University of the West of England

MODULE SPECIFICATION

(Revised October 2005)

Code: UPPNGW-30-3 Title: Political Psychology Version: 2

Level: 3 UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15

Module type: Standard

Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: Politics

Valid from: September 2008 Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: Awards up to BA/BSC (Hons)

Pre-requisites: None

Co-requisites: None

Excluded combinations: Political Psychology UPPNGW-30-2

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

1. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of psychoanalytic and other depth psychological theories of the emotions (Assessment component A, elements 1 and 2).

2. Demonstrate an ability to effectively apply such theories to understanding a variety of forms of political behaviour (Assessment component B, elements 1 and 2).

3. Analyse the implicit or explicit models of human agency in some key traditions within political science (Assessment component A, elements 1 and 2)

4. Critically examine the interface between psychoanalytic and political theory (Assessment

Component A, elements 1 and 2)

5. Demonstrate an ability to pursue an interdisciplinary method of political investigation (Assessment component B, elements 1 and 2).

6. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the issues that surround the contemporary uses of psychology in the practices of governments and political parties (Assessment component A, element 1 and 2).

Syllabus outline:

1. Assumptions about the the self in political theory

2. Theories of group emotion

• Freud and Simmel

• Klein, Bion and Zizek

3. Leaders and followers

• Resentment, Charisma & Political Leadership

• Psychological Perspectives on Political Leadership

• The Psychology of Followership (trust, dependence, apathy)

4. Social and political mobilisation

• the affective bases of mobilisation

• the psychology of activists and activism

• the formation of group identities

5. Hatred, conflict and violence

The role of the emotions in:

• intergroup conflict

• populism, fascism and fundamentalism

• conflict management

6. Democracy and the emotions

• group emotions and political deliberation

• understanding and misunderstanding the other

7. Contemporary politics and the (ab)uses of psychology

• therapeutic culture and therapeutic state

• `political marketing’: constructing the political consumer

Teaching and learning methods:

There will be a combination of formal lectures, seminars and workshops. In seminars students will be expected to demonstrate a familiarity with guided reading sources and to be able to present this material using oral and visual media.

There will be a strong emphasis on student presentations for level 3 students including presentations of project proposals. Workshops will include simulations of small group political processes illustrating, for example, the dynamics of trust and representation. They will also focus on small group discussion and forms of research inquiry often using audio-visual material materials illustrating aspects of contemporary political behaviour.

Indicative sources:

Alford, C.F. (1991) The Self in Social Theory: a Psychoanalytic Account of its Construction in Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rawls & Rousseau. Yale University Press.

Alford, C.F. (1994) Group Psychology and Political Theory. Yale University Press.

Bion, W. (1961) Experiences in Groups. London: Tavistock

Canetti, E. (1962) Crowds and Power. Victor Gollancz

Flax, J. (1993) Disputed Subjects: Essays on Psychoanalysis, Politics and Philosophy. Routledge.

Freud, S. (1923) Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Standard Ed.

Geras, N. (1999) The Contract of Mutual Indifference. London: Verso.

Hoggett, P. (2000) Emotional Life and the Politics of Welfare. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Hoggett, P. & Thompson, S. (2002) `Towards a democracy of the emotions’, Constellations,

Jones, N. (1999) The Sultans of Spin. London:Gollancz.

Laswell, H. (1947) The Analysis of Political Behaviour. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Lewis, J. (2001) Constructing Public Opinion. Columbia University Press.

Mestrovic, S. (1996) Genocide After Emotion: The Postemotional Balkan War. Routledge.

Nolan, J. (1998) The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End. New York University Press.

Melucci, A. (1989) Nomads of the Present. London: Hutchinson Radius.

S.Mendus (2000) Feminism and Emotion: Readings in Moral and Political Philosophy. Macmillan.

Renshon, S. (ed.) (1993) The Political Psychology of the Gulf War: Leaders, Publics and the Process of Conflict. Univ. Pittsburgh Press.

Rose, J. (1993) Why War? Psychoanalysis, Politics and the return to Melanie Klein. Blackwell.

Sennett, R. (1976) The Fall of Public Man. Faber and Faber.

Stryker, S., Owens,T. & White, R. (eds) Self, Identity & Social Movements. University of Minnesota Press.

Thompson, S. & Hoggett, P. (2001) `The emotional dynamics of deliberative democracy’, Policy and Politics, 29,3: 351-64.

Scammel, M. (1999) `Political Marketing: Lessons for Political Science’, Political Studies, XLVII, 4: 718-739

Volkan , V. (1994) The Need to Have Enemies and Allies: From Clinical Practice to International Relationships. Northvale New Jersey: Jason Aronson.

The following journals will also be useful sources: Constellations, Free Associations, Organisational and Social Dynamics, Political Studies and opendemocracy.net

Assessment

Weighting between components A and B (standard modules only) A: 50% B: 50%

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Exam (3 hours) 50%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Project proposal (oral presentation in seminar based on 500 word proposal) 12.5%

2. Project (3,000 word investigation of contemporary psycho-political phenomenon) 37.5%

Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Exam (3 hours) 50%

Component B

Description of each element Element weighting

1. Essay (3500 words) 50%

SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT Attendance at taught classes is not required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date ……………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)