantial amount of time to completing assessment work outside the classroom hours.
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Group Work Assignment: A visual group project, policy brief focused on “Care profile of a selected country: Developments and challenges” n/a Graded No

40
Assignment(Including Essay): 2,500-word (+/- 10%) essay n/a Graded No

60

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

In line with university policy, students will be provided with feedback within 20 working days of the deadline for submitting the assignment.