Social Policy Undergraduate and Postgraduate course brochure 2021/22 - Social Policy
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Social Policy Social Policy Undergraduate and Postgraduate course brochure 2021/22
Welcome
This guide is designed to provide you with information to assist you in You can find the online course guides and confirmation of your
your course selections. It will provide you with additional information as programme regulations using the School Calendar:
to the content of optional courses, along with details of assessment lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar
methods and teaching terms.
Details of teaching terms can be found using the online timetable,
This information is intended as a guide only, is not exhaustive and is which is updated for the next academic year during the preceding
subject to change. The School’s online course guides should be summer: info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/timetables
consulted for the most up to date information.
The number of courses required to be taken as a part of your programme
and the number of options you have available to you to choose at your
discretion are detailed in your relevant programme regulations.
2 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22
Undergraduate courses COURSE CODE COURSE TITLE UNIT TEACHING TERM PAGE SP100 Understanding International Social and Public Policy 1 unit MT/LT 4 SP101 Foundations of Social Policy Research 1 unit MT/LT 4 SP110 Sociology and Social Policy 1 unit MT/LT 5 SP111 Social Economics and Policy 1 unit MT/LT 5 SP112 Politics of Social Policy Making 1 unit MT/LT 6 SP200 Comparative and International Social Policy 1 unit MT/LT 6 SP201 Research Methods for Social Policy 1 unit MT/LT 7 SP210 Development and Social Change 1 Unit MT/LT 7 SP230 Education Policy 1 unit MT/LT 8 SP232 Health and Social Care Policy 1 unit MT/LT 8 SP271 Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice 1 Unit MT/LT 9 SP331 Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy in Developing Countries 0.5 Unit LT 9 SP332 Social Security Policies 0.5 Unit LT 10 SP333 NGOs, Social Policy and Development 0.5 Unit MT 11 SP335 Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches 0.5 unit MT 12 SP372 Punishment and Penal Policy 0.5 Unit LT 12 SP374 Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence 0.5 unit MT 13 Undergraduate Academic and Professional Skills Development Programme 0 unit MT/LT 14 KEY COURSE VALUE TEACHING TERM ■ 0 unit ■ 0.5 unit ■ 1 unit ■ Michaelmas Term (MT) ■ Lent Term (LT) ■ Both Michaelmas and Lent (MT/LT) Undergraduate course convenors, see p30 Click here to view the undergraduate course guides online 3
Undergraduate courses
Course Code SP100 Course Code SP101
Course Title Understanding International Social Course Title Foundations of Social Policy Research
and Public Policy Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT Assessment Method Essay, Blog Post and Quiz
Assessment Method Online Assessment, Group Assignment
and Blog Post This course is concerned with two questions that are essential
to the study of social and public policy. First, how do we know
The course introduces students to the study and practice of what policies are needed, how they are experienced and whether
international social and public policy. It considers how societies they are effective? And second, how is this knowledge used: how
organise to address social needs, with reference to academic and (if at all) does it feed into the policy process and improve policies
policy debates across the so-called global North and South. and outcomes?
In the first half of the course (Michaelmas Term), you will develop SP101 aims to equip students to become informed consumers of
your understanding of how welfare systems have developed and research, able to read and evaluate research outputs that use a
of the institutions and actors involved in different contexts across range of approaches to address questions in social and public
the world, including the state, market, civil society and families. policy. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the way
that knowledge is constructed, about the nature of expertise, and
In the second half (Lent Term), you will consider the challenge of about the influence of values and positionality on knowledge
inequality and how different approaches in social policy, involving production. They will learn to assess the validity of claims made on
those institutions and actors, can redress or reinforce inequalities. the basis of research studies that use a variety of methods. The
course will also explore the way evidence is used in policy making
and in public discourse.
The course provides the foundations for students to become active
researchers themselves in later stages of the BSc ISPP degrees,
preparing them for the second year research methods course and
for their third year dissertation.
4 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP110 Course Code SP111
Course Title Sociology and Social Policy Course Title Social Economics and Policy
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT
Assessment Method Exam and Essay Assessment Method Online Assessment
This course introduces students to sociological ideas and thinking This course provides an introduction to the economics of social
and how they link to key social policy issues. policy and the economics of income distribution. The course
begins by introducing basic economic concepts and principles and
The course is organised around six major social policy concerns:
discussing their application to different social policy areas,
gender inequalities; ethnic and racial inequalities; class mobility
including childcare, education, health care, social care, housing and
and stratification; educational opportunity and inequality; social
the environment. Key concepts include supply, demand and
networks and social segregation; neighbourhood deprivation
elasticities, externalities and market failure, private insurance and
and housing.
social insurance.
These are related to key classical and contemporary theoretical
The course goes on to analyse the distribution of household
perspectives and concepts that have been used to describe and
income, poverty and inequality, labour market earnings, and
explain them, such as occupational segregation, discrimination,
unemployment. It covers concepts of human capital and
cultural and social capital, institutions, socialisation, identity and
productivity and looks at a range of policies, including minimum
belonging, and intergenerational transmission of status, values
wage legislation, taxation and the social security system.
and resources.
Throughout, the course emphasises the importance of
The sociological understanding of the underlying reasons for the
understanding political goals in assessing the effectiveness or
various dimensions of social inequality inform the critical analysis
justice of economic and social policies, and seeks to encourage
of social policies that aim to tackle them.
students to draw on both theory and empirical evidence in
addressing its core questions.
