Solved - 1CWK - Race, Racism, and Society - School of Sociology and Criminology

School of Sociology and Criminology

Race, Racism, and Society

Assessment Brief | 1CWK | Concept-Object Review (30%)

Unit Title, Code and Leader

Race, Racism, and Society

425Z0018

Jacqueline Eke (j.eke@mmu.ac.uk)

Assessment Title and Weighting

Review (30% of unit total)

Task Instructions

Write a 600- to 700-word concept-object review

Choose one concept introduced during Weeks 1-5 of the unit (e.g. racialisation, social construction of race, essentialism, internal racism, interpersonal racism, institutional racism, microaggressions, representation, etc.).

Identify one object, example, or practice that you feel illustrates or embodies your chosen concept. This could be something such as:

A media text (advert, news article, film, TV programme, social media content)

An everyday object or space

A policy, institutional practice, or public campaign

A cultural product or representation

Apply your concept to provide insight or illumination of the chosen object, example or practice.

Evaluate your concept for its explanatory value.

Important Guidance

You are not expected to speak on behalf of any group or draw on personal experience.

You may use a personal example if you wish, but this is not required and does not attract extra marks.

Focus on sociological thinking: explanation, interpretation, and analysis.

Avoid simply describing your example: show how the concept provides insight.

Use appropriate academic referencing to acknowledge sources that inform your conceptual knowledge.

Size/length of submission

Submissions will be between 600 and 700 words.

No fewer than 600 words and no more than 700 words.

Title and references are not included in the word count.

Assessment Criteria

Submissions will be assessed against the following criteria that map to the unit Learning Outcomes:

Understanding of the chosen concept.

Selection and description of the object or example.

Analytical application of the concept and critical evaluation.

Clarity, structure, and academic communication.

Support Arrangements

Weekly workshops provide scaffolded activities and rehearsal designed to develop the skills and confidence to engage successfully with the assessment task.

The Assessment Brief provides detailed instruction in how to complete the task successfully.

Submission Instructions

Please submit work as a Word file electronically to the submission link on the RRS Moodle page.

Work must be submitted by 9.00pm (21:00) on the day of the deadline.

Submission deadline: Thursday 5th March 2026.

Marking and Moderation Procedure

Submissions are anonymised by Turnitin and marked anonymously.

A sample of assignment scripts will be reviewed by an internal panel of Level 5 teaching staff to ensure consistency of grading practices across Level 5 units.

A sample of assignment scripts will also be reviewed by an External Examiner to ensure quality and consistency within the Programme and across the HE sector.

Feedback Procedure

Constructive feedback on submissions is provided through Turnitin. If you are unsure how to access your feedback, watch the short video from the link within the assessment submission area.

Feedback on submissions will be available according to university policy, four-weeks from the date of submission.

Your feedback release date is calculated and set automatically by Turnitin, and marks and feedback are released automatically at 8.30am on the release date.

Very occasionally, delays occur and marking cannot be completed by the advertised release date. In the event of a delay, unit staff will contact you as soon as possible via Moodle Announcement to explain and update expected completion.

If you request an extension (evidenced or unevidenced), your feedback release date is automatically adjusted within Turnitin.

How will I use critical thinking in this assessment?

What will make this work critical?

This assessment asks you to:

Develop knowledge of a chosen concept: read multiple sources to develop a critical appreciation of the chosen concept. Reading a dictionary entry for the concept or a single source is unlikely to provide the depth and critical understanding of the concept.

Apply your knowledge of a chosen concept: use your understanding of the concept to explain, interpret, or make sense of a real-world example. The quality of this application will depend on your nuanced understanding of the concept.

Evaluate the concept: use your understanding of the concept and your application of it to a real-world example to assess how well the concept explains the real-world example, i.e. which aspects of the example are explained effectively, and which aspects are not account for.

You are demonstrating how well you understand the concept by showing how it works in practice and evaluating its strengths and limitations. Therefore, higher marks are awarded for:

Clear and knowledgeable explanation of concept.

Relevant, well-chosen object, observation, or practice.

Thoughtful application of concept that goes beyond description.

Well organised, clearly written work.

How might I structure my work?

You are free to structure your work as you feel best fits your concept-object review, but the following components will likely be present (don’t include headings in your writing):

Title

Create a title that reflects both your chosen concept and object, example, or practice (e.g. ‘Representation in the supermarket’).

Introduction

Describe your chosen object or example: Briefly explain what it is and why you selected it.

Concept overview

Explain the concept: Outline the key idea and relevant nuance in your own words, drawing on academic readings.

Critical application (discussion)

Explain how the concept helps us understand your example: What does it reveal about race, identity, power, inequality, social processes, etc? This section forms the main part of your work.

Conclusion

Evaluate and wrap up: here you can bring your insight, illumination, and concept evaluation explicitly to the fore.

Bibliography

Include full references to all the sources that you use to inform your knowledge and thinking.

Mini Example

Illustrative only

This short example is provided to show how you might structure your Concept-Object Review and move from description to application and evaluation. It is not a model answer and does not cover everything expected by the assessment.

Representation in a UK Supermarket

Many UK supermarkets organise food from outside Europe into a single aisle often labelled “World Foods”. This typically includes products from South Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and East Asia, grouped together regardless of cultural or geographical differences.

In sociology, representation refers to how people, places, or cultures are presented and made meaningful through images, language, and organisation. Representations are not neutral: they shape how difference is understood and can reinforce power relations by presenting some groups as normal and others as “other”.

Applying this concept to the “World Foods” aisle highlights how everyday retail spaces can reproduce racialised ideas. By separating non-European foods from the rest of the store, the layout suggests that white British culture is the norm, while everything else is positioned as exotic or secondary. This reinforces a distinction between “us” and “them”, even though many of these foods are part of everyday life for large sections of the population.

This example shows how representation operates at a subtle level. The supermarket is not explicitly racist, yet the organisation of space communicates ideas about belonging and difference. Using representation as an analytical lens reveals how racialisation can be embedded in ordinary environments, shaping perceptions without requiring overt hostility.