Unit information: Religion and Politics in the West in 2021/22

Unit name	Religion and Politics in the West
Unit code	SOCIM0006
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Paca
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

What is and ought to be the relationship between religion and politics? In the late twentieth century most political theorists and most West European and North American publics thought these were uncontentious subjects. Yet these topics have emerged as important across the social sciences with some challenging ‘secularism’ as discriminatory and unjust to religious citizens. In Western Europe, Muslim political assertiveness, following a logic of minority rights seem to have unsettled status quo institutional arrangements and provoked counter-assertions on the part of those who want to ‘privatise’ religion, or alternatively to ‘nationalise’ it or ‘Europeanise’ it. This course will identify the various Church-State compromises or antagonisms to be found in the West and assess the claims that today we are witnessing a ‘crisis of secularism’ and are transitioning into a ‘post-secularism’.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the unit, students will:

1. demonstrate a critical understanding of the arguments for and against varied forms of political secularisms and why political secularism is becoming contested in a number of countries
2. critically engage with and evaluate what secularism means in specific political terms in a number of policy areas in different countries
3. make detailed and appropriate use of these insights in developing an informed perspective on multiculturalism that contributes meaningfully to contemporary debates.

Teaching Information

The unit will be taught through blended learning methods, including a mix of synchronous and asynchronous teaching activities

Assessment Information

• Over the course of the unit, students will: prepare and deliver a group seminar presentation (formative assessment); (learning outcomes 2, 3 and 5)
• plan and draft a 4,000-word assessed essay (100% summative assessment) (learning 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. SOCIM0006).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.