The course uses charts but is taught without mathematics and is
designed to be suitable both for students with no prior knowledge
of economics and for those who have taken A level economics.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 5Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP112 Course Code SP200
Course Title Politics of Social Policy Making Course Title Comparative and International Social Policy
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT
Assessment Method Coursework, Presentation and Report Assessment Method Online Assessment
The course introduces students to the way in which social and public The course introduces the comparative method in social policy
policies are developed. It aims to provide tools to understand how research as well as the main analytical approaches to
policies are produced through political disagreement and negotiations understanding social policy developments. It provides an
and how policies reflect different needs and problems voiced by overview of social policies in different areas of the world and
groups in societies. It focuses on the ways in which policy processes enables students to identify global pressures on national policy
and decision making can be analysed. The course focuses on environments. The course also examines the impact of key
different models that are used in the analyses of policy processes in international and supranational institutions on social policy-
different international contexts. Furthermore, it links different analytical making. It investigates the welfare and work nexus from a
approaches to policy processes with political considerations of how comparative perspective.
political problems are framed and how policy goals are established.
This course is only available to students who have completed
The course looks at these issues from the perspective of different
Understanding International Social and Public Policy (SP100).
actors and the ways in which different actors interact with each other
within policy processes. The course brings together critical analytical
frameworks for policy processes with empirical problems (cases).
The course enables students to understand that policy processes
are both about understanding society and shaping it. Furthermore, it
introduces students to the various policy actors, including international
actors and how these actors work together within socio-political and
economic constraints. It also highlights the importance of identifying
and understanding the different value positions and the associated
negotiations that underwrite policy processes.
6 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP201 Course Code SP210
Course Title Research Methods for Social Policy Course Title Development and Social Change
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT
Assessment Method Project Assessment Method Essay and Online Assessment
The course aims to give students a comprehensive introduction to The course introduces students to the interrelationship between
designing and carrying out research in social policy. social and public policy and different socio-political contexts in
middle and low-income countries. It focuses on the ways in which
By the end of the course students should:
different countries organise their policy processes and institutions
1 Be familiar with the stages of the research process and different to achieve their objectives in relation to inequalities and poverty.
approaches to social policy research.
The course invites students to think about how social needs are
2 Appraise different methods and their appropriateness to identified, focused, and addressed or ignored in different settings,
particular questions. who can participate in these processes and who cannot, what are
the historical and social determinants of these processes in
3 Be able to conduct and clearly present the results of basic different places.
analyses of quantitative and qualitative data.
The course is designed to link research/theory to policy and
4 Understand the ethical issues involved in conducting research. “practice” issues. In addition, it introduces students to various
This course draws upon teaching from the core first year research policy actors including international ones and the way in which
methods course (SP101). these actors work together within specific socio-political and
economic constraints. The course rigorously links theoretical
analysis with empirical enquiry. It highlights the importance of
identifying and understanding different value positions that
underwrite policy thinking.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 7Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP230 Course Code SP232
Course Title Education Policy Course Title Health and Social Care Policy
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT
Assessment Method Online Assessment Assessment Method Online Assessment
This course provides an introduction to the main issues in The course equips students with the concepts, tools and
educational policy. It draws on interdisciplinary research literature knowledge to understand the challenges of health and social care
and has a comparative and international focus. The course aims to policy in the 21st century, in the differing contexts of the UK and
show how major concepts used in social policy can be applied to other rich countries, and in low- and middle-income countries. In
the study of education, for example, equality of opportunity, equity the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, this feels more important
and the distribution of resources. than ever.
Issues to be addressed include: policy goals of education; In the first term, we consider the fundamental aims of health and
historical development of education and the role of the state in social care policy, including for example health and well-being,
provision and funding; the impact of social characteristics on health inequalities by ethnicity and social class, public health and
educational outcomes (class, gender, ethnicity and race); health promotion, and health as a human right. We then examine
education of children with special educational needs and policy approaches and healthcare regimes across different country
disabilities; financing education; private schooling; privatisation contexts, including the strengths and weaknesses of different
and the changing role of the state; early years education; models of healthcare financing, public and private.
school-based education; post-compulsory education including
In the second term, we move on to think about how to bring about
higher education; education systems in comparative perspective
change - both change in people’s behaviour through regulation,
and education regimes, decentralisation and devolution. Not all of
“nudge” and incentives, and change in health and social care
these issues are covered as separate weekly topics.
systems, including an examination of the role played by global
The method of teaching on this course makes it more suitable for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, and the potential
third year students. This is a particularly popular course. You are for reform. We investigate the role that evaluations of health
advised to apply early. and social care play in shaping policy change. Finally, we turn to
specific groups and needs, including for example the challenges
of mental health policy, child protection, and healthcare needs of
sexual minorities.
8 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP271 Course Code SP331
Course Title Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice Course Title Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy
Value 1 Unit Teaching Term MT/LT in Developing Countries
Assessment Method Online Assessment Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term LT
Assessment Method Policy Memo
The course examines the contribution that psychology has made
to our understanding of crime and criminal justice. It explores what This course aims to analyse and understand the way social policies
psychological theory and research have to tell us about the causes deploy sexuality categories in regulating everyday life in developing
of crime and the ways in which we respond to such behaviour. countries, both in its public and private manifestations.
