Social Activism and Social Justice

Globally, people stand together in struggles to create a better world. Social justice movements refer to forms of collective action that seek to challenge oppression and transform society.  The overall objective of this module is to provide students with a theoretically informed understanding of these movements, and historical and contemporary attempts to achieve social justice and social change.  This interdisciplinary module will use an intersectional approach to explore social activism and leadership on issues of social justice globally.  It will introduce and examine theories associated with human rights and social justice and leadership – both political and grassroots – alongside theories of social movements and protests.  Case studies of particular social justice campaigns and movements are prioritised with an examination of some important cross-cutting issues.  Examples of social movements covered will include anti-capitalist, feminist, racial justice, climate justice, LGBTIA+ liberation, drawing on both historical and contemporary global case studies.  

By the end of this module, you will:

• Have a theoretically informed and conceptually grounded understanding of social justice, movements and activism
• Gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of social justice issues and the varied ways that marginalised groups have mobilised to challenge prevailing social attitudes and to demand a redistribution of power and resources and explore their position in relation to these issues 
• Be in a position to apply their knowledge and understanding to develop arguments and critical perspetices on the dynamics of social justice movements and the challenges they confront locally and globally 
• Demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast between case studies in order to generate original, well-researched and evidence-based suggestions to approach one social justice related topic

This is an SCQF Level 10 module and upon successful completion, participants will be awarded 20 credits.

To view the module descriptor, please visit Programme Specifications and Module Descriptors 

 

Delivery 

We currently expect that this module will next run from September 2025.

This module will last for 12 weeks.   

 

Course presenter

This module will be delivered by Dr Rebecca Gordon.

 

Funding

This course may be available on a fully funded basis to some delegates.  Further details, including regarding eligibility, are available under Funding Support.

If you have any questions, please contact us at cpd@uws.ac.uk

 

NOTE: This is a university module and upon approval of your application, you will be invited to register and then supported to complete enrolment. To enrol on the university system, the first step involves security set-up using the Microsoft Authenticator app; you will need to ensure that you have a compatible smartphone.

Further enrolment information is available at the Student Information Portal.

To access this module via the CPD route, individuals should be ordinarily resident in Scotland.