Crime and Security

• The securitisation of everyday life
  
  
• Flexible approach to learning
  
  
• Exciting new direction for social science

• Read Crime and Security course information (PDF, file size: 291.27KB)

Insecurity and crime are increasingly seen to threaten individual, community, societal, regional, state and global security. As a result, the securitisation of social, political and economic areas of life has become a distinguishing feature of contemporary political and academic debates, as well as of the political landscape in the UK and beyond.

Moreover, these trends have been intensified in the recent years following the events of the 11th September 2001, global warming, environmental and economic change, and the processes of globalisation generally. This award allows students to investigate the provenance of the securitisation of society and contemporary debates linking crime, security and surveillance.

This award provides an exciting combination of modules which allow students to develop areas of interest within a rigorous theoretical framework presented in core modules in levels 1 and 2.  Topics covered include the development of post-war society from one which was secure and risk free (modernity) to one which is insecure and risk heavy (late modernity) and sociological theories for the growth of insecurity in the modern world.

Option module Security by Design (Level 1) focuses on how social groups and movements have attempted to create ‘secure’ communities in historical and contemporary societies emphasising how social, political, cultural and religious ideologies have influenced the desire for ‘secure’ environments. Big Brother, another option at level 2, examines how surveillance is believed to be increasingly necessary in the modern world and details different forms of surveillance by the state, employers, commercial organisations, professions, and individuals.  By Level 3, students will have a variety of modules from which to choose.

The award combines traditional face to face teaching and learning with more innovative methods where students can study parts or whole modules using a VLE maximising opportunity to control their learning and locating their study within the complex framework of their lives.

Policy development in recent years combined with privatisation and the retreat of the state in many areas of life has, paradoxically, helped to create a less secure and more uncertain world, which in turn has meant increased surveillance of the population and, in consequence, an increase in both the level of interest in security-related issues and in the demand for people to work in the security industry. This is seen in: -

• The privatisation of many functions traditionally undertaken by the police
• The growth of private policing and security industries
•  A growing emphasis on health and safety as well as risk assessment, with a consequent increase in the demand for experts within this field.

This award should appeal to the traditional undergraduate market for students who anticipate building careers within the police, security services, health and social services and those wishing to work in prisons and with young offenders.