Particular attention is paid to the development of individual Sexuality is a central part of human experience. Institutions
criminality and criminal careers; drug and alcohol related crime; created to deal with human life/wellbeing have considered
varieties of criminal behaviour including violence, sexual crime sexuality as one of the reference points from which to regulate
and stalking; mental disorder and crime; victims and victimisation; social relations. Perceptions on sexuality are formed in the
public attitudes towards punishment; public confidence in intersection of socio-political, historical processes and everyday
the criminal justice system; prejudice and discrimination; practises in particular societies. Particular perceptions of
organisational dynamics and institutional change; offender sexuality in turn influence the way people negotiate access to
profiling and criminal investigation; eye witness testimony and resources to address their well-being.
legal decision making; rehabilitation and imprisonment.
In some central areas of social policy sexuality is used as one of
the sorting mechanisms (in addition to gender, race among various
other categories) to establish entitlements for resources (social,
political and economic). In this regard social policy is both informed
by perceptions on sexuality and in turn social policy acts as a
mechanism of social reproduction of these perspectives impacting
people’s lives. And while globally high profile cases and rights
abuses related to sexuality are important, a narrow global policy
focus on these overlooks how more embedded and diverse social
policy practices related to sexuality are impacting people’s lives in
many developing countries.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 9Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP331 (continued) Course Code SP332
Course Title Social Security Policies
This course aims to explore sexuality and its importance for
Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term LT
social policy for developing countries. It aims to consider social
Assessment Method Essay
policy and particular interventions in their historical contexts, as a
way of unpacking the construction of sexuality in the intersection
of colonialism, gender, race, class and international policy The course analyses the purpose, design and impact of social
frameworks in developing countries. security policies, meaning policies that protect and support
household income at times when income from the labour
The course also aims to interrogate the relationship between market does not suffice. The need for social security arises
particular social policy prescriptions developed in most both from demographic factors that affect nearly everyone
industrialised welfare societies and the way some of these during their life course – childhood, parenthood, old age
are transferred to developing countries. The major concern of – and from risk factors that end up affecting only some –
the analysis is to bring out the perceptions of sexuality that unemployment, sickness and disability.
underwrite these policies and how these interact with existing
perceptions of sexualities and their performances (identities, The course takes a comparative approach, examining differences
desires and bodily practices) in multiple developing country in the design of social security policies across welfare regimes
contexts. These policy areas include, among others, discussions and drawing on examples from different countries. Students
of rights, entitlements, citizenship, same-sex marriage, sexually will develop an understanding of the challenges and trade-offs
transmitted disease, HIV/AIDS, family policies, migration/border that arise in designing social security policies to meet multiple
controls, criminality and employment-related policies. goals, will further their knowledge about the ways systems
function in practice, and will develop the tools for assessing
This course is only available to third year undergraduate students. the structure and effectiveness of social security in any given
country. The course will also consider how successfully social
security systems are adapting to meet the challenges of the
twenty-first century, including an ageing population, migration,
and the changing nature of employment brought about by rapid
technological change.
10 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP332 (continued) Course Code SP333
Course Title NGOs, Social Policy and Development
Most of the examples in the lectures and readings relate to
Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term MT
higher- and middle-income countries, but many of the issues
Assessment Method Essay
covered are also relevant in countries where social security
systems are less developed. Students will be encouraged to
further their understanding of social security in their country of While the study of social and public policy has traditionally been
origin, or another country of their choice, and to draw on this concerned with actions taken by governments, the wider non-
knowledge in classes. governmental sector is increasingly recognised as playing a key
role. This course focuses on both international and local “non-
This course is only available to third year undergraduate students. governmental organisations” (NGOs) that have emerged around the
world to address a wide range of social, political and environmental
concerns. It offers a critical perspective on NGOs in the context of
development and social policy, covering both theoretical and policy
issues. The focus is on two main inter-related themes: how NGOs
serve as vehicles through which citizens organise, and how NGOs
are instruments through which states, businesses and funding
agencies pursue their interests.
Most of the examples in the lectures and the readings will relate to
the Global South, but many of the issues covered are also relevant in
rich industrialised countries. Topics covered include definitions and
history of NGOs; the changing policy contexts in which development
NGOs operate; conceptual debates around “civil society” and third
sector; competing theoretical perspectives on NGOs; the domestic,
international and global dimensions of non-governmental action;
shifting relationships with other policy actors; service delivery and
advocacy roles; international humanitarianism; challenges of NGO
legitimacy and accountability; resource dilemmas; voluntarism and
volunteering; and NGO organisational growth and change.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 11Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP335 Course Code SP372
Course Title Migration: Current research, critical approaches Course Title Punishment and Penal Policy
Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term MT Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term LT
Assessment Method Essay Assessment Method Essay
This interdisciplinary course addresses contemporary global This third-year course will run as a half-unit option, and will
migration issues with reference to both developing and explore punishment and penal policy from a range of comparative
developed country contexts, and to different patterns and perspectives. Focusing on Anglophone jurisdictions and the rest
forms of migration. The course examines the relationship of the world in equal measure, the course will consider in depth a
between migration and social and public policies, including the wide variety of historical and international comparative studies of
implications for how migrants and migration are conceptualised, punishment and penal policy, both from the field of criminology
for inequalities in the movement of people, for welfare systems, and beyond. In so doing, the course will critically examine
and for the impacts of migration in countries of origin and theoretical frameworks and empirical research on such issues as:
destination. Teaching across the course integrates critical
• the forms state punishment has assumed over time and in
theoretical approaches to migration with applications using
different national and regional contexts;
different migration-related research methods.
