Department of Social & Policy Sciences, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
SP30072 Corporate power & the social challenge |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Honours |
| Semester: 1 |
| Assessment: ES100 |
| Requisites: |
| Before taking this unit you must take SP10043 and take SP10044 |
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Aims:
The aims of the unit are:
i. To identify important changes in the boundaries and interactions between business and society.
ii. To relate these changes to the evolution and impact of socio-political attempts at greater social accountability.
iii To identify key social foundations on which business activity depends.
Learning Outcomes: Students taking this unit should gain an understanding of: * The main types of social challenge to business autonomy. * Current debates about business accountability. * Key examples of the inter-dependence of business and social institutions. Skills: Intellectual Skills - develop capabilities to: * think creavely and analytically; * communicate an argument; * evaluate others' arguments and research; * critically evaluate and assess research and evidence as well as a variety of other information; * gather information, data,research and literature from a number of differentsources (i.e.library, webbased, archives etc.); * select appropriate and relevant information from a wide source and large body of knowledge; * synthesise information from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding; * utilise problem solving skills. Transferable/Key Skills - to develop: * Essay research, preparation and writing skills; * To construct a bibliography of vary complexity; * Team and group working skills; Content: Changes in social and political challenges to capitalist enterprise. Philosophical, historical and social structural sources of these challenges. Socialist, corporatist and environmentalist and communitarian challenges. The social foundations of business commerce and trade: trust, association, community, values and citizenship. |