University of London, Royal Holloway

According to recent World Economic Forum polls conducted among 18-35 year olds in nearly 200 countries, the planet’s most urgent crises include religious conflict, government accountability, poverty, food and water (in)security, inequality, and climate change. These problems, in turn, raise pressing collective conundrums, such as: How can population growth and resources be brought into better balance? How can changing the status of women help improve the broader human condition? How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes? How can the threat of new and re-emerging diseases be reduced? How can shared values and security strategies reduce ethnic conflict, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction? And how can governments work together to address the threats associated with global warning? But every global challenge has its own particular "history," closely linked to developments taking place in different parts of the world over the last century or so (if not longer). This course, therefore, adopts a thematic approach towards making sense of the recent historical context in which these challenges have emerged.

In this course, students critically discuss the role, function, and nature of the family in contemporary society as well as examining changing patterns of family life. The course also explores how social identities and different social positions (for example those related to class, gender, or ethnicity) impact upon the experience of family life. Families are also be discussed in relation to other areas of social life including education, the workplace, and the community. Students on this course engage with questions such as: To what extent does the nuclear family remain seen as the "ideal" family type? What are the experiences of lone parent families in contemporary society? How easy is it for families to balance paid work and family life? What is the relationship between the family and social policy? The course familiarizes students with contemporary research related to families and family life and equip them to critically evaluate this material.

This course engages with theater texts, and relations between text, performance and the social world. From the naturalist stage of the late 19th century to contemporary verbatim performance, theater practitioners have frequently sought to represent social reality in order to critique it. This course explores the methods and implications of theater’s "reality-effects" and considers why it is that so many theater companies and practitioners in the 21st century have turned to documentary, tribunal, verbatim, and other forms of reality-based performance-making. The courses explores a contrasting range of plays and performance texts from around the world, and builds a strong awareness of the politics, possibilities and limitations of "staging the real."

This is an advanced level course in the sociological analysis of contemporary society which helps students understand major social and economic changes in the contemporary world through key sociological debates concerning, amongst others: the changing nature of the organization of production and changing nature of class. Students also examine the transformation of cultural forms in contemporary society.