Personalise your degree
At Plymouth, your degree really is what you make it. Choose to study optional modules from across the school.
Careers with this subject
- Museum Curatorship
- Environmental Conservation
- Development
- Public Health and Epidemic
- Advocacy
- Market Research
- Inclusivity and Human Resources
- Engaging in Multiculturalism Campaigns
- Journalism
- Fiction Writers
Key features
- All our modules rely on 100% coursework. We want to create inclusive learning environments, designing forms of assessment that reflect real working conditions and truly test the skills anthropologists will need to apply in their future careers.
- Learn anthropology through an innovative, hands-on approach. Throughout your time with us, you will get many opportunities to participate in real anthropological research.
- You will be taught by research-active anthropologists, who constantly publish work in renowned academic journals, ensuring your course is based on cutting-edge developments in the field.
- Take part in two major, funded field trips that enable you to practice core anthropological skills, and get to know your colleagues better. Travel to London and Oxford to visit various ethnographic museums, and take part in an international field trip to carry out fieldwork in a non-British setting.
- Shape the way anthropology is taught. Many of the subjects we teach are directly proposed by students themselves. That’s why you’ll learn about marine ethnography, humour and laughter, conspiracy theory, and anything in between.
- BA (Hons) Art History
- BA (Hons) Creative Writing
- BSc (Hons) Criminology
- BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology
- BSc (Hons) Criminology and Sociology
- BA (Hons) English
- BA (Hons) English and Creative Writing
- BA (Hons) History
- BSc (Hons) International Relations
- LLB (Hons) Law
- LLB (Hons) Law and Criminology
- BSc (Hons) Politics
- BSc (Hons) Politics and International Relations
- BSc (Hons) Sociology
- BSc (Hons) Professional Policing
Course details
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Foundation year
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In your foundation year, you’ll you acquire the knowledge and skills you’ll need to progress through your studies and become a confident, independent learner.
Core modules
SSC301
Discovering Your Inner Academic 30 creditsIn this module, students will learn the core academic and organisational skills required to succeed at university. They will benefit from a range of skill development sessions and subject-specific seminars, allowing them to practice applying the delivered academic skills in the context of their field of study.
100% Coursework
SSC302
Individual Project 30 creditsStudents will undertake, with supervision, an individual project related to their degree programme. Staff will guide students through the process of defining, planning, and setting up their project. As part of the module, students will gain research and time management skills that will support their successful progression through their degree programme.
100% Coursework
SSC303
Crime and Deviance 30 creditsThis module will introduce students to the main institutions and processes of the legal system and criminal justice in England and Wales, while developing key transferable skills related to the study and practice of law and criminal justice.
100% Coursework
SSC304
Human Rights and Social Justice 30 creditsThrough the lens of human rights and social justice is module will introduce students to a foundational sociological understanding of the structure and organisation of society; and to the main institutions of domestic and international government, and the theories and concepts used by political science to study them.
100% Coursework
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Year 1
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In your first year, we introduce you to the core of the discipline. You will learn how to think like an anthropologist, comparing data from across the worlds to make solid statements about human behaviour. You will also have the chance to start actually doing your own ethnographic fieldwork, not just reading about it!
Core modules
ANT4001
Introduction to Anthropology 20 creditsThis introductory module provides students new to anthropology to the core topics, goals, theories, and methods of the discipline. Students will learn foundational skills related to how to understand and analyse forms of human life socially, culturally, and morally different from their own. They will also learn how to compare different societies in order to produce solid arguments about the human condition.
100% Coursework
ANT4003
Visual Cultures and Art History 20 creditsThis module provides Anthropology students with a comprehensive understanding of the major theoretical and methodological techniques used to understand art, visual culture, and visual representations. Basic research literacy will be developed in a number of exercises and group-based activities.
100% Coursework
ANT4004
Fieldwork and Ethnography 20 creditsIn this module, students will learn how to conduct an ethnographic project from inception to completion. We will focus on training methodological skills, familiarising ourselves with anthropological ethics, and producing anthropological arguments using the ethnographic evidence we ourselves collect.
100% Coursework
ANT4005
Cultural Practices in Context 20 creditsThis module is geared toward fieldwork and independent study in a museum and/or gallery context. Following a Fieldtrip to public collections in London and/or the Southwest students complete an Object Report on an object of their choice seen in situ. This module will include 2, 2 hour talks that introduce our School and programme level employability related opportunities and support, including details of the optional placement year.
