Introductory description

This module explores the phenomenon commonly referred to as the "Culture wars" and their implication for the operation of the UK legal system. The idea of a "culture war" is increasingly deployed to capture a range of political disputes, often centring around the legal and political treatment of institutions such as the nation or the family. Indeed, among a vast range of topics described as being part of the culture war, we can find gender, migration, disability, children's rights, and online safety and security amongst others. In this module, we explore the implications of these disputes for both the development and day-to-day operation of law. Specifically, we will consider a series of case studies relating to: Immigration and Asylum Law since 2022; The presentation of trans rights as being in conflict with women's rights and the effect of this on the functioning of UK equality law and shifting conceptions of law within public imaginaries, including the phenomenon of pseudo law. Through these case studies, we will critically consider not only the effects of culture war dynamics on the operation of legal frameworks, but also the effects on the horizons of conceivable law reform. The module will be taught across 9 workshops which encourage students to be active co-creators in the learning, including by bringing in their own examples of how "culture war" disputes are shifting the operation of legal institutions.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

This module will address the implications for contemporary political disputes which have, in broad terms, come to be known as part of the "Culture War" for the of the UK legal system. In order to support student understanding of this, the module will cover the following topics:
1- Law and Politics in Context
2- Understanding "Culture"
3- Defining the Culture War
4- "Culture War" in Focus: Immigration and Asylum
5- Shaping Legal Lives: Immigration and Asylum Practice in the "Culture War" (Assessment topics released this week)
6- Gender, Sexuality and Law in a "Culture War"
7- Trans Rights and Women's Rights: "Culture Wars" over gender in the UK
8- Pseudo Law, Myth Making and Public Conceptions of Law in a "Culture War"
9- Legal Futures: Law after the Culture War .

These topics are given as an example syllabus and minor changes in the subject matter may be made to allow the module to keep pace with the highly contemporary nature of "culture war" topics. Weeks 1 and 9 will also foreground matters relating to assessment supporting students to link what they have learned to the assessment task.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Identify the relationship between law and contemporary politics
• Evaluate how political narratives shape legal realities
• Articulate how each case study topic has been shaped by the culture war context and the implications of this for the operation of law
• Demonstrate an ability to critically consider how political narratives and speech shape legal realities
• Critically analyse the implications of "Culture War" narratives for the development of the UK legal system

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Interdisciplinary

The module encourages students to engage with a vast range of disciplinary tools. For example, the focus on culture which is central to the module encourages students to engage in anthropological methods and their relevance to law. Indeed, anthropological, political science, sociological, and philosophical accounts of the nature of law and culture will be explicitly included within the first two weeks of the module and embedded within the readings. In this sense, the module will encourage to think of law in the terms and languages of other disciplines and to recognise the valuable perspectives that other disciplines have to contribute to our understanding of law.

Subject specific skills

Appreciation of the importance of context to understanding Law; Appreciation of Law reform dynamics, including the substantive ways in which political discourse shapes the law.

Transferable skills

Critical thinking; Close reading; Cultural understanding and cross-cultural communication.