• the array and relative significance of the reasons why
Topics covered include: global migration trends and processes;
punishment and penal policy may develop, qualitatively as well
conceptualisations of migration and different types of migrant;
as quantitatively, in particular ways at given historical junctures
drivers of migration, and migrant motivations; citizenship;
and in different jurisdictions;
transnationalism; welfare and migration; gender and migration;
and the implications of migration for policies and societies in both • the relationship between political systems and punishment, with
sending and receiving countries. particular reference to processes of democratisation;
This course is only available to third year undergraduates. • the links between penal policy and different forms of economic
organisation, from preindustrial capitalism to welfare capitalism
and neoliberalism; and
• the role of punishment in society as explained through
psychosocial theories and research.
12 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 This course is only available to third year undergraduate students.Undergraduate courses summary
Course Code SP374
Course Title: Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method Essay
This course focuses on urban or collective violence, or what more
colloquially tend to be referred to as “riots”. From Hong Kong
and Santiago to the Gilets Jaunes in Paris and the uprisings in
America after the death of George Floyd, this is a subject of great
contemporary relevance. The course will consider the various
approaches that have been taken to this subject – via history,
psychology and sociology – and, focusing on particular examples,
will examine some of the core issues in the field including:
the causes and consequences of riots; psychological versus
sociological explanations; the role of race/ethnicity; the impact of
traditional and new social media on the nature and organisation
of rioting; the role and changing nature of the policing of urban
disorder; and how riots might be understood both historically
and comparatively.
Assessment for this undergraduate course is via a research-based
essay. Each year students will be asked to focus on a single
aspect – chosen from a range of six or seven – of a selected riot. In
2021/2022 the focus will be on the 2011 England riots.
This course is available to third year students only.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 13Undergraduate courses summary
Undergraduate Academic and Professional Skills Summer Internship Fund Scheme
Development Programme
The Social Policy Internship Fund Scheme provides first and
second year students with the opportunity to gain valuable
The Academic and Professional Skills Development Programme
work experience, learn new skills, enhance their employability,
is made up of a series of workshops, events and activities
and develop their professional network. Funding (based on the
designed to support our students with their academic studies
London Living Wage) is currently provided for a limited number of
and professional futures. The programme encourages students
internships within a UK registered charity or small to medium sized
to connect what they learn during their time at LSE with the
enterprise (SME) each year. This enables students to apply for
opportunities and requirements of the professional world.
funding for internships that would otherwise be unpaid. Internships
Workshops and Networking Events must be for 140 hours and take place between June and August.
Students source the internships themselves with support from
Academic skills workshops provide first year students with study LSE Careers. Further information on the scheme and application
skills training (eg, in notetaking, reading and writing) to support process is sent to students in the Lent Term.
them at the start of their academic careers and help them get the
most out of their courses and programme. These sessions are Alumni Mentoring Scheme
compulsory and timetabled under SP100.
The Alumni Mentoring Scheme gives second and third year
Professional skills workshops introduce students in all years to students an opportunity to apply to be matched with a mentor
the skills needed to support them to plan successfully for their to support them with the transition from university to the world
future careers and thrive after they leave LSE. These are non- of work/further education. Having a mentor gives students the
timetabled sessions which students are encouraged to attend. opportunity to: gain an insight into professional life; be supported
to take charge of their futures; and learn from someone who has
Networking events provide students in all years with the been in their shoes. Students can expect to have three forty-five-
opportunity to interact with our alumni students and develop their minute meetings with their mentor. Any contact beyond this is at
knowledge of the variety of industries they work in. They include the mentor’s discretion. Mentors are Social Policy alumni students
alumni career talks and alumni panel events. These are non- working in a variety of professional areas. While we aim to match
timetabled sessions which students are encouraged to attend. students to mentors as closely as possible, we are not always able
to match students to mentors working in areas they aspire to work
in. Further information on the scheme and application process is
sent to students during the Michaelmas Term.
