Module POL3247 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POL3247: Politics of Biology
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module aims to:
- Introduce you to the interplay between how we understand the living world and how we relate to each other in society;
- Expand your awareness of the various and complex relations between political ideology, social power, science, and values;
- Provide you with some of the critical tools needed to negotiate these relations in the modern world;
- Encourage independent research into contemporary and historical issues that can be examined using the perspectives introduced by the module.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate critical awareness of the complex relations between political ideology, social power, science, and values. 2. Apply perspectives introduced in the module to a variety of contemporary or historical debates that bring politics and biology into conversation with each other. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Critically reflect on the political and social ramifications of changing understandings of science. 4. Display good awareness of a range of conceptual frameworks that can be used to understand the complex and changing interaction between science and society. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 5. Demonstrate awareness of the multiple ways in which scientific knowledge can be interpreted and used. 6. Demonstrate awareness of mutual interaction between knowledge and social relations/power. 7. Study independently and manage time and assessment deadlines effectively. 8. Communicate effectively in speech and writing. 9. Demonstrate research and analytical skills through seminar discussions and module assessments. 10. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases, and other IT resources for the purposes of seminar and assessment preparation. |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft Research Report & Essay Plan | 1000 words | 1-10 | Oral or written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Report & Essay Plan | 25 | 1000 words | 1-10 | Written |
| Essay | 75 | 3000 words | 1-10 | Written |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research Report & Essay Plan | Research Report & Essay Plan (1000 words) | 1-10 | August/September reassessment period |
| Essay | Essay (3000 words) | 1-10 | August/September reassessment period |
Re-assessment notes
Re-assessment assignments will take the same form as the original summative assessments.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Meloni, M. (2016) Political Biology: Science and Social Values in Human Heredity from Eugenics to Epigenetics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Lewontin, R. (1991) Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA (New York: Harper Collins)
Nelkin, D. & Lindee, M. S. (1995) The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon (New York: W. H. Freeman and Co.)
Latour, B. (2004) Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences Into Democracy (Harvard University Press)
Nayar, P. K. (2014) Posthumanism (Polity Press)
Mills, C. (2018) Biopolitics (Abingdon: Routledge)
Barker, G. (2015) Beyond Biofatalism: Human Nature for an Evolving World (New York: Columbia University Press)
Lewens, T. (2015) The Biological Foundations of Bioethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Habermas, J. (2003) The Future of Human Nature (Cambridge: Polity Press)
Smith, D. L. (ed.) (2017) How Biology Shapes Philosophy: New Foundations for Naturalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Oyama, S. (2000b) Evolution’s Eye: A Systems View of the Biology-Culture Divide (Durham, NC.: Duke University Press)
Kevles, D. J. & Hood, L. (eds.) (1992) The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press)
Hubbard, R. (1990) ‘The Political Nature of “Human Nature”’, in Rhode, D. L. (ed.) Theoretical Perspectives on Sexual Difference (New Haven: Yale University Press), pp. 63-73
Lloyd, E. A. (2008) ‘Normality and Variation: The Human Genome Project and the Ideal Human Type’, in Lloyd, E. A., Science, Evolution and Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 133-147
Smith, D. L. (2016) ‘Paradoxes of Dehumanization’. Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 42 (No. 2), pp. 416-443
