Social Worlds, Social Policy

The unit provides an opportunity for students to develop and apply the skills of policy analysis and critique to current 'real world' policy issues. It focuses on the role of social policy in reshaping the everyday lives of ordinary citizens, social identities and the nation-state in these uncertain times. A key concern explored is the way in which neo-liberal conceptions of the social world are shifting the policy debates away from the 'public' citizen to that of the 'self-governing' private individual. Utilising insights from contemporary theories about how we are governed through a range of institutions, social networks and governmental strategies, the unit explores the 'invented' character of various policy debates from selected fields such as immigration, multiculturalism, education, health, employment, urban planning and emerging themes. Through these case studies, attention is directed to the categorisation of individuals and the processes through which they are treated as objects and objectives of government and how social identities become attached to specific social policy formulations.