A distance learning course. Total period of study: approx. 3  months

Cost: £195.00  (195 Pounds Sterling - for currency conversion see www.xe.com )

A FREE textbook (approx. 400 pages) will be sent to UK students.

Non-UK students will normally have to purchase the book on-line from an internet bookstore. 

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Course introduction

This course traces the foundations of culture from prehistoric times and also looks at how cultures change and how they go wrong. Understanding the deeper psychological forces that have expressed themselves through society throughout the ages can help us to understand contemporary questions such as:

• Why are there sometimes drastic changes in civilisations?

• Why does modern art seem to have lost its soul?

• Why is psychopathic violence so widespread especially in the youth of today?

• Why are religious fanatics preaching destruction and the overthrow of Western civilisation?

• What are the psychological causes of terrorism?

• Why is the position of defeating and controlling the natural environment entrenched in industry, making ecological awareness an uphill struggle?

Many sociologists believe that individuals react to the demands of society. According to one modern psychoanalytic view, it is the other way round: social activities and institutions reflect what is in our minds. This course takes as its key text a work by contemporary psychoanalyst George Frankl who explores how unconscious structures, or myths, became externalised in society as religions, culture and philosophy, which in turn influenced law, politics, work and how we deal with property. The result is a historical study of the development of civilisation and also of its dark side or disintegration which reflects disordered forces within the psyche.

A university-level textbook of approx. 400 pages is required as the main book for the course. Further reading is optional though comprehensive reading lists are given, enabling you to pursue further studies at your leisure.

Method of assessment

Continuous assessment - there is no final exam.  Students will be asked to write brief essays after reading certain chapters. 

Entry qualifications

No particular qualification is required for entry.  However the student should have a high standard of written English and the ability to cope with technical vocabulary and university-standard textbooks.  Some previous knowledge of psychology will be an advantage.

Certification and further study.

A certificate suitable for framing will be issued to successful graduates. 

Since this is not a practitioner diploma, it is not geared towards entry to a professional society.

This diploma carries credit towards a distance degree from Calamus International University in counselling psychology and related fields. (CIU is a non-UK, private, unaccredited university.)

Note: details of the course, fees, textbooks, syllabus and other information are subject to change at any time.

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