‘Problem’ populations, ‘problem’ places

This free course, ‘Problem’ populations, ‘problem’ places, looks deeper into the entanglements of welfare, crime and society. It encourages you to think through these entanglements through a focus on ‘problem’ populations and ‘problem’ places. It includes treatment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina that hit the US in 2007, and also of the governance of urban populations in the context of Britain (council estates) and France (banlieues).

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the complex and different ways in which questions of social justice and inequality come to be seen in terms of the deficient behaviour of different populations

Understand how certain groups of people and places come to be identified as ‘problematic’ and how social welfare and crime concerns intersect in the management of these populations

Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of some of the enduring legacies of the past, both in terms of the language that is often mobilised to represent disadvantaged people and people living in poverty, and also the continuing presentation of certain groups as ‘problems’ to be managed.