SDG Detail

POLITICS 320 : Social Justice

Undergraduate course

Project description

Some people think that the first political question is �What should be done?' This course addresses that question in terms of justice. Students investigate the development of social justice theory in the late 20th and early 21st century. The course encourages students to develop critical perspectives by attending to questions of justice concerning autonomy, freedom and equality, gender, future generations and species. This course should appeal to all students of politics who are interested in the ethical dimensions and philosophical justifications of public policy. It will be of particular interest to Law and Criminology students, and to those who have taken lower level courses in political or social thought, philosophy, international relations theory or political economy

Year 2022

Location New Zealand

Organization University of Auckland

Project aims

Project outcome

By the end of this course, students will be able to: Recognise and discuss the main currents of contemporary philosophical thinking about social justice. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) Identify the ways in which liberal philosophical approaches to social justice have been challenged by critical theory and identity-based theory. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1 and 4.2) Understand the uses of philosophical approaches to politics when we come to negotiate and respond to the actual political problems which challenge us today. (Capability 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 6.2 and 6.3) Recognise the relationship between domestic and global contexts when making normative political arguments (Capability 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3) Construct a theoretically-informed argument for a political position on a social issue, and defend it in writing and in oral discussion. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2 and 6.3)