100% Coursework
SOC4002
Social Identities and Inequalities 20 creditsThis module explores how and why social inequalities influence lived experience and social identities. It focuses on a range of substantive issues, such as poverty, social class and hierarchies, health, gender and sexuality, family and kinship, neo-colonialism and 'race', and violence and ethnicity. This module explores how these influence culture, social identities and lived experience throughout the life-course.
100% Coursework
SOC4003IE
Body Relatedness and Identity 20 creditsThis module draws on a range of sociological and anthropological sources to examine how societies across the world perceive, transform, control and use the human body. The module's themes are designed to help students appreciate the body as central to the way humans experience the world. Seminars explore the disciplining and surveillance of bodies, the development of "habitus", bodily adornment and transformation, gender and sexuality, biopolitics, the commercialisation of the human body, and the body as a window on wider symbolic-cultural orders. In discussing these topics, first-year students will learn important social science skills, namely the ability to compare different socio-cultural contexts and engage in productive, multidisciplinary discussions.
100% Coursework
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Year 2
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In your second year, you will further develop your social scientific research skills, and get to practice more advanced ethnographic fieldwork techniques (such as multi-species and multi-sensory ethnography, and participant observation of digital worlds). You will be also able to explore many specialist subjects, and start to identify the topic you’d like to explore for your dissertation.
Core modules
ANT5003
Applying Anthropology 20 creditsIn this module, students are acquainted with advanced ethnographic research techniques, including reflexivity, netnography, multi-species relations, narrative analysis and multi-sensory ethnography. They also explore the interplay between methods and writing. Building on their existing skills, students develop a research project that applies these advanced concepts and methods.
100% Coursework
SSC500
Stage 2 Professional Development, Placement Preparation and Identifying Opportunities 0 creditsThis module is for students in the School of Society and Culture who are interested in undertaking an optional placement in the third year of their programme. It supports students in their search, application, and preparation for the placement, including developing interview techniques and effective application materials (e.g. CVs , portfolios, and cover letters).
ARH5001
Collecting and Exhibiting Cultures in the 19th and 20th Centuries 20 creditsThis module examines historical and contemporary cultures of collection, exhibition, and display. Drawing on interdisciplinary debates, students will learn to discuss and analyse the politics and ethics of art ownership, theft, looting, and repatriation.
100% Coursework
Optional modules
ANT5002
Gifts, Commodities and Crises: A contemporary guide to economic anthropology 20 creditsThis module that uses ethnographic evidence from across the world to examine how humans exploit their environments (and each other) to make a living. Focus will be on how 'value' is socially produced, on how different societies people produce, distribute, consume, accumulate, and own resources, and on how economic practices interact with other spheres of society.
100% Coursework
ANT5005
Why so Serious? The Anthropology of Humour and Laughter 20 creditsThis module examines the nature and function of humour and laughter across a range of socio-cultural and political-economic settings. Students examine how humour can create, reinforce, shape, and undermine and destroy all sorts of political relationships and structures. Accordingly, we see how mockery, sarcasm, and ridicule can become tools of domination, resistance, and transformation.
100% Coursework
HIS5005
Research Methods in Visual, Material and Oral History 20 creditsThis module investigates the use of oral, material & visual sources as a means of investigating the past. Also, the contextualisation of historical sources and questions in the wider historiographical literature.
Explore this module100% Coursework
SOC5002
Race, Nation, Empire: Understanding Identity and Belonging in the UK 20 creditsThis module explores how intersecting ideologies of racism, nationalism, and imperialism relate to contemporary struggles over identity and belonging in the UK. In doing so, the module seeks to provide students with a critical understanding of the ideological bases of some of the most urgent issues facing British society today, including: the fracturing of the UK after loss of empire; the racist backlash against postcolonial migration; and, the rise of English nationalism and the vote for Brexit.
100% Coursework
ARH5007
Regimes and Revolutions in European Art 20 creditsThis module examines the visual culture of the long eighteenth century in Europe, and the development of art in relation to the age of revolution (1750 to 1850). Focusing on Britain and France, it will explore the changes occurring in art and society in this period. It will include such topics as Neo-Classicism and Romanticism; the Academy; the rise of portraiture and the changing status of history painting; in a context of politics, war and uprising.
