social studies 12 13

							                                Social Studies 2012/13


SS1765 Introduction to Social Policy - Social Policy Concepts / the Irish Welfare
State

Duration         Two Semesters (Michaelmas and Hilary Terms)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly) 1 tutorial (weekly)
Assessment:      1 assignment (25%) and 1 exam (75%)
Weighting:       10 ECTS
Lecturer:        Ms Judy O’Shea

Description
This course introduces students to the study of social policy. It is run over two terms.
Section One - Social Policy Concepts (Michaelmas term) introduces students to the key
ideas and concepts underpinning social policy. Section two – The Irish Welfare State
(Hilary term) introduces students to the history, development, ideology and institutional
structure of the Irish welfare state.

SS2767 (A) Health Policy

Duration:           One Semester (Michaelmas Term)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly) ; 1 tutorial (fortnightly)
Assessment:         One assignment – 100% of overall grade
Weighting:          5 ECTS
Lecturer:           Ms Judy O’Shea
Description:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the history, politics values, funding
and structure of contemporary Irish health policy. The following topics weill be covered:

                   the social determinants of health
                   socio-economic status and health status
                   the historical development of Irish health policy
                   the structure and funding of the Irish health service
                   the Irish health care system in a comparative context
                   inequalities in Irish health care
                   the public/private mix of health care provision and funding in Ireland
                   the Irish Health Reform Program.

SS2767 (B) Housing and Homelessness Policy

Duration:             One Semester (Hilary Term)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures per week, 3 tutorials
Assessment:           End -of -year exam – 100% of overall grade
Weighting:            5 ECTS
Lecturer:             Mr Simon Brooke
Description:
This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to housing and homelessness
policy in Ireland. It will include a discussion of the following:

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                   What is housing policy?
                   Why do governments intervene in the housing market?
                   What is the relevance of housing tenure?
                   What theoretical approaches are there to housing policy?
                   What have been the main milestones in the development of Irish
                    housing policy since the mid 19th century?
                   Why did house prices rise so quickly, only to fall again?
                   What is the housing experience of minority ethnic households in
                    Ireland?
                   Have government housing policy objectives been achieved?
                   What theoretical explanations are there for the nature and extent of
                   homelessness?
                   How have homeless services changed during the last 20 years?
                   What are the key current homelessness policy issues?




SS2785 (A) Social Security Policy

Duration:             One Semester (Michaelmas Term)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly) ; 1 tutorial (fortnightly)
Assessment:           One assignment – 100% of overall grade
Weighting:            5 ECTS
Lecturer:             Mr Anthony McCashin
Description:
This course introduces students to the basic concepts underlying the system of cash
payments to individuals and families in welfare states that are variously described as
‘social protection’, ‘social security’ ‘social welfare’. It will outline the development of
social security with particular reference to Ireland and then examine key components of
the system- payments for children, pensioners and so on. As poverty alleviation is one of
the key objectives of policy in this area, some attention will be given to definitions of
poverty and to recent research exploring the link between financial poverty and the
inadequacies of the social security system.

SS2785 (B) Crime and Irish Society

Duration:        One Semester (HilaryTerm )
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly); 1 tutorial (fortnightly)
Assessment:      1 assignment (30%) and 1 exam (70%)
Weighting:       5 ECTS
Lecturer:        Dr Eoin O’Sullivan




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Description:

This module examines the dynamics of crime and punishment in Irish society. It
provides an historical overview of the development of the Irish criminal justice system
and debates key contemporary issues.

SS3390 (A) Crime and Social Policy – The Carceral State

Duration:             One Semester (Michaelmas Term)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly); 1 tutorial (weekly)
Assessment:           To be confirmed
Weighting:            5 ECTS
Lecturer:             Dr Eoin O’Sullivan
Description:
Over the past three decades, the United States has built a carceral state that is
unprecedented among Western countries and in US history. The growth of the prison
population and the retributive turn in US penal policy are well documented, but the
political causes and consequences of this massive expansion are not well understood.
The wider political consequences and analytical implications of the carceral state are a
new and expanding area of interest. This module will explore and debate the various
explanations offered for the rise of the Carceral State in the US and the degree to which
these policies are likely to transfer to Europe.

SS3390 (B) Crime and Social Policy - Contemporary Issues in Criminal Justice
Policy

Duration:               One Semester (Hilary Term)
Contact hours p/w: 2 lectures (weekly); 1 tutorial (weekly)
Assessment:             1 assignment (30%) and 1 exam (70%)
Weighting:              5 ECTS
Lecturer:               Dr Eoin O’Sullivan
Description:
The module will explore the rise of new forms of urban policing and the regulation of
‘incivilities’, with a particular focus on the construction of ‘disorderly’, ‘disreputable’ and
‘anti-social behaviour’.

SS3400 (A) Families and Family Policy - Changing Families and Policy Formation

Duration:        One Semester (Michaelmas term)
Contact hours p/w: One lecture and one seminar per week
Assessment:      1 presentation (10%), 1 essay (30%), 1 exam (60%)
Weighting:       5 ECTS
Lecturer:        Dr Evelyn Mahon
Description:
This module will review competing definitions of the family and explore the changing
patterns of marriage, cohabitation, divorce, civil partnership and reproduction in Ireland
within a comparative context.
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SS3400 (B) Families and Family Policy - Family Policy in Ireland: Socio-Legal
Issues

Duration:             One Semester (Hilary Term)
Contact hours p/w: One lecture and one seminar per week
Assessment:           1 presentation (10%), 1 essay (30%), 1 exam (60%)
Weighting:            5 ECTS
Lecturer:             Dr Evelyn Mahon
Description:
The Constitutional Review of the Family put a number of key issues on the social policy
agenda in Ireland. In response to that report this course will focus on a number of family
policy topics in Ireland which are best analysed within a socio-legal perspective. They
include the following: Fatherhood: changing rights and responsibilities; The unmarried
family; gender, marriage and divorce; children and their rights in contemporary society.
This module will enable students to explore and analyse the following :
Changing gender roles and the emergence of the fathers’ rights movement; cohabitation
and partnerships rights; divorce and post divorce family formation,; children’s rights in
contemporary society.

SS3380 Comparative Welfare States

Duration:            Two Semesters (Michaelmas Term)
Contact hours p/w: Two lectures and one seminar per week
Assessment:          To be confirmed
Weighting:           5 ECTS
Lecturer:            Ms Judy O’Shea
                     Dr Virpi Timonen
Description:
This module introduces students to the origins and diversity of modern welfare states.
Particular attention will be given to the development and the ‘long crisis’ of the welfare
state –and the various options proposed and implemented to reform welfare states. The
course adopts a comparative perspective drawing on examples from a variety of welfare
states and different policy sectors.

SS4722 Poverty, Inequality and Redistribution

Duration:           Two Terms Michaelmas and Hilary
Contact hours p/w: Three hours per week equivalent
Assessment:         2 essays (50%); 1 x 3 hour exam (50%)
Weighting:          15 ECTS
Lecturer:           Mr Anthony McCashin
Description:
This course offers a critical overview of the definition and measurement of poverty and
inequality and examines the empirical evidence about the extent and nature of poverty
with particular reference to Ireland. The course focuses on the policy interventions
designed to address financial poverty and redistribute income – these include the social
security and personal income system. Some attention is also paid to the rationale and
impact of public social expenditure more generally. The course is of relevance to

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students interested in contemporary issues of public policy; the course readings are
empirical, but not technical.




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