Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
Nil
Incompatible
SOCS108 Contemporary Society and Change
Unit rationale, description and aim
Globalisation has fundamentally reshaped contemporary societies and made for an increasingly interdependent world where social, political, cultural and economic developments in one corner of the globe can have profound effects elsewhere.
Students in this unit will gain insight into key social patterns and forms of social change leading to a dynamic understanding of contemporary global societies. This unit will focus on the impact of a globalising world on identities, social structures, cultural practices, and transnational institutions leading to a greater understanding of how broader systemic change largely determines contemporary social life. The unit will explore these global changes through the study of selected contemporary issues. As a result of these foci, students will build a strong foundation for sociological and social scientific understanding of more complex material in future units.
Students will be introduced to important concepts and theories in the sociological study of globalisation. They will also explore and apply sociological perspectives, concepts, theories and research methodologies to understand the contours of a range of social patterns, human rights issues, and social inequalities created by our globalised world.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Describe knowledge and understanding of the sociological imagination | GC1, GC5 |
| LO2 | Use different sociological approaches and perspectives to generate and analyse sets of social patterns in a global context | GC4, GC8, GC9 |
| LO3 | Express concepts and arguments clearly through written and/or oral forms using sociological theories and evidence | GC11, GC12 |
| LO4 | Analyse social phenomena in global societies by using sociological theories, concepts, and evidence | GC2, GC7 |
Content
Topics will include:
- Globalization
- Social class and economic inequality in global societies
- Work and education
- Gender and sexualities
- Global religions
- Global Indigenous identities
- Health, mental health, and well being
- Mass media, globalisation, and social change
- Social change and the global environment
- Race and ethnicity in global contexts
- Human rights and global change
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit employs two formal ways of learning and teaching that are designed to complement each other in learning and teaching through activating theories, concepts, perspectives, and research skills. It additionally makes use of online materials and activities to facilitate flexible and accessible supplementary learning. Lectures are structured to promote learning on specific theories, concepts and case studies that will complement the conceptual tools and theoretical knowledge critical to analysing divergent approaches to sociology. Tutorials for this unit provide students with opportunities for active learning through directly applying specific knowledge and skills introduced through the lecture content. Students will engage in activities such as reading, writing, interrogating ideas, exploring case studies, doing role plays, debating, giving presentations, and building foundational skills. These activities, as well as promoting the acquisition and assimilation of new concepts and information from lecture content, are designed to build skills appropriate to first-year study in Sociology.
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The unit includes three assessments with the following rationale:
Analytical Task: This assessment is designed to provide students with an opportunity to understand how sociological data is collected and to develop skills the analysis of issues surrounding social inequality.
Written Task: This provides a context for students to describe social patterns and apply sociological theories to global real-world issues.
Examination: The examination encourages broad engagement with the content of the unit through an analysis of diverse social phenomena that test students’ knowledge and understanding of the different topics covered, in addition to the key components of the sociological perspective.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Analytical Task: Social Research in Global Societies This is a two-staged task. In Stage 1, students work in small groups to research a topic in global society and develop an appropriate survey tool (e.g. basic structured questionnaire) to guide empirical research on the topic. In Stage 2, the tool is used to survey Global Societies and Social Change students. Results are analysed and presented in class as a group. | 25% | LO1, LO2 |
Assessment Task 2: Written Task: Essay Students are required to research a topic in-depth and apply the sociological perspective to it, outlining key patterns, trends and changes using evidence, apply social theory to analysis of topic, and communicate research using a sociological perspective and communicate findings using appropriate academic literacy conventions. | 40% | LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 |
Assessment Task 3: Examination/final assignment The final exam will test students’ knowledge and understanding of the different topics covered in the unit. This may be an in-class test, exam, take-home exam or assignment as stipulated by the lecturer-in-charge. | 35% | LO1, LO3, LO4 |
Representative texts and references
Aarons, H. and Willis, E. (2022) The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life (6th edn). Abingdon: Routledge
Arvanitakis, J. (2016). Sociologic: Analysing Everyday Life and Culture (Arvanitakis, Ed.) South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
Browne, K. (2020). An introduction to sociology (Fifth edition.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Furze, B., Savy, P., Webb, R. D., James, S. L., Petray, T., Brym, R. J., & Lie, J. (2014). Sociology in today’s world (Third edition). South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning Australia.
Germov, J. & Poole, M. (2020). Public sociology: an introduction to Australian society (Germov & M. Poole, Eds.; Fourth edition.). New York: Routledge.
Giddens, A. & Sutton, P.W. (2017). Sociology (8th edition.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Henslin, J., Possamai, A. & Possamia–Inesedy, A. (2016). Sociology: a Down to Earth Approach (3rd edition). Boston: Pearson.
Martell, L. (2016) The Sociology of Globalisation (2nd edn.) Cambridge: Polity.
McCormick, J. (2022) An Introduction to Global Studies (2nd Edn). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Van Krieken, R., Habibis, D., Smith, P., Hutchins, B., Martin, G., Maton, K., & Smith, P. (2021) Sociology (7th edition). Melbourne: Pearson.