ObjectivesTo enable students to examine critically various crime cultures from both an offender and criminal justice agency perspective. To develop students’ understanding of the experiential perspective of crime – i.e. experiencing criminality first hand. To develop students’ ability to analyse crime from a cultural perspective. To enable students to reach an understanding of crime from a range of cultural perspectives. To develop students’ understanding of contemporary criminological and social theories and their historical development. To enable students to critically examine different criminological social theories related to late modernity in considering transgression, control and regulation. To develop students critical understanding of competing values contained within criminological and social theories. To provide opportunities for students to study a range of criminological and social theories from a cultural perspective and to write a substantial piece of academic written work.
Entry requirementsThis programme is suitable to students who may have completed studies in criminology and criminal justice. Such people may wish to develop and extend their understanding of crime and culture, criminological theory and social theory as it relates to contemporary issues and debates. Equally students who have studied sociology, media, social theory, cultural studies and similar subjects may also find this course provides them with an opportunity to supplement their existing knowledge with matters that relate to cultural perspectives such as media representation, the experience of crime and criminological theorising around matters of social control and social regulation
Academic titleMSc Criminology And Crime Cultures
Course descriptionThe available modes of study are
Full-time by attendance at the University of Portsmouth (12 months study)
This course focuses on the social construction and cultural meanings of crime and criminology and its contemporary condition. The course explores alternatives to conventional criminology and takes the student to exciting new areas that are currently emerging, therefore giving students the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of disciplinary development. Among the subjects studied will be the construction and representation of crime and criminals in the media and popular culture and their influence on the perception of crime. There will also be an emphasis on critiques of current criminological thinking with a view to examining subjects beyond mainstream criminology. Students attending the University are taught using a combination of lectures and seminars by academic staff based at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies.
Course Structure
Core Units
Advanced Information and Study Skills (non-credit rated) Criminology (30 credits) OR Criminology’s Contemporary Condition (30 credits)
Cultural Criminologies (30 credits)
Research Methods and Research Management (30 credits)
15,000 word Dissertation (60 credits)
30 credits of Optional Units
Criminal Myths (15 credits)
Conflict and Culture (15 credits)
Crime, Cinema and Criminology (15 credits) Subcultures (15 credits)
Please note that all Options are subject to minimum student numbers, and may not all be available.