14 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Social
SocialPolicy
Policycourse
coursebrochure
brochure2021/22
2021/22 15Postgraduate courses
COURSE CODE COURSE TITLE UNIT TEACHING TERM PAGE
SP400 International Social and Public Policy 0.5 unit MT 18
SP401 Understanding Policy Research 0.5 unit MT 18
SP403 Academic and Professional Skills Development 0 unit MT/LT 19
SP410 Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches 0.5 unit MT 19
SP411 Social Policy and Development 0.5 unit MT 20
SP412 Non-Governmental Organisations, Social Policy and Development 0.5 unit MT 20
SP413 Understanding Social (Dis)advantage 0.5 unit LT 21
SP414 Ethnicity, Race and Social Policy 0.5 unit MT 21
SP415 Urbanisation and Social Policy in the Global South 0.5 unit LT 22
SP417 Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy in Developing Countries 0.5 unit LT 23
SP419 Social Movements, Activism, Social Policy 0.5 unit LT 23
SP420 Understanding Policy Research (Advanced) 0.5 unit LT 24
SP430 Social Security Policies 0.5 unit LT 25
KEY
COURSE VALUE TEACHING TERM
■ 0 unit ■ 0.5 unit ■ 1 unit ■ Michaelmas Term (MT) ■ Lent Term (LT) ■ Both Michaelmas and Lent (MT/LT)
Postgraduate course convenors, see p31 Click here to view the postgraduate course guides online
16 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22COURSE CODE COURSE TITLE UNIT TEACHING TERM PAGE
SP432 Education Policy, Reform and Financing 0.5 unit LT 26
SP441 Politics of Social Policy: Welfare and Work in Comparative Perspective 0.5 unit LT 26
SP470 Criminal Justice Policy 1 unit MT/LT 27
SP472 Illegal Drugs and Their Control: Theory, Policy and Practice 0.5 unit LT 27
SP473 Policing, Security and Globalisation 0.5 unit MT 28
SP475 Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence 0.5 unit MT 28
SP476 Punishment and Penal Policy 0.5 unit LT 29
KEY
COURSE VALUE TEACHING TERM
■ 0 unit ■ 0.5 unit ■ 1 unit ■ Michaelmas Term (MT) ■ Lent Term (LT) ■ Both Michaelmas and Lent (MT/LT)
Postgraduate course convenors, see p31 Click here to view the postgraduate course guides online
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 17Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP400 Course Code SP401
Course Title International Social and Public Policy Course Title Understanding Policy Research
Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term MT Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method Online Assessment Assessment Method Online Assessment
This course engages with the social and public policy challenges This course aims to provide an understanding of issues
facing states and citizens across the world. associated with the research process, in the context of the MSc in
International Social and Public Policy. The course includes an
It introduces students to core issues, concepts, actors and debates
examination of philosophical issues underpinning research
shaping our understanding of social and public policy, its drivers
methods in social policy; the place of different research methods
and impacts. It outlines the questions raised by efforts to ensure
(qualitative and quantitative) in international social and public
a healthy, educated and productive population, to protect those
policy; the use of research; and the role of evidence in informing
without other means of support, and to reduce inequalities of eg,
social and public policy.
gender, class, and ethnicity. It discusses diverse policy approaches
to these issues, their ideological underpinnings, and the varying This is not a “how to” methods course. Instead, students will be
configurations of actors involved in the policy process – the state, equipped to become critical readers and users of research.
the market, civil society, the family, and international organisations. Students will gain an understanding of the role of research in the
policy process, and of the philosophical underpinnings of different
The course explores applications to a range of policy domains,
approaches to ISPP research, both quantitative and qualitative;
such as education, urbanisation, health, family, social care,
they will scrutinise which research designs are appropriate for
migration, inequality and redistribution, and to varied country
different kinds of policy investigation; and learn to critique the
contexts. The course is informed by an international and
validity of the implications for policy drawn by researchers, given
comparative approach that considers both rich and poor country
the methods they have used.
contexts and international dimensions and locates these within a
historical understanding of both national and global processes.
18 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP403 Course Code SP410
Course Title Academic and Professional Skills Development Course Title Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches
Value 0 unit Teaching Term MT and LT Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method T his course is non-credit bearing, Assessment Method Coursework
and there is no formal assessment.
This interdisciplinary course addresses contemporary global
The course will consist of a number of workshops in the MT migration issues with reference to both developing and developed
focusing on the development of academic skills (to include country contexts, and to different patterns and forms of
effective reading; academic writing; presentation skills; migration. The course examines the relationship between
networking skills; time management); and in the LT focusing on migration and social and public policies, including the
the development of professional skills, and working in the Social implications for how migrants and migration are conceptualised,
Policy sector. for inequalities in the movement of people, for welfare systems,
and for the impacts of migration in countries of origin and
The course will complement students’ academic studies and
destination. Teaching across the course integrates critical
support them to get the most out of their courses and
theoretical approaches to migration with applications using
Programme; while also helping them to make the link between
different migration-related research methods.
the skills and knowledge they develop during their time at LSE
and the opportunities and requirements of a range of careers Topics covered include: global migration trends and processes;
in Social Policy. conceptualisations of migration and different types of migrant;
drivers of migration, and migrant motivations; citizenship;
transnationalism; welfare and migration; gender and migration; and
the implications of migration for policies and societies in both
sending and receiving countries.
SP410 is a compulsory course on the ISPP (Migration) specialism.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 19Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP411 Course Code SP412
Course Title Social Policy and Development Course Title Non-Governmental Organisations,
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT Social Policy and Development
Assessment Method Essay Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method Online Assessment
This course provides the analytical tools needed to understand
and critically evaluate the key practical challenges of social The course focuses on the specialised field of non-governmental
development. A wide range of development contexts will be organisations (NGOs) within the field of social policy and
discussed using empirical research and case studies. development, and considers theoretical and policy issues.
Key themes include: linking social policy theory, implementation Main topics include the history and theory of NGOs; the changing
and practice; race and development; intersectionality and gender; policy contexts in which NGOs operate; NGO service delivery and
policy actors, regulation and decentralisation, civil society, advocacy roles in policy; NGO relationships with other institutional
markets and development, participation; informality; and conflict actors including government, donors and private sector; challenges
and development. Some of these themes are treated as cross- of NGO effectiveness and accountability; NGO organisational
cutting issues as appropriate. growth and change; and conceptual debates around civil society,
social capital, social movements and globalisation.
