University of Edinburgh

This course looks at the politics of the welfare state in the UK in the light of the dramatic economic events since 2008, including from an international perspective, and in the context of Brexit and the current Covid-19 crisis. The role of ideology, public opinion, political actors, interest groups, and the media are considered in understanding the directions that the British welfare state took in recent years. Specific social policy areas (e.g. education, housing, benefits and the labor market, public services) are discussed in detail and current reforms are scrutinized.

This course gives an introduction to a wide range of questions about offending behavior, crime, and its control, drawing on criminological theory and research. The course introduces the origins and development of thinking about crime, patterns of offending behavior, the problems of determining what we know about crime and the implications for how we should respond. In particular, the course encourages students to think independently and critically, and to apply theoretical ideas to real-world problems of crime and its control.

This course provides an overview of theory and research on close relationships. With an emphasis on empirical evidence, students focus on how relationship dynamics meaningfully influence human psychology, and vice versa. Students examine how relationship processes relate to multiple areas of psychology (e.g., biological, cognitive, developmental, social), with particular attention to the social level. 

This course provides a detailed account of dialects of English in Britain and Ireland. It examines how these varieties differ in terms of their phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexis. Students look in detail at specific dialects, specifically at their linguistic features, historical origins, relations to other dialects, and the current forces which are shaping their development, from dialectological, sociolinguistic, perceptual, and theoretical linguistic perspectives. Dialect and language contact, dialect levelling, and new dialect formation are also explored.

This course examines aspects of the visual arts from c.1700. It enhances the knowledge and skills of students who already possess a basic familiarity with the discipline, and broadens their knowledge of the history of art. Visiting students who are here for the full year are permitted to take one of the half courses History of Art 2A or 2B. If they want to do the full course they must be enrolled onto HIAR08012 to include the exam. The half courses are only open to visiting students.