PL32076: Comparative political behaviour
[Page last updated: 25 April 2025]
| Academic Year: | 2025/26 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies |
| Credits: | 10 [equivalent to 20 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 200 |
| Level: | Honours (FHEQ level 6) |
| Period: |
- Academic Year
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| Assessment Summary: | CWES 67%, CWRI 33% |
| Assessment Detail: |
- Report Individual (CWRI 33%)
- Essay (CWES 67%)
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
- Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
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| Requisites: |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
* demonstrate knowledge of, and critically assess, academic research on the main theoretical approaches to the study of political behaviour in Britain and other democracies focusing on voting and other types of political participation and opinion formation;
* critically appraise arguments about the drivers of patterns of political behaviour;
* investigate and critically assess the relationship between public opinion and political behaviour;
* critically appraise the main drivers of political behaviour including questions relating to identity, issue voting, valence politics, rational choice, psychology, and the influence of structural forces on political behaviour, of the media, electoral campaigning, political marketing and the emergence of new factors affecting political life;
* demonstrate appropriate cognitive, communicative and transferable skills, including to understand complex theories and concepts, to recognise, deconstruct and assess key arguments, and to express themselves critically in assignments.
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| Synopsis: | "Examine political behaviour in Britain and other democracies.
You will focus on political attitudes and participation, asking questions about why individuals hold the political views they do, why some people participate when others do not, and why people choose to vote for the political parties that they do.
You will engage critically with classic and contemporary research on these topics, and apply the frameworks and findings from this research to ongoing real-world political events."
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| Content: | The content of the unit will include:
* Theories and approaches to voting behaviour.
* Theories of political participation.
* Theories of political attitude formation.
* Structural impact of the political context.
* Party behaviour and the actions of elite actors.
* Contextual influences on voting.
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| Course availability: |
PL32076 is Optional on the following courses:
Department of Economics
- UHES-AAB01 : BSc(Hons) Economics and Politics with Study year abroad (Year 4)
- UHES-AKB01 : BSc(Hons) Economics and Politics with Year long work placement (Year 4)
- UHES-ACB01 : BSc(Hons) Economics and Politics with Combined Placement and Study Abroad (Year 4)
- UHES-AFB11 : BSc(Hons) Economics with Politics (Year 3)
Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies
- UHPL-AYB43 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio French) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB44 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio German) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB47 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio Italian) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB48 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio Mandarin) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB46 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio Russian) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB45 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (ab initio Spanish) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB43 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (French) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB44 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (German) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AYB45 : BA(Hons) International Politics and Modern Languages (Spanish) with Year Abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AFB53 : BSc(Hons) Politics and International Relations (Year 3)
- UHPL-AAB30 : BSc(Hons) Politics and International Relations with Study year abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AKB30 : BSc(Hons) Politics and International Relations with Year long work placement (Year 4)
- UHPL-AFB54 : BSc(Hons) Politics with Economics (Year 3)
- UHPL-AAB10 : BSc(Hons) Politics with Economics with Study year abroad (Year 4)
- UHPL-AKB10 : BSc(Hons) Politics with Economics with Year long work placement (Year 4)
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Notes: - This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2025/26 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2026/27 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2025/26.
- 好色tv and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
- Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
- Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.
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