100% Coursework
PER5008MX
Play and Games for Performance 20 creditsThis module will introduce students to practical methods for designing games and play structures for participatory performances that invite audiences to become actively involved in the work. In addition to learning new tools for designing and facilitating play, students will be prompted to consider playfulness from a theoretical perspective, recognising the connection between the play of mimesis and theatrical performance.
100% Coursework
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Optional placement year
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Gain valuable on-the-job experience through our optional placement year. We will support you in your second year in deciding whether to take this opportunity, and assist you in finding a placement and being prepared for it.
Core modules
SSC600
School of Society and Culture Placement YearStudents have the opportunity to gain work experience that will set them apart in the job market when they graduate by undertaking an optional flexible placement year. The placement must be a minimum of 24-weeks (which can be split between a maximum of two different placement providers) and up to a maximum of 48-weeks over the course of the academic year. The placement is flexible and can be undertaken virtually, part or full time and either paid or voluntary. This year allows them to apply and hone the knowledge and skills acquired from the previous years of their programme in the real world.
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Final year
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In your final year, you will work closely with your personal supervisor and use all the skills you’ve learned to produce an anthropological dissertation on a topic of your choice. At the same time, you will also take on the role of live consultant to apply anthropology to solve a particular problem, ideally in an area in which you wish to work or pursue further study.
Core modules
ANT6001
Anthropological Dissertation Project 40 creditsIn this module students conduct a year-long ethnographic project. Liaising closely with their Dissertation supervisor, students choose an appropriate topic, engage in research using ethnographic methods, and write a dissertation that addresses contemporary debates in the discipline and adheres to anthropological writing conventions.
100% Coursework
ANT6006
Anthropology on the Ground 20 creditsIn this module students take on the role of a live consultant in a professional setting. Working with partners in industry, governance, or civil society, students will apply anthropology to solve a particular problem, ideally in an area in which they wish to work or pursue further study.
70% Practicals
30% Coursework
Optional modules
ANT6002
Different Ways of Knowing: The Anthropology of truth, post-truth and conspiracy 20 creditsThis module explores the nature of knowledge and truth from a cross-cultural perspective. How do ideas of truth differ culturally, and change over time? How do people produce, guard, and destroy knowledge? After an introduction to phenomenology and ontology, students will be able to engage with different systems of truth and knowledge - from oral history, to scientific debate, to prophecy and conspiracy.
60% Coursework
40% Practicals
ANT6003
Gifts, Commodities and Crises: A contemporary guide to economic anthropology 20 creditsThis module that uses ethnographic evidence from across the world to examine how humans exploit their environments (and each other) to make a living. Focus will be on how “value” is socially produced, on how to make sense of the different ways in which people produce, distribute, consume, accumulate, and own resources, and on how economic practices interact with other spheres of society.
60% Coursework
40% Practicals
ANT6004
The Anthropology of Justice and Morality: Legal Anthropology in the 21st CenturyThis module teaches students to address global issues – from political correctness, to migration, to neo-nationalism - through the toolset of Legal Anthropology. What does law, justice and punishment look like in different societies? What is the relationship between morality, law, and the state? How are ideas of “good” and “bad” shaped by the socio-cultural context in which they are embedded?
ANT6005
Why so Serious? The Anthropology of Humour and Laughter 20 creditsThis module examines the nature and function of humour and laughter across a range of socio-cultural and political-economic settings. Students examine how humour can create, reinforce, shape, and undermine and destroy all sorts of political relationships and structures. Accordingly, we see how mockery, sarcasm, and ridicule can become tools of domination, resistance, and transformation.
60% Coursework
40% Practicals
ARH6003
Art After 1950: Abstract Expressionism to a 'Black Arts Movement’ 20 creditsThe module examines artistic practices and theories of the later twentieth-century and beyond, investigating the interrelations of art and theory in conditions of diversification, profusion of styles, forms, and agendas, development of new media and representational modes, displacements and reinscriptions of modernism, and challenges to traditional concepts of art. It situates these shifts in the visual language within the broader critical context of racial and gender inequalities.
100% Coursework
ARH6004
Decolonizing Modernism: Art 1890 - 1940 20 creditsThis module aims to explore the history of the beginnings of modern art across Europe and/or the United States, incorporating its theory, practice and reception, through an analysis of the development of selected moments, schools and individuals central to the Modernist tradition. The module also addresses the impact of colonial structures on the creation, distribution and consumption of art.
