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SP22057: Social concepts of humans, monsters, and machines

[Page last updated: 09 August 2024]

Academic Year: 2024/25
Owning Department/School: Department of Social & Policy Sciences
Credits: 5 [equivalent to 10 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 100
Level: Intermediate (FHEQ level 5)
Period:
Semester 1
Assessment Summary: CWES 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Essay 1 (CWES 25%)
  • Essay 2 (CWES 75%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit, students will be able to: 1) Discuss and critically analyse the historical, theoretical, and practical considerations behind humans, monsters, and machines. 2) Critique and articulate how human definitions of humans, monsters, and machines impacted the development of social orders, medical advances, and political battles. 3) Recognize and outline how common, everyday prosthetic devices work in relation to future human-machine interfaces. 4) Critique and debate how definitions of humans, monsters, and machines produce conflicts in society, medicine, history, the law, and education. 5) Critically review the ethical uses and abuses of categories which define Homo sapiens as illustrated by the interdisciplinary study of humans, monsters, and machines. 6) Distinguish how the concepts and figures of humans, monsters, and machines merge and separate into distinct categories across the centuries.


Synopsis: "Explore the presence and role of ideas about `monsters and machines in society. You will study theoretical approaches to: - monsters: creatures that have historically been represented as monstrous, both in literature and folklore - machines: robots and other mechanical substitutes for humans You will look at these as visible entities in society and ask the question: is either capable of being human? "

Content: In this unit we discuss how Monsters and Machines are everywhere in our modern world. We all, each of us, see these simultaneously fantastic and terrifying figures in our daily lives-- whether we realize it or not. In some instances, a monster, or a machine is so easy to see that it becomes invisible. This course is about making the monsters and machines in our everyday lives entirely visible. Yet, seeing these every-day monsters, and machines comes with a supposed risk, that is, the possibility of viewing both monsters and machines as increasingly Human. As a result of that risk, we come to the following question: Are Monsters and Machines capable of being Human?

Course availability:

SP22057 is Optional on the following courses:

Department of Social & Policy Sciences
  • UHSP-AFB30 : BSc(Hons) Criminology (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AKB30 : BSc(Hons) Criminology with professional placement (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AFB32 : BSc(Hons) Social Policy (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AKB32 : BSc(Hons) Social Policy with professional placement (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AFB37 : BSc(Hons) Social Sciences (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AKB37 : BSc(Hons) Social Sciences with professional placement (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AFB35 : BSc(Hons) Sociology (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AFB36 : BSc(Hons) Sociology and Social Policy (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AKB36 : BSc(Hons) Sociology and Social Policy with professional placement (Year 2)
  • UHSP-AKB35 : BSc(Hons) Sociology with professional placement (Year 2)

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2024/25 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2025/26 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2024/25.
  • Courses and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.