SP411 is a compulsory course on the ISPP
(Development) specialism. SP412 is a compulsory course on the ISPP (NGOs) specialism.
20 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP413 Course Code SP414
Course Title Understanding Social (Dis)advantage Course Title Ethnicity, Race and Social Policy
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method Online Assessment Assessment Method Essay
This course addresses the emergence, maintenance and This course will explore the boundaries of race and ethnicity in
dynamics of social advantage and disadvantage in different areas different countries, and will introduce students to key conceptual
of life across different social groups. It explores inequalities in issues which surround the study of ethnicity, race, and social policy. It
income, poverty and wealth, labour market position, family will also examine the tensions in approaches which privilege group
resources, education, crime, and life chances, with reference to rights and those which favour individual rights and how different
social groups defined according to their gender, ethnicity, as well nation states have adopted or rejected multicultural policies.
as citizenship and migration status. It pays specific attention to
The course will critically review patterns and explanations of ethnic
intersectional, cumulative and relational processes in the
inequalities in labour market experiences and education outcomes
reproduction of inequalities.
and in relation to ethnic disproportionality in prison populations
around the world, exploring the various explanatory frameworks for
these persistent disparities.
Finally, the course will review the role of the state in responding to
ethnic inequality and legislative attempts to combat racial
inequality and discrimination and consider the place of minority
perspectives in improving policy formulation and service delivery.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 21Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP415 Prospective students must be willing to commit themselves to
Course Title Urbanisation and Social Policy in the Global South full participation in all aspects of the course, including an element
of art. They will be required to read selected readings before the
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT lecture, read and discuss the essential readings for the weekly
Assessment Method Project and Essay seminars, and read more widely and actively participate in the
seminars. This course seeks a weekly commitment from students
The course critically explores the challenges and opportunities to undertake a non-assessed activity entitled My_City, a short
that urbanisation and urban transformations pose in the social, desk-based piece of research and writing that links key issues
spatial, economic, institutional and political realms in the urban emerging from the lecture to a city of their choice with the view to
Global South. A plurality of theoretical and conceptual meeting one of the pedagogical aims of this course, namely, the
perspectives informing contemporary policies and planning link between theory and policy/practice.
practices are explored each week.
Some of the themes explored in the course are, urbanisation,
urbanism and social change, theories of urbanisation and urban
change, internal migration and the rural-urban interface, urban
poverty and livelihoods, urban labour markets and livelihoods,
urban housing and tenure, urban basic services, urban
governance, and urban social movements and collective action.
Cross-cutting themes such as gender and the role of civil society
are also explored.
22 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP417 Course Code SP419
Course Title Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy Course Title Social Movements, Activism, Social Policy
in Developing Countries Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT
Value 0.5 Unit Teaching Term LT Assessment Method Essay
Assessment Method Essay
The course begins by examining theories of social movements,
This course aims to analyse and understand the way social collective action, and contentious politics. It then moves on to
policies deploy sexuality categories in regulating everyday life in examine how social movements engage with the policy process
developing countries, both in its public and private manifestations. and the ways in which social movement activism informs social
It aims to consider social policy and particular interventions in policy formulation and implementation. It examines the nature,
their historical contexts, as a way of unpacking the construction past and present roles of social movements and their potential
of sexuality in the intersection of colonialism, gender, race, class capacity in shaping social policy in developed and developing
and international policy frameworks in developing countries. The countries, and in democratic, hybrid, or authoritarian regimes.
course also aims to interrogate the relationship between The course covers theoretical arguments and examines empirical
particular social policy prescriptions developed in most examples and case studies.
industrialised welfare societies and the way some of these are
The course examines the following topics: the role and impact of
transferred to developing countries. The major concern of the
social movement activism in identifying and meeting needs; the
analysis is to bring out the perceptions of sexuality that
role of grassroots mobilisations and solidarity; how movements are
underwrite these policies and how these interact with existing
affected by regulatory frameworks; how and when movements
perceptions of sexualities and their performances (identities,
achieve their objectives; movements relations with other actors
desires and bodily practices) in multiple developing country
(including, NGOs, trade unions, political parties, etc.); populism.
contexts. These policy areas include, among others, discussions
of rights, entitlements, citizenship, same-sex marriage, sexually
transmitted disease, HIV/AIDS, family policies, migration/border
controls, criminality and employment-related policies.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 23Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP419 (continued) Course Code SP420
Course Title Understanding Policy Research (Advanced)
The course considers the development, transformation,
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT
autonomy, interdependence, and probity of social movements.
Assessment Method Essay
It draws on examples of social movements in different periods,
countries, and areas of activity to examine and analyse how
change happens and the obstacles to change. The course equips you with transferable quantitative and qualitative
research design skills, including the design of policy evaluations,
The course also offers an accompanying film programme with and an in-depth understanding of the role of different types of
four film screenings and discussions in LT. The remaining films research in the policy-making process. It is an advanced course
are for students to watch in their own time. and students are expected to already have a grasp of basic
research design principles and their application to social and public
policy, for example as covered in MY400 Fundamentals of
Research Design or SP401 Understanding Policy Research, both of
which run in the MT, although these courses are not a formal
pre-requisite. Lectures are given by leading academics engaged in
research using the methods under consideration, some of which
has achieved substantial policy impact. Students are encouraged
to critically assess applications of complex research methods to
contemporary national and international social and public policy
questions. Topics may include uses of: mixed methods policy
evaluation; participatory research; researching organisations
(including organisational anthropology); longitudinal and life history
analysis; micro-simulation techniques; systematic reviews,
meta-analysis and meta-ethnographies; and small area,
geographical and internationally comparative research. The
relationship between research and policymaking is a theme that
runs throughout the course.
