Understanding Individuals and Society

FYA002-0 Understanding
Individuals and Society

Teaching schedule for Understanding Individuals and Society FYA002-0
TEACHING WEEK LECTURE
1 Introduction to the unit: psychology and society
2 Mass media in society
3 Technology, social media and human relationships
4 Terrorism
5 Mental health and contemporary society
6 Gender
The handing out of the assessment workbooks.
7 The role of religion and science in society
8 Psychological perspectives on criminal behaviour
9 The changing nature of families and childhood in society
10 The physical health of the nation
11 Effects of globalisation and multiculturalism
Christmas break – Monday 16
December to Friday 27 December 2019
Individual/guided study week - no lectures/workshops 30
December 2019 – 6 January 2020
12
10 January 20 Project/portfolio will be submitted today portfolios
13 Social and psychological issues of identity
14 Revision Lecture
Introduction
Welcome to the student Project workbook which will guide you through the project
requirements for this unit. Having engaged in the unit thus far this is your one and
final project for the unit. You are expected to independently gather enough
information so that you are able to answer the set questions for each week. The
portfolio itself will account for 100% of the graded marks for the unit. The teaching
team for the Understanding Individuals and Society have produced this workbook as
a practical aid for you as students on this unit in readiness for submission of your
portfolio. On completion of the tasks within this booklet you will be required to submit
the booklet
The portfolio ideally builds upon the learning that you have undertaken throughout
semester 1 and contributes towards your progression onto Level 4. The portfolio is
an opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge of the models, theories and
debates within the taught lessons and within the field of Social Sciences. It is

important that you read this workbook carefully so that you are clear about the
project expectations. Within this workbook you will find a number of hyperlinks which
will lead you to short video clips, these are intended to help you understand specific
topics better and therefore to assist you in completing the portfolio to a higher
standard. These video clips are there to help you they will not provide you with the
complete answers therefore you will need to research a little more using the points
raised in the video clips as a guide.
Aims of the module
1 Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding
Understand sociological perspectives in relation to human behaviour
2 Demonstrate the following skills and abilities
Can demonstrate how, where and when to use different information concerning human
behaviour
Session Structure and Learning Methods
The module will run over 12 weeks – please note that the submission of this portfolio
has been set for 10th January 2020.
Some lectures will be specifically included to provide guidance concerning depth and
scope of material to be studied during each of the lectures. You are recommended
to extend your learning by consulting relevant subject-specific textbooks and other
resources to extend your knowledge and understanding further.
Self-Study & Follow-up Work
You are strongly advised to use self-study time to fully meet the intended learning
outcomes of the module by working through the information given during lectures
and tutorials. The aim is to enable you to apply your knowledge and understanding
of the subject material learnt in this academic Unit in a concise and understandable
way. It is important to clearly demonstrate you learning when answering the
questions set for you each week.
Preparation for your portfolio submission
An electronic copy of the portfolio must be submitted through BREO. No hard copies
are to be submitted.
Portfolios will be marked by the Unit Co-coordinator and a second marker and the
recommended grade agreed. It is the university policy that you should be able to
receive feedback on your work within 15 days of submission. Feedback on your
portfolio will be available on BREO.
Ensure that your portfolio is submitted with a cover sheet which identifies you via
your student ID number, Unit name and code.
Please ensure that you keep, in a safe place the electronic receipt which will be
given to you once you have submitted the portfolio. This acts of proof of submission

should there be any queries about the time of submission or whether in fact you
have submitted.
1. Make sure that you have proof read your work BEFORE it is submitted.
2. Have you read the questions carefully?
3. Does your work contain full sentences? Do the sentences begin with a capital
letter and end with a full stop?
4. Have you inserted references?
5. Have you referenced correctly? Are the references in alphabetical order by
family name in your reference list?
6. Does you work have a clear introduction, middle and ending?
Completing your Project
What am I required to do in this project?
This project asks you to complete weekly tasks in order to build a portfolio of your
knowledge and understanding of sociological perspectives and relate this knowledge
to every day experiences.
In order to complete this project you will need to follow the steps outlined below:
Step 1: Ensure that you complete the weekly tasks set in your workbook which will
be provided by your tutor.
Step 2: Follow all instructions in the workbook for each weekly task. For example,
Week 6 task will be to explain the similarities between 2 sociological perspectives,
Week 7 will then ask you to investigate and describe the differences between 2
sociological perspectives on human behaviour.
Step 3: In order to address these tasks you will need to identify, locate and conduct
some reading of a variety of different texts -guidance will be given on good academic
texts to read.
Step 4: You will need to make some notes in your own words based on your reading
and your understanding of different sociological perspectives and how they explain
human behaviour
Step 5: You will then be asked to answer a short essay question which will be
written under timed conditions in your classroom. You will be allowed to take your
portfolio into the classroom with you.
Step 6: You will submit your completed portfolio of work
How does this project relate to what we are doing in scheduled
sessions?
Through building the portfolio (project) you are week by week developing and
embedding knowledge of the key sociological theories and how to apply it to
everyday issues within a society. This assessment is specifically related to

