King's College London

This course unravels many of our unquestioned assumptions around the world of work. It examines work as a domain of human activity, a site of meaning-making, a source of identity, a form of dispossession, and a mechanism for social and economic differentiation. Students use theoretical perspectives from sociology, anthropology, political economy, ecological economics, and feminist thought to explore debates around the role of work in human cultures and societies, as well as work as a site of exploitation, class-formation, inequality, and resistance.

This course introduces students to the formal characteristics of film, to acquire a critical vocabulary for describing and analyzing films and to gain practice in discussing and writing about them. This is achieved by focusing on a range of narrative films, examining the various visual, aural, and narrative conventions by which they create meaning and practicing film analysis through discussion and written work. Issues of mise-en-scène, framing, cinematography, editing, sound, narrative structure, and point of view will be discussed as key components of cinematic style and meaning.

The course introduces students to the fundamental principles of intercultural competence and ethnographic research. It proposes to develop perception and appreciation of different cultural perspectives and values. It prepares students to carry out an ethnographic project. It also guides and prepares students for the challenges of intercultural experiences and of conflict resolution by developing practical tools to be applied in a diverse cultural environment. 

This course focuses on the history, institutions, actors, and policies of the European Union (EU) from its beginnings in the aftermath of the Second World War to more recent developments such as the Eurozone crisis, migration and Brexit. It also analyses some of the current challenges and controversies that the EU is facing, including an increasing domestic contestation, the democratic deficit and the future of integration. In so doing, it sets the basis for the final year core courses on the EU, in which specific policy areas are discussed in greater detail.

The course explores the interface of water resources management and sustainable development through the perspective of politics of water use and allocation. The course first examines different types of water and their uses and relevance to sustainable development. Secondly, the class examines politics of water use and allocation at the local, national, and international levels through issues of community irrigation, Integrated Water Resources Management and international transboundary river basin agreements. Particular focus is on the actors and institutions involved in water governance at these spatial scales. Thirdly, through discussions, group work, and poster presentations, students assess the policy responses to the problems of water resources management in developing country contexts.

This course examines how the personal and family lives and experiences of children and young people are shaped by contrasting degrees and models of welfare provision (and by the erosion of welfare provision within neo-liberal economies) across the globe. It examines how state policies are shaped by the actions of children and young people themselves. This course uses a range of policy examples, including early years support (e.g. maternity and paternity provision, child-care, parenting guidance), educational and health services provision, family support, and children in state care, to investigate the costs and benefits of different forms and levels of state intervention in the lives of children and their families.