‘Understanding Culture’ gives an insight into twentieth and twenty-first century definitions and analyses of ‘culture’. Some key questions we explore on the module include: How has ‘culture’ been defined and how have these definitions changed during the 19th, 20th and 21st century? How does culture define who we are? What is the relationship between ‘culture’ and ‘power’? How does a ‘culture’ endorse or suppress markers of identity? How is normativity constructed, questioned or undermined? How can cultural studies and their methodologies help us to understand artistic expressions and cultural practices, and to constructively respond to what matters to others? What role does the body play in our understanding of culture?

These questions are approached through a variety of texts from different genres, including public lectures, cultural theory, essay, poetry, investigative journalism, and artistic interventions.

Throughout the course students are encouraged to approach cultures as standing in relation to each other, to develop cultural critical self-awareness, and intercultural competence.

Being able to sell is an important skill for anyone pursuing an entrepreneurial career, whether this be to start their own business, or whilst working within an existing organization. This course will focus on two key areas. The first will be to understand what makes a good sales pitch and how to craft a powerful story that persuades customers or colleagues about the benefits of your venture (or project or idea) and also about yourself and your team. In this part of the course you will gain an understanding of persuasion, of selling and of creating legitimacy for entrepreneurial endeavours. Second, you will have a first-hand opportunity to experience selling and to work on refining your sales pitches. At the same time the course makes use of video exercises to enhance skill acquisition and also as a basis for self-reflection. The course will also involve our entrepreneurs in residence who will help to guide you through the process and provide feedback on your sales pitches.

Have you ever wondered why women in Britain are paid, on average, 13% less than men? Why women’s bodies are used in advertising? Do you think that class is a women’s issue? Is being white simply about skin colour? Does the Law treat men and women in the same way? Are these questions relevant to the world we inhabit? This course explores such questions.

The aim of this module is to begin your exploration of the ideas and practices of management, work and organisation in contemporary society, and to introduce you to the conceptual and critical tools that you can use to evaluate the knowledge and views you will encounter. This module will not teach you ‘how to manage’. Management as a practice is not one that can be learned from simplistic, step-by-step guides, though many exist (one of our objectives is to encourage you to critique such approaches). Whilst some elements of organisation, management and specialist roles (such as accounting, operations management or marketing) can usefully deploy systematic techniques and procedures, our focus here is on how people are organised and managed and how they experience that. Such processes and experiences cannot be reduced to ‘management made simple’, because it isn’t. We regard management and organisation as elements of cultural and social processes that we have come to regard as ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ in the sense of being taken for granted. As such we consider the historical development of management ideas and how those ideas develop and work in the contemporary context.

This course offers a general introduction to sociological issues, ideas, concepts, evidence and argument by examining some key aspects of the contemporary world. The topic areas covered in the lectures include: privatisation, identity, globalisation, city lives. A number of different sociological skills are emphasised in order to provide basic tools for applying sociological reasoning in relation to empirical examples. It provides a general understanding of sociology for all and a foundation for more advanced study.

Health and healthcare are central to living a good life yet huge inequalities can be seen, whether locally to Lancaster in the North-West of England or in the Global South. In this module, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the concepts, methods and applications of Health Geographies. Geographers and scholars from related disciplines have made important contributions to defining these inequalities as ethically unacceptable (i.e. inequitable), and providing insights into their causes (political, social, economic and environmental). Geographical thought and research also provides useful tools for developing and critically analysing appropriate policy responses to tackling these inequities. Following an introduction to the diverse geographies of health, we then spend three weeks of lectures and seminars exploring health inequalities in depth, taking a justice perspective as our starting point. We examine the social and economic determinants of health and disease in both the Global North and Global South and also start to interrogate the ‘causes of the causes’ using a political economy approach. In Week 5 we overview the (somewhat contradictory) geographies of healthcare and delivery including critical ‘biopolitical’ perspectives on the state’s role in maintaining its citizens as well as using GIS and other technologies to design efficient and effective health-care delivery. Subsequently, we spend the next 4 weeks applying the theories and approaches covered so-far to four important and exciting frontiers in health geography. These draw on critical works in medical anthropology (knowledge and power); human geography (mental health, space and place); a global health priority – the persistent and emerging nutritional changes facing children in the 21st century; inter-disciplinary environmental sciences (albeit we adopt a more critical perspective on understanding the health impacts of climate change). The final week is dedicated to consolidating the material introduced with the first nine weeks activities in which the task is to link across the diverse theoretical approaches to health within the field of health geography, drawing on a range of case studies covering a place, social group or disease.

The aim of this module is to examine the current law of the environment as it applies to England and Wales. This module will also consider wider aspects of Environmental Law such as the overarching principles and policy; as well as some of the International Environmental Law obligations that bind the UK. On successful completion of this module, students will have an understanding of the principles of Environmental Law and be able to critically analyse specific elements of environmental regimes.

The topics covered in this course will provide students with a knowledge of the key environmental regimes that apply in England and Wales. Students will be able to identify and engage with key issues of Environmental Law. Specific areas covered could include: principles of environmental law: environmental regulation and permitting; civil liability; climate change; waste management; and water pollution.

Issues and problems in the complex world of management do not necessarily arise in a well structured form. People often do not know what they want or what is possible. Further, they may disagree about what they are trying to achieve and the means for arriving at their goals. Much thinking needs to be done in order to define an appropriate framework within which a useful analysis or project can be carried out.

Various approaches have been developed in recent years to assist in this task, often referred to as problem structuring methods (PSMs). They are very practically oriented methodologies that typically involve the management team to help facilitate the structuring of complex situations. They place emphasis on dialogue to think through strategic problems, identify the salient issues, formulate goals and negotiate action plans. This course will introduce you to several PSMs and some of the process skills to use them.

The aims of this module are to give an introduction to the central elements of public international law. The topics should give students a basic knowledge of how international law works, its foundations, principles, as well as an understanding of its shortcomings and challenges. The areas introduced will cover different aspects of international law and should enable the students to identify legal issues in current international affairs. Specific areas covered are: the nature of the international legal system; the sources and subjects of international law; international law’s interaction with domestic law; jurisdiction; state responsibility; different territorial regimes; the environment; use of force; the laws of armed conflict; international crimes and other relevant aspects of international law.

This module explores a range of ‘Geosocial Spaces’ – sites where social life meets and mixes with a dynamic Earth. While topics will be approached primarily from a social science perspective, we also highlight the connections between human and physical geographies, and explore insights from the Earth sciences.

Topics to be taught include:
Changing ways of thinking about the Earth: from a stable planet to a shifting, changeable Earth system.
The Anthropocene: human impacts on the Earth system and the question of how humans acquired the power to impact upon Earth processes.
How thinking through deep time and large-scale geological processes can change our understanding of social life.
Engaging with the subsurface: what it means to inhabit the Earth `vertically’ as well as dwelling on the Earth’s surface
Controversies over the use of geological resources: how they emerge and how they might be addressed.
Living with geo-hazards: the volatile Earth as both a threat and an incitement for social change
Future possibilities: exploring new options such as using the heat of magma as an energy source and mining asteroids for their minerals.