Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3247: Politics of Biology

This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

19^th century appropriations of Darwinian theory by both laissez-faire capitalist and socialist/anarchist ideology;
The role of biological ideas in 20^th century eugenics movements and the phenomenon of ‘dehumanisation’;
The notions of ‘nature’ and ‘human nature’ in debates around issues such as gender, sexuality, disability, and the use of bio-technologies;
The implications of contemporary understandings of development and evolution for our ideas of identity, diversity, the individual and society.

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activity	22	11 x two-hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	50	Private study reading and preparing for weekly seminars
Guided Independent Study	78	Preparation and completion of assessments: independent research and writing

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).