Learning Outcomes:

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be better equipped to:

Critically engage with sociological theories of care;
Link theories of care with wider debates about inequality, global warming, capitalism and democracy;
Critically assess normative claims connected to social inquiry;
Critically apply theories and concepts of care to selected case-studies;
Be able to provide constructive criticism to fellow students, and to constructively deal with criticisms to their own work;
Exhibit personal, social and communication skills needed to contribute to group projects;
Demonstrate critical writing ability to construct, support and summarise sociological and normative arguments.

Indicative Module Content:

Why care about care?
The ethics and politics of care.
Care, kinship and community.
Care and the state.
Care and the economy.
Care, feminism and patriarchy.
Care, status and class.
Care and social inequality.
Caring for the environment in an age of global warming.
Care, politics and democracy.
Care and capitalism.
Care as a social project: towards more caring societies.

Student Effort Type	Hours
Lectures	24
Autonomous Student Learning	101
Total	125

Not applicable to this module.

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  

Description	Timing		Component Scale		% of Final Grade
Portfolio: Commonsense book.	Throughout the Trimester	n/a	Graded	No	30
Assignment: How can we make the world around us more caring? Where is there room for improvement? This project will give you a chance to explore these questions in a social setting of your own choosing.	Coursework (End of Trimester)	n/a	Graded	No	70

 

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Autumn	No

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

Feedback will be provided on assessed coursework as individual comments published in the virtual learning environment (Brightspace), in group sessions at lectures/seminars, and/or in person during office hours as appropriate.

Please note: This is a list of key texts. Most of these titles are available as eBook through the library.

The Care Collective (2020) The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence. London: Verso.

Dowling, Emma (2021) The Care Crisis: What Caused it and How Can We End It? London: Verso.

Folbre, Nancy (2001) The invisible heart: Economics and family values. New York: New Press.

Held, Virginia (2006) The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lynch, K., Baker, J., Lyons, M., Feeley, M., Hanlon, N., Walsh, J. and Cantillon, S. (2016) Affective equality: Love, care and injustice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Noddings, Nel (2002) Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Tronto, Joan C. (1996) Moral boundaries: a political argument for an ethic of care. New York: Routledge.

Tronto, Joan C. (2013). Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality, and Justice. New York: New York University Press.

Tronto, Joan C. (2015) Who Cares?: How to Reshape a Democratic Politics. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.