Interesting but lectures were not always relevant to assignments. My tutor and tutorial class were great though, so that made discussing the heavy readings much easier.

Fantastic subject to take in your first year. The head lecturer, Andy, is really entertaining and incredibly engaging. A couple of the guest lecturers could've been a bit more interesting. A couple of the lectures were also cancelled which sucked. The readings can be a little stale at times but will compel you to start developing your own critical analytical skills. It's a great introduction if you're thinking of majoring in politics, criminology or sociology.

Fascinating and engaging subject, also a good introduction to the liberal arts as a whole.+ as long as you do the readings all the content is easily manageable.

This subject is good if you're either majoring in or interested in politics. However the content was often very complex and not explored by lecturers and tutors in a comprehensive manner. There seemed to be a bit of disorganisation in the coordination of the subject, with lectures often being cancelled, but this was usually made up for. Some tutors were better than others. This subject is for you if you can cope with dense readings, broad and complex ideas and can teach yourself a lot of the content. Definitely don't take it just because everyone else seems to be. It was quite difficult and dry at times

Would not recommend this subject to anyone. Firstly, it was poorly organised. Almost every week there a lecture cancelled, and sometimes they didn’t tell us until 1 hour before. Secondly, the content was dry. Other than Andrew’s lectures at the start and a few good ones towards the end, the content was so boring and dense. Readings were near impossible to get through and barely helped with assessments. Lastly, tutors were useless and it was obvious they hated coming to class just as much as we did. Tutorials were the biggest waste of time. Filled with students regurgitating the readings & no genuine discussion. Useless subject that I’ll never need, only took it cause I had to.

Brilliant subject. Was intellectually challenged to the very end. Found it difficult, but learned stuff which will definitely help me through the rest of my time as a student.

A good foundation subject for criminology and politics. Intersects with a lot of other subjects, I would recommend if you're doing those majors.

Power is a great subject for anyone interested in the power dynamics that control society and the individual. It is recommended to anyone undertaking a major in Politics, which I agree with, as it often draws upon key political theorists. The subject is heavy in theory, and sometimes requires heavy reading, however it is generally quite interesting and worthwhile. It is the most popular of the foundation subjects, and explores questions such as: - What makes us accept/acquiesce to power? - Who holds the power? - What is power? The answers explored are actually really thought-provoking and sometimes confronting. Most of the lecturers do a great job, and all of them are very enthusiastic about their topics.

I was disappointed by this subject. As someone interested in politics, philosophy and sociology, the Handbook description made this subject sound amazing. It wasn't amazing, for three main reasons: - The content was incredibly disordered. There was very little flow and consistency between different topics, meaning you'd just wrapped your head around something, and then you did a complete 180 and moved on to something completely different. Also, because there were so many different lecturers, there was no consistent style to the lectures, meaning one week you'd get Too Much info from a lecture, and the next you'd get Nothing. - The lecturer for the Power and the Body unit made me want to die. She was so boring. Send help. - It was too theory-heavy, and yet somehow I still managed to learn nothing about Foucault (one of the main theorists) from the lectures. I wish that this topic had focused more on real-world examples of power, and then linked these to different theories, i.e. looking at Chinese Capitalism, and then examining this through the lens of Marxist, Foucault, geopolitics, etc., instead of presenting some of these things (i.e. economic power and power over the body) as separate units. All in all, I did learn useful stuff from this subject, but was it worth it? Probably not.

I found this subject engaging throughout some of the topics. I would not recommend it if you are not politically minded or interested in social theory - having experience in the area, I grasped the concepts quite well, but students not so familiar struggled. The most major criticism I have of the assessment is that the take home exam was poorly guided, as there was a lot of conflicting information going around regarding how it should be structured. There was also no feedback once grades were released. I have very mixed feelings about this subject, but think that it could be helpful for students who wish to expand their thinking on a theoretical level.