100% Coursework
MUS6002
Ethnomusicology 20 creditsThis module teaches ethnomusicology at an advanced level and considers music in its cultural and everyday context. It includes practical engagement with specialist practitioners as well as keynote lectures that expand on methodology/theories of selected pioneers in ethnomusicology. It will also investigate the how ethnomusicological research can be applied to musicianship and research.
100% Coursework
SOC6001
Media, State and Society 20 creditsThe media occupy key arenas whereby various social groups compete with one another to set public, political, commercial and cultural agendas. This module examines the relationship between media, state and society. It covers a number of substantive topic areas such as environmental issues, terrorism, war reporting, gender, crime and violence.
100% Coursework
SOC6002
Food, Culture and Society 20 creditsThis module aims to provide a critical understanding of sociological issues relating to food and foodways, (the beliefs and behaviours surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of food both on an individual and collective level). The module encourages critical reflection and practical experience of research in the area of food and foodways, with a focus on lived experience.
100% Coursework
ENG6003
Advanced Short Story WorkshopIn this module we will examine a range of contemporary short story writing and relevant theory as a way for students to learn how to compose their own short fiction. Class time will be divided between discussion of short fiction and theory, writing exercises and peer workshops of student work. The workshops will be substantially informed by staff research practice.
CRM6007
Global (In)security and the State 20 creditsThis module explores the issue of global (in)security in the context of state and non-state conflict. Theoretical and conceptual understandings of crime, violence, victimisation and justice will be used to interrogate acts such as war crimes and terrorism. The module will address the history of such crimes and will critically explore State and international responses.
100% Coursework
Personalise your degree
Anthropology with Art History
Modules
ARH5008MX
Painting Sex and Power
20 credits
The module examines the link between the perception of sexuality and power in a variety of media, and from diverse historical and geographic contexts. Critical approaches from gender studies will be combined with visual analysis in order to contextualize the biased and stereotypical nature of the imagery.
100% Coursework
ARH5002MX
Imagery in Online and Offline Worlds: Film, Television and Video Games
20 credits
This module provides students with a comprehensive understanding of current approaches towards mass media and visual culture. Particular emphasis will be put on medium-specificity, content analysis and audience studies.
100% Coursework
ARH6002MX
Questions in Contemporary Art
20 credits
The module introduces and examines selected questions raised in the last three decades in contemporary art. Case studies drawn from art history, critical and cultural theory, and where appropriate related disciplines, will be examined.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with Creative Writing
Modules
ENG5010MX
Writing Creative Nonfiction: Autobiography, Travel Writing, Reportage
20 credits
This module introduces students to the key concepts and issues in contemporary works of creative nonfiction, or 'life writing'. Included in our readings will be works of memoir and autobiography, travel writing, personal essays and reportage. The module is entirely taught in workshops where we experiment with producing our own works of creative nonfiction and learning to refine them, as well as critically evaluate and contextualise them.
100% Coursework
ENG5017MX
Writing Genre Fiction
20 credits
This module takes students into in-depth engagement with prose fiction writing in various genres, with possibilities including fantasy, science-fiction, period/historical, young adult fiction, horror, comedy, romance, crime, and thriller. The module is taught through lecture, seminars, and workshops where students are asked to submit and feedback to peers and tutors on a regular basis.
100% Coursework
ENG6008MX
Features Journalism Workshop
20 credits
This module offers students an in-depth experience of professional writing. We will explore technique in features and literary journalism; music reviews, opinion columns and longer immersion features as well as other contemporary works of non-fiction feature writing, both short- and long-form, from sub-genres including profiles and interviews, autobiography and columns, travel writing, and reportage. We will learn to research and produce our own works of professional nonfiction and critically evaluate them.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with English
Modules
ENG5002MX
Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins and Vampires
20 credits
This module looks at eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels to trace the variety and scope of literary contributions to the Gothic. It begins by discussing the origins of the Gothic novel, then moves to the heyday of the genre in the revolutionary 1790s, on to authors writing in the early and mid-nineteenth century, through to the decadence of the 1890s.
