University of Sussex

If the ‘everyday' refers to the mundane, the unremarkable – to the forms of life routinely taken for granted – it is also through the practices of everyday life that we experience who we are, how our lives are invested with meanings, and how we engage with change. In the modern world (especially in the developed north), it's difficult to think about cultures of everyday life without also considering the media and its contribution to the structuring of daily life, its varied use in daily life, and its discursive construction and engagement with aspects of everyday life. In this course, students explore critical approaches to everyday life, including those engaging with media.

This course provides an overview of key debates within moral psychology, such as the definition of morality, rationalism, emotionism, and nativism. Students consider multiple theories and research which provides insight about how moral judgements are related to cognitions, emotions, and social identities. The consequences of the moral emotions will be discussed, considering implications for mental health, interpersonal relationships, and social equalities.

This course examines the political lessons children’s books encode about what childhood is, and about which children matter and why. Students read children’s texts ranging genres and forms—including fantasy, school stories, picturebooks, and domestic fiction—written between the late eighteenth century and the present day. Key focuses include agency, gender, race, class, and the environment.  The course considers the role of illustration, classic film adaptations, and seminal works by authors which may include Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman, C. S. Lewis, Beatrix Potter, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and J. K. Rowling. These works are illuminated in discussions in small group seminars. 

This course considers development processes in the light of how they are shaped by and impact gender discourses and relations. The course covers key concepts in the analysis of social relations between women and men in different cultural, economic and political contexts. This includes examining the nature of gender inequality and of the household as a social construct, and reviewing concepts of power and empowerment. While concerned with providing a theoretical and conceptual grounding by reviewing debates on the household and the gender division of labor, the course is organized around substantive and policy topics related to poverty, labor markets, women's employment, migration, and globalization..