Module SOC3033 for 2016/7
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC3033: Addiction
This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.
Module Aims
You will be introduced to the different theoretical models which inform cultural representations, treatment and policy decisions of drug use and addiction. You will be expected to think critically about these models, examining what it means to be addicted and designated an addict, both within Western society and cross-culturally. You will be encouraged to assess the relationship between drug use and health, criminality, deviance, social control and the media. You will also reflect on current treatment models of addiction (e.g. counselling, harm reduction, decriminalization) at both the individual and policy levels, as well as public prevention campaigns. As such, this module will develop your critical thinking in relation to contemporary addiction discourse and literature, as well as stimulate your own intellectual interest in this area.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate knowledge of, analyse and engage critically with, a range of models and beliefs about addiction; 2. relate these perspectives to empirical studies and public policy on addiction; |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. demonstrate in writing and orally competence in using major theoretical perspectives and concepts in sociology and anthropology and their application to social life ; 4. demonstrate in writing and orally an ability to analyse empirical sociological/anthropological materials and critically engage with these involving complex reasoning; |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. develop an ability to engage in complex arguments verbally and in small groups; 6. demonstrate in writing an ability to analyse, critically engage with, and report accurately on existing written material whilst articulating it within a structured and cogent argument. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following themes:
Outline of topics to be covered
- Introduction to addiction
- Biological and psychological models of addiction
- Social constructionist approaches and addiction as ‘myth’
- The social science of drug use I: Cannabis
- The social science of drug use II: Opiates/heroin
- Alcohol abuse
- Smoking
- Lifestyle addictions (e.g. sex, gambling, internet use, food, exercise)
- Treatment and counselling
- Addiction policy: Harm reduction
- Addiction policy: Legalization
Example seminar debates
- Definitions: Is sex addiction really an ‘addiction’?
- Models: Is addiction a matter of ‘choice’ or ‘heredity’?
- What are the problems of researching drug cultures?
- Treatment: Should addicts be given free needles or replacement substances (methadone)?
Policy: Would legalization of illegal drugs cut crime rates?
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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22 | 128 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures delivering the academic framework of the course |
Scheduled learning activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour seminars including group work and class discussion of key topics and debates from the lectures |
Guided independent study | 40 | 20 course readings (2 hours each) |
Guided independent study | 40 | Reading/research for essay |
Guided independent study | 8 | Critique preparation |
Guided independent study | 40 | Reading/revisions for examination |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Journals: Addiction, Addictive Behaviours, Journal of Addiction Medicine (JAMA), Sociology