SP420 is a compulsory course on the ISPP (Research) specialism.
24 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP430 The course will also consider how successfully social security
Course Title Social Security Policies systems are adapting to meeting the challenges of the twenty-
first century, including an ageing population, migration, and the
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT changing nature of employment brought about by rapid
Assessment Method Essay technological change.
The course analyses the purposes, design and impact of social Most of the examples in the lectures and readings relate to
security policies, meaning policies that protect and support higher- and middle-income countries, but the course aims to be of
household income at times when income from the labour market interest and relevance to students from all countries. Students
does not suffice. The need for social security arises both from will be encouraged to further their understanding of social
demographic factors that affect nearly everyone during their life security in their country of origin, or another country of their
course – childhood, parenthood, old age – and from risk factors choice, and to draw on this knowledge in classes.
that will end up affecting only some – unemployment, sickness
and disability.
The course takes a comparative approach, examining differences
in the design of social security policies across welfare regimes
and drawing on examples from different countries. Students will
develop an understanding of the challenges and trade-offs that
arise in designing social security policies to meet multiple goals,
will further their knowledge about the ways systems function in
practice, and will develop the tools for assessing the structure
and effectiveness of social security in any given country.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 25Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP432 Course Code SP441
Course Title Education Policy, Reform and Financing Course Title Politics of Social Policy: Welfare and Work in
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT Comparative Perspective
Assessment Method Online Assessment Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT
Assessment Method Essay
This course considers education policy, reform and financing
across a range of countries. It uses concepts and tools from a The course explores the politics of social policy in advanced
number of academic disciplines – social policy, sociology, political economies. In the first part of the course, the main
economics, politics and philosophy – to scrutinise education. analytical approaches for the cross-national analysis of welfare
Throughout the course, there is particular focus on equity, social states are introduced (such as the industrialism thesis, the power
justice and the distribution of resources. resources model, new institutionalism, feminist theory and the
globalisation thesis). These will be examined in the context of the
Issues to be addressed include: the impact of social
rise of modern welfare states and their transformations since the
characteristics on educational outcomes (class, gender and race
end of the “Golden Age” in the mid-1970s.
and ethnicity, with a cross-cutting focus on special educational
needs and ideas of “inclusion”) and related policy reforms; These analyses and the theoretical approaches to cross-national
accountability and market-oriented reforms in education; study of welfare states will be harnessed in the second part of
privatisation and the changing role of the state; power and the the course when the focus shifts towards more recent policy
politics of educational policy making; global policy transfer in developments since the 1990s. The empirical focus is on the
education; early years education; school-based education and welfare-and-work nexus. The course analyses the development of
post-compulsory education; education systems in comparative labour market and family policies in Nordic countries, Continental
perspective. Not all of these issues are covered as separate Europe, Anglo-phone countries and East Asia.
weekly topics.
26 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP470 Course Code SP472
Course Title Criminal Justice Policy Course Title Illegal Drugs and Their Control: Theory, Policy
Value 1 unit Teaching Term MT/LT and Practice
Assessment Method Essay and Online Assessment Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT
Assessment Method Essay
The course provides a detailed and critical introduction to the study
of criminal justice institutions, practices and participants. This multi-disciplinary course draws on sociology, psychology,
It begins with an introduction to the nature of crime and criminology and law to examine the place and meaning of
contemporary criminal justice policy. It then examines the main illegal drug use in late modern societies and associated policy
elements of modern criminal justice systems (police, courts, responses. It begins by considering drug use and subcultural
prisons, probation, the media, and private security). formations; the “normalisation” of drug use; drug tourism; the role
of addiction; and the organisation of drug markets. It then goes
Special emphasis is given to current issues such as restorative
onto consider the making of drugs policy; drugs, policing and
justice and increasing rates of incarceration. The course combines
the law; treatment and harm reduction; drugs as a development
up-to-date empirical work with theoretical perspectives and also
and human rights issue; decriminalisation and alternatives to
emphasises the role of historical and comparative perspectives in
prohibition.
understanding current trends.
SP470 is the compulsory core course on the MSc Criminal
Justice Policy.
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 27Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP473 Course Code SP475
Course Title Policing, Security and Globalisation Course Title Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term MT
Assessment Method Essay and Coursework Assessment Method Essay and Presentation
The sub-discipline of police studies is now well-established This course focuses on urban or collective violence, or what
and is flourishing. Whilst much traditional policing scholarship more colloquially tend to be referred to as “riots”. From Hong
has focused on policing within particular societies, increasingly Kong and Santiago to the Gilets Jaunes in Paris and the uprisings
attention is being drawn to both international and comparative in America after the death of George Floyd, this is a subject of
matters. Indeed, the social and economic changes associated great contemporary relevance. The course will consider the
with globalisation have affected policing as all else. This course various approaches that have been taken to this subject – via
will focus on transnational public and private policing, and on the history, psychology and sociology – and, focusing on particular
issues and challenges raised by globalisation: from the policing examples, the course will examine some of the core issues in
of transitional societies and emergent democracies, the policing the field including: the causes of riots; psychological versus
of migration, of public order, through to the study of new social sociological explanations; the role of race/ethnicity; the impact of
movements seeking radical reform of policing and the provision traditional and new social media on the nature and organisation
of security. of rioting; the role and changing nature of the policing of urban
disorder; and how riots might be understood both historically and
comparatively. The primary means of assessment will be via a
research-based essay focusing on a single “riot”.
