SOC-30030 - Module Specification
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

We live in a society which places increasing emphasis on the long-term significance of good parenting and the importance of positive early childhood experiences. This module enables students to focus on these issues by exploring studies of parenting, parenting culture, and research from childhood studies.

The module begins with an introduction to recent analyses about the nature of parenthood over the last 30 years or so, including ideas about the intensive nature of motherhood, the increasing dominance of scientific ideas around childrearing and the paranoia around parenting. Various aspects of childrearing practices will be explored, including nutrition, sleep and discipline. The module will also consider the roles of experts, the media, and the state in parenting. In conclusion, the focus moves to a consideration of the nature of parenting and the implications this has for our understanding of adulthood and childhood in contemporary social life.

- To enable students to reflect on the changing nature of parenting culture(s) in British society.
- To enable students to reflect sociologically on childrearing practices and ideals in contemporary society.
- For students to be able to critically assess dominant assumptions made about the construction of adulthood, parenthood and childhood.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Locate, review and evaluate sociological literature on parenting: 1
Assess the relationship between sociological accounts of parenting and childhood: 1
Critically evaluate primary source material of parenting research and construct coherent arguments about parenting culture based on these evaluations: 1
Explore everyday understandings of parenting and childhood and consider how these have been theorised in relevant scholarship: 1

Study hours

22 contact hours - 11 lectures / 11 seminars
44 hours of asynchronous online activity to include engagement with key readings and with prompts for seminar discussions, engaging with audio and video content via the KLE.
84 hours of independent study - this includes additional reading, note-taking, and writing the case study.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment