Undergraduate

Welfare, crime and society

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability

This course examines the relationships between the worlds of social welfare and crime control. It focuses on policy interventions and responses in the UK and around the world to issues such as anti-social behaviour, poverty, discrimination, hate crimes, child labour, health and disease, families, slums, ghettos and gated communities. Using multi-media teaching materials, the course is organised by four conceptual themes - surveillance, social justice, security and community. It will equip you with the skills you need to select and evaluate evidence in relation to social science arguments and social policy.

Course facts

Register for the course

This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.

What you will study

• Is it possible to detect a punitive approach to social policy, and a welfarist approach to crime control? Are there some core ideas, such as personal responsibility and punishment, which apply to both welfare and crime control policies? Are these new approaches or were they always evident in policy responses? Are these approaches evident only in the UK, or are they also visible in other countries?
• How does a focus on the links between social welfare and crime control help us understand important issues of social concern, such as antisocial behaviour, corporate crime, community safety, environmental degradation, child welfare, warfare and poverty?
• In a globalising world of rapid social change and interconnectedness what are the effects of social regulation, surveillance and penalisation on people’s lives? Do these policies impact on some social groups and populations more than others? Do they enhance our sense of security and well-being or do they undermine it?
• Does looking at historical responses to these questions, in our own and other societies, help us make sense of what’s going on currently? Are ideas of responsibility, conditionality, punitivity and ‘dangerous populations’ ‘new’ – or have they always been present in public policies addressing social problems of unmet need, crime and disorder in one way or another?
• What kinds of evidence can best help us understand these trends and evaluate their effects? How is evidence variously mobilised in the course of research, evaluation and policy making? And how do different kinds of evidence reflect – or challenge – the worldview of those involved in making policy and delivering services?

To help us answer these questions, this course looks critically at a wide range of social issues, drawing on experiences of the UK and countries in Western Europe, Africa, North America and South America. It looks at the policies of national governments and the involvement of international organisations, such as the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation in the making of welfare and crime control policy, as well as the social campaigns of non-governmental organisations, social movements and community organisations. The course looks to the present, as well as the past, in making sense of contemporary strategies and responses across the social welfare and crime control domains.

These kinds of concerns, questions and themes are explored across the course. It is organised into five parts, which collectively explore the entanglements between social welfare provision and crime control strategies.

Part one provides a gentle introduction (‘taster’) to the course questions and themes. It is presented through a DVD on surveillance made specifically for this course. Through a focus on childcare, gated communities and borders, this film explores how forms and practices of surveillance reveal the everyday entanglements of welfare provision and crime control in the UK and further afield.

Part two examines the relationship between social welfare and crime control through the lens of social justice. This book-led unit is concerned with changing ideas about, and struggles over, social justice at different points in time and in different contexts and settings. It explores issues of social inequality, poverty, well-being and harm in relation to diverse issues relating to paid and unpaid work, the provision of health and welfare services, housing and environmental degradation.

Part three focuses on the concept of security to investigate the emergence of widespread insecurity and fear around economic, social and cultural change. It asks why security has become such an important idea and how the notion of security links the different domains of social, personal and political life, and especially the worlds of crime control and welfare. It seeks to make sense of the changing nature of the relationship between security and insecurity and explores some of the consequences and implications of policies and practices aimed at creating security. It explores debates about social fears and responses to those fears in relation to topics such as housing, families and transport, and the regulation of social behaviour, war and disease.

Part four explores the social welfare-crime control relationships through a focus on community. It examines the contradictions of the appeal of community in terms of its identification both as a site of social ‘good’, care and stability and as a source of social problems, exclusion and order. It considers the difficulties of defining what community means; looks at the ways in which community has become a central feature of both social welfare and crime control policies; and examines a range of debates around social regulation and social capital, and issues of community safety, ‘disorder’ and mobilisations.

Part five returns to the DVD used in part one of the course and uses additional DVD material to revisit the key course concepts, themes and questions. The DVD also contains revision guidance tailored to support students through their preparation for the end-of-course exam.

Across each of the five study units students will learn about evidence, social science argument and policy – and the relationship between them. This involves a focus on different forms and sources of evidence, the ways in which different kinds of evidence are mobilised in the policy-making process and in social science debates about those policies. Students will use evidence to explore the questions raised in the course and will think about the part that evidence plays in the policy-making processes. Students will be encouraged to apply their DD208 learning to the analysis of non-course situations and examples.

DD208 reflects The Open University’s (OU) commitment to developing courses that span and integrate a range of learning outcomes across the areas of knowledge and understanding; cognitive (analytical) skills; key skills of communication and information literacy and lifelong learning; and practical and professional skills. The development of these skills is embedded within every stage of the course, so that students will be supported in progressively developing these skills.

Vocational relevance

Welfare, crime and society is relevant to a wide range of jobs in the public, voluntary, community and commercial sectors. The areas and themes the course looks at are directly relevant to a variety of jobs in public administration, health, education, social welfare services and criminal justice services, amongst others. The analytical and key skills you will develop are relevant to any job context. Amongst the ‘transferable’ skills you will develop are: the ability to identify, gather, analyse and assess evidence; present reasoned and coherent arguments; write clearly in a range of styles such as essays, reports and policy reviews; apply learning to non-course provided examples and situations; and plan and reflect on your own work and learning.

Entry

This is a Level 2 course and you need to have a good knowledge of the subject area, obtained either through Level 1 study with the OU, or by doing equivalent work at another university. 

Our key introductory Level 1 course Introducing the social sciences (DD101) gives an excellent grounding for this Level 2 course.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Preparatory work

There is no requirement for prospective students to have undertaken any specific preparatory work prior to starting this course. However, for those who wish to begin thinking about some of the possible ways in which social welfare and crime control policies intersect with one another, the course team would direct you to read Naomi Klein’s No Logo (Flamingo, 2001). This work of non-fiction examines the harmful practices of global corporations and the ways in which individuals and communities are mobilising to oppose them in the name of social justice. Ian Rankin’s Fleshmarket Close (Orion, 2005) is a detective novel dealing with the plight of asylum seekers in a detention centre in Scotland. Alternatively, we recommend students watch Sweet Sixteen, directed by Ken Loach (2000). This film explores how the efforts of a teenager to improve his ‘lot’ while living in a deprived housing estate lead him into a world of criminality.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Written transcripts of audio and audiovisual components are available. The DVD film features subtitles. Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are also available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.

If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

Three course textbooks, DVD, audio CD and course website.

You will need

A DVD player is strongly recommended.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will be assigned a tutor who will provide advice and guidance relating to all aspects of the course. They will also mark and provide feedback on your assignments. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. The location of tutorials depends on the geographical distribution of students taking the course.

Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.

You must use the online eTMA system to submit some of your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• Introducing the social sciences (DD101)
• Exploring psychology (DSE212)
• Crime and justice (DD301)
• Personal lives and social policy (DD305)
• Social psychology: critical perspectives on self and others (DD307)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2012. We expect it to be available once a year.

Fees 2012

See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.

Study explained

Financial support

- find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.

Study explained

- all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.

A taste of OU study

Student Reviews

This course was my favourite so far! I really enjoyed it,it was interesting and a great follow on from DD101. ...
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I found this course very interesting. Some comments mention the repetitive nature of the materials, but I found each of ...
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Your questions

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Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35

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