developing key academic skills; writing, searching for and selecting appropriate
academic literature, reading that literature and paraphrasing its content, referencing,
developing notes, following instructions and using IT. By completing the in class test
you are showing that you can take what you have learned in the lecture room and in
a timed setting develop an answer to a set question. For further information relating
to the portfolio can be found on the BREO shell for this unit.
Prepare answers for the following sets of questions.
Week 4
Question 1.
Subject: Terrorism
Date: 25th October 2019
1. Identify a recent newspaper article which discusses the issue of terrorism.
You will also need to clearly state the name of the newspaper and the
author(s) of the article.
Terrorism refers to premeditated and politically motivated violence which is
perpetrated against non-combatant targets by clandestine agents or subnational
groups. It implies the systematic usage of violence for creation of general climate
of fear within population in order to attain the political objectives. An article was
published on the newspaper “The Guardian” on December 6th, 2019 by Dan
Sabbagh on “Thirty Britons believed to be among Isis fighters held in Syria”. As per
this article, out of 2000 foreign Isis's, 30 were British men and they are being held
by Kurdish forces within the jails of Syria. According to the Whitehall analysis, the
foreign fighters are most dangerous terror group. The group was formulated due to
death of their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. As per intelligence agencies, it is
serious threat that is being faced by UK and in case if Islamist extremists were
about to regroup within the region then further it will lead to attacks within United
Kingdom. Along with this, Usman Khan who was sentenced for eight years
terrorism attacked London Bridge last week. This implies that UK fears that the
maximum sentence for terrorist organisation is 10 years and again they carry out
attacks (Thirty Britons believed to be among Isis fighters held in Syria, 2019).
2. Identify the sociological perspective being used to discuss the issue of
terrorism.
There are different perspectives which are being given by distinct scholars with
respect to terrorism. The sociological perspectives are given by Jordan Paust in
context of terrorism. Here, emphasis is laid on types of participants which are
engaged within as targets, victims, terrorists and many others. IT also specifies
objective behind participants, actual interactions depending on situations which
prevails and kind of resources which are disposed by each sort of participant.
Apart from this, strategies utilized by terrors with respect to kidnapping, hijacking,
bombing, killing and looting. Furthermore, it also involves the probable outcomes
related with terroristic processes such as destruction of property, injuries, deaths
and many other aspects. In addition to this, there are certain perspectives such as
pressure that is created by change & westernization (unfair trading situations

models and economic that leads to growth and invasion of popular culture with
respect to local traditions).
3. In which way does this perspective explain terrorism?
The three crucial sociological orientations are functionalism, conflict theory and
symbolic interaction-ism. The emphasis is laid on utility of social institutions and
behavior in context of functionalism. Here, the crucial aspect is that the causes
must be identified with respect to crimes which take place. For an instance, social
solidarity is increased as society unites for defeating a perceived group. With
respect to conflict theory, terrorism attacks which occurred lead to trends towards
more concentrated military, corporate and concentrated power which exists within
the society that is responsible for embracing democratic values. The terrorist
attacks create a strong impact on economy of country as it takes billions of dollars
from unmet needs of society. With respect to symbolic interaction-ism, it is
concerned about experiences as well as perceptions of individuals who are
involved within dealing with conditions associated with terrorism, they are:
civilians, soldiers and many other individuals. An instance can be taken into
consideration like a key goal of training within military is to convince individuals to
deal with the situations which prevails in the peculiar condition such as specific
target for killing such as they have to kill terrorists so that public horror can be
minimized. The definition of terrorism is subjective and varies depending upon
views of individuals. Such as some perceives it as actions that are being carried
out by group, others might think as people are fighting for their freedom and others
might take it as affirmative term.