You will have the opportunity to critically engage with offence in today’s society, specifically how offence manifests itself and how the culture wars act as a means of manufacturing offence. Finally, you will understand and establish constructive strategies for responding to offence by considering how individuals, institutions and the state should respond to offence and question their responsibility to act.

This module is structured into three parts:

1. What is offence?
2. What is offensive in today’s society?
3. How should we respond to offence?

The aims of this module are to:

• Establish what offence is
• Consider offence from the perspective of the offender and the offended
• Provide an overview of key theories, debates and thinkers on offence
• Develop understandings of offence in contemporary society
• Analyse an array of different case studies, materials, and resources for exploring offence and its impact
• Understand a range of responses to offence and be able to propose constructive strategies for responding to offence.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module you should be able to:

• Identify different forms of offence
• Analyse key debates surrounding offence and free speech
• Critically assess the ethics of various forms of offence
• Evaluate the impact of power relations when causing offence/feeling offended
• Understand how theories of offence connect to lived experiences
• Recognise individuals have agency when choosing how to respond to offence
• Propose constructive strategies for responding to offence.

The standard entry requirements comprise:

• A 2:2 honours degree or international equivalent,
• A CV and personal statement outlining your reasons for study; and
• English language band C (for example, IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in reading & writing and 6.0 in listening & speaking).

Assessment

You will be assessed through a 4,000 word assignment.

This is an online module, where you will be expected to engage with online webinars. Exact days and times will be provided upon enrolment.