100% Coursework
ENG5013MX
‘Hurt Minds’: Madness and Mental Illness in Literature
20 credits
This module considers changing attitudes towards, and a variety of theories of, the mind, examining how different cultures have understood ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ mental states. It will look at how the experience and treatment of mental illness has been represented in fiction. The mind is at its most fascinating when it behaves outside of expected social norms. By considering a variety of literary texts over several centuries, this module explores shifts in the definition, understanding, evaluation, and management of exceptional mental states.
100% Coursework
ENG6005MX
American Crime Writing
20 credits
This module considers the development of twentieth-century American crime fiction from hard-boiled detectives, to myths of the mafia, and postmodern reinventions of the genre. This module will explore the cultural contexts of American crime writing, prevailing conventions of the genre, as well as challenges to those conventions.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with History
Modules
HIS5004MX
Global Cold War: Politics, Culture and Society
20 credits
This module is an introduction to major themes in the political, social and cultural history of the modern world with special focus on the 20th century and the Cold War.
100% Coursework
HIS5007MX
Eighteenth-Century Empires
20 credits
This module is designed to explore the ‘long eighteenth century’ with a broad geographical focus, encompassing, but not limited to the Atlantic Isles, Atlantic world, formal and informal empire, and trading connections. It takes in the slave trade and impact of slavery globally, studies voyages of exploration, examines the scientific and political enlightenment, and wider cultural and social impacts of imperialism.
100% Coursework
HIS5009MX
Middle Kingdoms: Themes in Early Modern Asia
20 credits
This module introduces the history of early modern Japan (c.16th-19th centuries). At one level, it explores key questions shaping the histories of the late Sengoku (‘Warring States’) and Tokugawa Japan. Building on these questions, it then situates the Japanese experience in a trans-regional perspective with reference to early modern China, Korea, Ryukyu, as well as Europe.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS5014MX
Dunkirk to D Day: The Second World War in Europe
20 credits
The module examines the Second World War in Europe and the Atlantic Ocean from 1940 to late 1944.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS6002MX
Piracy and Privateering, c.1560-1816
20 credits
This module explores piracy and privateering activity in the seas around the British Isles and further afield from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the end of the second Barbary War in 1816. This course focuses on the social history of piracy and privateering, the organisation of pirate society, and the economic impact of piracy and privateering.
Explore this module100% Coursework
HIS6006MX
America, the United Nations and International Relations 1945 to the present
20 credits
This module provides a detailed examination of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Nations in the management of international relations from 1945 to the present.
Explore this module100% Coursework
Anthropology with Criminology
Modules
CRM6010MX
Green Criminology
20 credits
This module will address theoretical perspectives, methodological issues, and empirical research related to the field of green criminology, including applied concerns, such as policy and social/political praxis, through a range of concepts, topics, and themes that are central to green criminology.
100% Coursework
CRM5007MX
Contemporary Issues in Criminology
20 credits
This module focuses upon a contemporary criminological or criminal justice-related issue that has received attention in the media and in official reports but may not be well covered yet in an established academic literature. The purpose of the module is for students to collect data on the issue and to subject it to a criminological analysis appropriate to the topic.
100% Coursework
CRM5003MX
Harm in the 21st Century
20 credits
This module explores the global challenges of harmful behaviours and activities in contemporary society by considering specific areas of concern for criminologists. By drawing on real-world examples in everyday life, the module examines how social problems and issues have arisen due to processes of globalisation that have changed the social, political and economic landscape of the 21st century.
100% Coursework
CRM5009MX
Crime, Harm and Culture
20 credits
The module aims to provide students with a critical appreciation of harm and crime by exploring relevant issues from film, television, music, fiction literature and art. By applying a criminological lens to different forms of popular culture, students will be able to examine a variety of media forms in terms of its content and its contemporary political, social and economic context using different theories and concepts.
100% Coursework
CRM5008MX
Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues
20 credits
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM6011MX
Security Management
20 credits
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
Anthropology with International Relations
Modules
PIR6007MX
Global Environmental Politics
20 credits
This module examines the problem of environmental degradation and its implications for our global political economy. It discusses the major debates in political thought around the primary causes of environmental degradation. The module outlines the major attempts to build international regimes for global environmental governance, and the difficulties and obstacles that such attempts have encountered. A range of ideas, critiques, policy proposals, innovations in governance, and templates for political activism within the environmental movement are critically evaluated.
