module
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
SOC2046A: The Holocaust, Genocide and Society
This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.
Module Aims
This is an interdisciplinary course, and not as such a history of the Holocaust or detailed comparative study of genocide. The overarching questions you will pursue are: What kind of events are the Holocaust and genocide, how do they fit into and relate to the modern societies in which they occur, and what are their ramifications and significance for the normal civilised lives that we currently enjoy? The module combines historical and social scientific inquiry with philosophical reflection on the nature and significance of the Holocaust and possibly kindred events, processes and institutions. Reflecting its interdisciplinary ethos, the module is delivered simultaneously to social science students under SOC3046a and philosophy students under PHL3046a.This is because historical and social scientific explanation and understanding of the Holocaust and kindred phenomena inherently raises questions of a philosophical nature. The module therefore draws on theories, methodologies and concepts from sociology, social psychology, historical explanation and moral philosophy. Issues you will likely explore include: questions on the distinctiveness and newness of genocide, whether the Holocaust is a unique event, what kind of knowledge and understanding it affords, and its relationship to other events and practices of a putatively similar kind; different approaches to explaining the causes, conditions and essential features of the Holocaust; the nature of evil and the moral character of perpetrators and other participants; the relationship between the Holocaust, genocide and modernity; reflection on human nature, civilisation, social organisation and social progress; questions on perpetrator motivation and action, moral responsibility and blame.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. Think social scientifically about the nature, origins and causes of the Holocaust in particular and genocide more generally. 2. Reflect on the significance and import of the Holocaust and genocide for wider conceptions of the social organisation and ethical life of modern societies. 3. To examine and assess some of the leading philosophical, social scientific and interpretative attempts to account for socially organised evil- and wrong-doing in modern societies. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Apply and evaluate a range of social scientific and historical explanations and theories of the Holocaust and genocide and to identify and reflect on the puzzling and disturbing issues that they generate 5. Reflect on the core social scientific and historical disciplines as explanatory and interpretive endeavours and assess their success and limitations in making sense of the Holocaust, genocide and other kindred events, processes and institutions |
| Personal and Key Skills | 6. Reflect on, and examine critically, taken-for-granted moral and cultural beliefs and values 7. Analyse and communicate, clearly and directly, a range of social scientific, theoretical, explanatory, epistemological, ontological, and normative issues arising from study of the Holocaust, genocide and other kindred events, processes and institutions 8. Work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task. |