SSCI20030 Building Resilience

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module introduces students to systematic shocks, crisis and resilience and provides skills to deal with future crisis. We will use situated learning, where you are actively immersed in an activity while using problem-solving skills. The module is delivered in four sections. 1) Pre-crisis stage: we will explore the history of social and environmental crisis and how these have differed across cultures and time periods. 2) Crisis stage: we will look at how crisis and shocks unfold and how we are impacted as individuals and groups, including 9/11, Global warming, COVID-19. 3) Post-crisis: we will look at how groups and societies have recovered from crisis events, drawing out the methods we can use to adjust and find a new equilibrium. Seminar work will allow us to learn about these skills. 4) Limitations: finally, the last section will examine the limitations to personal action and resilience etc. Student participation and learning is supported by seminars, including online podcasts and discussion forums. By the end of the module, students will be able to critically analyse systemic shocks and the value of resilience in addressing societal challenges of the 21st century.