100% Coursework
PIR5009MX
Refugee Studies
20 credits
This module focuses on the political, economic and social context of forced migration and considers the complex and varied nature of global refugee populations. It analyses responses at international, national and regional level and engages with a range of challenging questions around international co-operation, the framework of international protection, humanitarianism and the causes of displacement.
100% Coursework
PIR5011MX
Global Development
20 credits
This module embraces both theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding development issues and policies, at international and multilateral scale. The approach incorporates historical, economic, political and social perspectives. The module considers issues faced by international development agencies, as well as the impact on populations in the developing world to illustrate and provide context for the discussion of various developmental concerns.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with Politics
Modules
PIR5013MX
Politics Beyond Parliaments
20 credits
This module analyses the role of civil society and the public sphere in democratic governance and in democratization from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
100% Coursework
PIR5014MX
Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning
20 credits
This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.
100% Coursework
PIR6008MX
Voter Behaviour and Effective Election Campaigning
20 credits
This module undertakes an advanced examination of contemporary trends and developments in theories of electoral behaviour globally; then more specifically the relationship between electoral rules, electoral systems and election outcomes; the evolution of campaign techniques, and the role, mechanics, and accuracy of opinion polls in modern electoral politics. These global understandings are applied directly to the case of British politics.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with Law
Modules
LAW5019MX
Law in Context: Commerce and Intellectual Property
20 credits
This module focuses on the work of commercial lawyers in practice in helping businesses to trade. It analyses a range of contractual agreements dealing with the manufacture, sale, supply and distribution of goods, assets and services in general and intellectual property in particular.
100% Coursework
LAW6012MX
Public International Law
20 credits
A module that focuses on the primary legal principles of the public international legal order, before exploring a range of substantive areas, such as, for example, the use of force, the law regulating the conduct of war, International Human Rights, International Criminal Law and International Environmental Law.
100% Coursework
LAW5012MX
Law, Literature and the Screen
20 credits
To introduce students to fictional and factional representations of the legal order in prose, film and TV, and to examine the inter-connections between law, literature and the screen.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with Sociology
Modules
SOC5005MX
Globalisation and Social Justice
20 credits
This module investigates the key debates of globalisation and critically evaluates, in terms of its economic, political, socio-cultural and legal dimensions, the causes and consequences of a globalising world. It furthermore explores a range of international social justice issues to examine the relationships (causative and ameliorative) between policies and (in)justice
60% Coursework
40% Practicals
SOC5006MX
Gender, Sex and Sexuality
20 credits
This module introduces students to the sociology of gender, sex and sexuality. It interrogates these concepts with particular reference to identity, activism, social justice and social change. It develops an understanding of the similarities, differences and intersections between gender, sex, sexuality and other social signifiers of difference/diversity including ‘race’, ethnicity, dis/ability, class and age.
100% Coursework
SOC6004MX
Health, Medical Power and Social Justice
20 credits
This module considers a range of issues concerning health, illness and medical power in contemporary society. The module seeks to develop an understanding of the impact of ‘medicalisation’ on everyday life, as well as the importance of social divisions, such as age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. There will be a focus on a range of sociological perspectives on health with an opportunity to focus upon areas of particular interest.
100% Coursework
Anthropology with Policing and Security Management
Modules
CRM6011MX
Security Management
20 credits
This module provides students with a critical insight into the professional domain of security management. It provides an overview of the theories, policies, procedures and practices that underpin the work of the security manager, and focuses upon a career-relevant knowledge and understanding of this significant area of expertise.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM5008MX
Security and Policing Today: Debates and Issues
20 credits
This module provides students with a contemporary overview of debates and issues in policing and security environments that inform practice and development in the field. The module examines how modern policing and security function, the impact of professionalization on all aspects of policing tasks and the tensions and benefits attained from multi-agency working. The module considers policing legitimacy, the ethics of crime control and associated engagement with the diversity of contemporary society, competing community interests and professional practice.
70% Coursework
30% Tests
CRM5009MX
Crime, Harm and Culture
20 credits
The module aims to provide students with a critical appreciation of harm and crime by exploring relevant issues from film, television, music, fiction literature and art. By applying a criminological lens to different forms of popular culture, students will be able to examine a variety of media forms in terms of its content and its contemporary political, social and economic context using different theories and concepts.