28 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22Postgraduate courses summary
Course Code SP476 • the links between penal policy and different forms of economic
Course Title Punishment and Penal Policy organisation, from preindustrial capitalism to welfare capitalism
and neoliberalism; and
Value 0.5 unit Teaching Term LT
Assessment Method Essay • the role of punishment in society as explained through
psychosocial theories and research.
This course runs as a half-unit option, and explores punishment Thanks to its substantive foci and broad comparative approach,
and penal policy from a range of comparative perspectives. the course enhances provision in the School in the field of
Focusing on Anglophone jurisdictions and the rest of the world penology (eg, the course “Explaining Punishment: Philosophy,
in equal measure, the course considers in depth a wide variety of Political Economy, Sociology” (LL4CL), taught by Professors
historical and international comparative studies of punishment Lacey and Ramsay in the Law Department).
and penal policy, both from the field of criminology and beyond.
In so doing, the course critically examines theoretical frameworks
and empirical research on such issues as:
• the forms state punishment has assumed over time and in
different national and regional contexts;
• the array and relative significance of the reasons why
punishment and penal policy may develop, qualitatively as well
as quantitatively, in particular ways at given historical junctures
and in different jurisdictions;
• the relationship between political systems and punishment, with
particular reference to processes of democratisation;
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 29Undergraduate course convenors Course Course Convenor Email Room SP100 Understanding International and Public Policy Isabel Shutes i.h.shutes@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.58 SP101 Foundations of Social Policy Research Kitty Stewart k.j.stewart@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.36 SP110 Sociology and Social Policy Thomas Biegert t.biegert@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.54 SP111 Social Economics and Policy Stephen Jenkins s.jenkins@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.29 SP112 Politics of Social Policy Making Hakan Seckinelgin m.h.seckinelgin@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.27 SP200 Comparative and International Social Policy Timo Fleckenstein t.fleckenstein@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.60 SP201 Research Methods for Social Policy Amanda Sheely a.sheely@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.52 SP210 Development and Social Change Robtel Neajai Pailey r.n.pailey@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.53 SP230 Education Policy Sonia Exley s.exley@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.64 SP232 Health and Social Care Policy Tania Burchardt t.burchardt@lse.ac.uk 32L.3.30 SP271 Psychology of Crime and Criminal Justice Michael Shiner m.shiner@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.34 SP331 Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy in Developing Countries Hakan Seckinelgin m.h.seckinelgin@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.27 SP332 Social Security Policies Iva Tasseva i.tasseva@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.50 SP333 NGOs, Social Policy and Development Tim Hildebrandt t.r.hildebrandt@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.56 SP335 Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches Lucinda Platt l.platt@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.25 SP372 Punishment and Penal Policy Leonidas Cheliotis l.cheliotis@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.51 SP374 Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence Tim Newburn t.newburn@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.40A 30 Social Policy course brochure 2021/22
Postgraduate course convenors
Course Course Convenor Email Room
SP400 Foundations of International and Social Public Policy Sonia Exley s.exley@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.64
SP401 Understanding Policy Research Thomas Biegert t.biegert@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.54
SP410 Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches Lucinda Platt l.platt@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.25
SP411 Social Policy and Development Sunil Kumar s.kumar@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.55
SP412 NGOS in Social Policy and Development Tim Hildebrandt t.r.hildebrandt@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.56
SP413 Understanding Social (Dis)advantage Amanda Sheely a.sheely@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.52
SP414 Ethnicity, Race and Social Policy Coretta Phillips coretta.phillips@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.28
SP415 Urbanisation and Social Policy in the Global South Sunil Kumar s.kumar@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.55
SP417 Sexuality, Everyday Lives and Social Policy in Developing Countries Hakan Seckinelgin m.h.seckinelgin@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.27
SP419 Social Movements, Activism, Social Policy Hakan Seckinelgin m.h.seckinelgin@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.27
SP420 Understanding Policy Research (Advanced) Tania Burchardt t.burchardt@lse.ac.uk 32L.3.30
SP430 Social Security Policies Kitty Stewart k.j.stewart@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.36
SP432 Education Policy, Reform and Financing Sonia Exley s.exley@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.64
SP441 The Politics of Social Policy Timo Fleckenstein t.fleckenstein@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.60
SP470 Criminal Justice Policy Coretta Phillips coretta.phillips@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.28
SP472 Illegal Drugs and Their Control: Theory, Policy and Practice Michael Shiner m.shiner@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.34
SP473 Policing, Security and Globalisation Tim Newburn t.newburn@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.40A
SP475 Riots, Disorder and Urban Violence Tim Newburn t.newburn@lse.ac.uk OLD 2.40A
SP476 Punishment and Penal Policy Leo Cheliotis l.cheliotis@lse.ac.uk OLD.2.51
Social Policy course brochure 2021/22 31You can also read