100% Coursework
CRM5003MX
Harm in the 21st Century
20 credits
This module explores the global challenges of harmful behaviours and activities in contemporary society by considering specific areas of concern for criminologists. By drawing on real-world examples in everyday life, the module examines how social problems and issues have arisen due to processes of globalisation that have changed the social, political and economic landscape of the 21st century.
100% Coursework
Entry requirements
UCAS tariff
32 - 48
Contextual offers: Typically, the contextual offer for this course is 8 points below the advertised tariff. A contextual offer is an offer to study at university that takes into account individual circumstances that are beyond your control, and that can potentially impact your learning and your exam results, or your confidence in applying to university.
GCSE English: Grade C/4 or above, if your grade is lower then please refer to the institution for further advice.
Fees, costs and funding
New student | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 * |
---|---|---|
Home | £9,250 | £5,760 |
International | £17,100 | £17,600 |
Part time (Home) | £770 | £480 |
* UK Government announcement on tuition fees
On Monday 4 November 2024, the UK Government announced a proposal to increase tuition fees for home undergraduate students from £9,250 to £9,535 per annum from September 2025 onwards. The University of Plymouth intends to apply this new fee from September 2025. However, implementation of this increase will be subject to parliamentary procedure. This change applies to new students starting their studies in September 2025. For current and returning students, the University is reviewing fees and will update you as soon as possible.
Undergraduate scholarships for international students
To reward outstanding achievement the University of Plymouth offers scholarship schemes to help towards funding your studies.
Additional costs
Tuition fees for optional placement years
How to apply
Help & enquiries
- Admission enquiries
- admissions@plymouth.ac.uk
- +44 1752 585858
- PlymUniApply
Gain hands-on experience
Opening your eyes to opportunity
"Having a degree is great, but having experience will put you above other applicants. If you’re unsure of what you want to do after university, then consider applying for an internship to help make that decision easier.” – Natasha, BA (Hons) Anthropology student
Preparing you for your future
Join the Plymouth Cold Case Unit
Applications are open to all foundation and year 1 students in the School of Society and Culture.
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Where can anthropology take you?
As an anthropologist, you will possess many skills which will allow you to pursue many different career options.
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Museum curatorship
Anthropologists are leaders when it comes to thinking about new forms of curatorship, or navigating restitution issues or colonial legacies.
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Environmental conservation
Anthropologists tend to be especially good at understanding local approaches to the environment, as well as tricky issues of governance, like poaching.
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Development
Anthropologists have always been instrumental in showing that effective development is one that “fits” local culture and understands local needs.
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Public health and epidemic
Anthropologists are key in designing health campaigns that embrace local understandings of health, disease and death.
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Advocacy
Anthropologists represent groups who lack the voice or power to defend themselves. They fight for the weak, the poor, the misunderstood, and have been key players defending indigenous rights.
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Market research
Anthropologists have a strong understanding of how people imbue things with value, and are very important for companies developing and marketing new products.
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Inclusivity and human resources
Anthropologists are particularly good in thinking about representation, and in creating inclusive and fair workspaces.
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Engaging in multiculturalism campaigns
Anthropologists are excellent at leading projects and policies that promote the strong aspects of multiculturalism without reproducing its pitfalls and failures.
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Journalism
Anthropologists’ ability to think critically and write clearly has made them excellent journalists, particularly regarding issues such as capitalism and politics. Anthropologists were key in predicting and describing the financial crash of 2008.
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Fiction writers
With such a sensitive grasp on the way humans behave, anthropologists have produced outstanding fiction and become excellent writers.
What our students think
Our lecturer has always been on hand both to aid us academically and care for us as individuals.” – Gregor Sime, Anthropology
2021 NSS results
Our BA (Hons) Anthropology degree is:
- 1st in the UK for teaching on my course, assessment and feedback, academic support and student voice
- 3rd for overall satisfaction
Meet our experts
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Dr Brian Campbell
Lecturer in Anthropology
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Dr Péter Bokody
Associate Professor of Art History
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Dr Darren Aoki
Associate Professor of World History and Oral History
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Dr Jenny Graham
Associate Professor (Reader) in Art History
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Dr Alicja Syska
Learning Development Advisor
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Dr Ivan Tacey
Lecturer in Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology
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Dr Lyvinia Elleschild
Lecturer in Sociology (Education)
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Dr Miriam Darlington
Lecturer in English and Creative Writing