Overview
Sociology is a distinctive way of critically understanding the social forces that shape the self, Australia and the world - whatever professional paths you take. This unit will enable you to start thinking critically about Australian society, your place in it as part of an increasingly diverse and globalising world. It will help you to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying social forces that shape social inequality and individual autonomy using critical thinking and reflective practice
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2018
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Moodle
More detailed feedback from markers would be useful
Introduce a more formal procedure with markers elaborating expectations about feedback. Also offer students who request it extra feedback from lecturer,
- Explain the interactions between self and Australian society in a broad historical, cultural and social-structural context.
- Apply sociological frameworks to major forms of social inequality in Australia in global context, such as class, race and gender.
- Define basic sociological concepts.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | |
1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 25% | |||
2 - Written Assessment - 25% | |||
3 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | |
1 - Communication | |||
2 - Problem Solving | |||
3 - Critical Thinking | |||
4 - Information Literacy | |||
5 - Team Work | |||
6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
8 - Ethical practice | |||
9 - Social Innovation | |||
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 25% | ||||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
3 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Textbooks
Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life
(2017)
Authors: Josee Johnston, Kate Cairns, Shyon Baumann
Routledge
United States
Binding: Other
Additional Textbook Information
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.hopkinson@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Chapter 1: A Day in the life of your jeans: using stuff to discover sociology
Willis Chapter 1 Introduction CRO
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Your sociological imagination II: Cultural factors & Identity
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Chapter 2: You are what you eat: culture norms and value
Willis Chapter 4 Sociological Imagination CRO
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Doing Social Research
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Appendix: Advertising & Society - an overview of sociological methods
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures I: Class & Capitalism
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Chapter 3: Fast Food Blues: Work in the global economy
Events and Submissions/Topic
20 Question MC QUIZ 1 (NB) THURSDAY (29th Mar 2018) 6am-10pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Chapter 4: Coffee: Class, distinction and 'good' taste
Chapter 5: Shopping Lessons: Consuming Social Order
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures II: "Race" and Nation
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Chapter 6: Get in the Game: Race, Merit and Group Boundaries
Chapter 12: What’s On Your Playlist? Subcultures, Racism, and Cultural Appropriation
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures III: Gender and Family
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017
Chapter 7: Barbies and Monster Trucks: Socialisation and “Doing Gender”
Chapter 8: Dreaming of a White Wedding: Marriage, Family, and Hetero-normativity
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DNA and Identity - Are you really a viking?
Chapter
Willis Chapter 4 The social and the biological CRO
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Culture and Identity
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017:
Chapter 9: I<3 My Phone: Technology and Social Networks
Chapter 10: Branding Your Unique Identity™: Consumer Culture and the Social Self
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017:
Chapter 11: Looking Good: Ideology, Intersectionality,and the Beauty Industry
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Textbook: Johnston et al 2017:
Chapter 13: Our Love–Hate Relationship with the Car: Masculinity, Industry, and Environmental Sustainability
Events and Submissions/Topic
Demonstrating your Sociological Imagination using your family tree Due: Week 11 Friday (25 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Revision
Chapter
TALK: Robert Jensen Lecture: White Supremacy, Patriarchy & Capitalism (URL)
Events and Submissions/Topic
30 Question MC QUIZ 2 FRIDAY (1st Jun 2018) 6am-10pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online Quiz(zes)
There will be two quizzes with a total of 50 questions. You will be given one minute per question and each question is worth 0.5 mark. Each student's quiz will be slightly different as 50 questions are drawn from a larger database of questions.
QUIZ 1 20 Questions in 20 minutes - at the end of Week 4 (ie THURSDAY before EASTER) will examine Textbook chapters for Weeks 1-3
QUIZ 2 30 Questions in 30 minutes - at the end of Week 12 (BEFORE the exam period) will examine Textbook chapters for Week 4-10
2
Other
Quizzes will be available on last working day of Week 4 (Thurs. March 29th) and Week 12 (Friday June 1st) between 6am and 10pm
The online quiz is graded as it is completed. The results will be available when the quiz closes.
Objectives
The quizzes are set to test your understanding of fundamental concepts, methods, perspectives and facts covered by the textbooks and lectures. Each covers the whole term’s work up to that point.
Details
These
are a timed online quizzes that must be sat on the due date between the
hours of 6 AM and 10 PM (Australian Eastern Standard Time). If there
are timezone issues for you please contact me well in advance.
They
will be delivered through the ‘Assessment’ section of the unit Moodle
site, and will only become available on the due date. Students will need
to have access to an Internet connection in order to complete the quiz.
It is your responsibility to make time to sit the quiz on the due date,
and to arrange for a reliable Internet connection. Before you take the
quiz, make sure that you are ready (i.e. a proper revision has been
done) and choose a time and computer/place with minimum distraction to
sit for the quiz (i.e. do not have external disturbances from people,
pets, etc).
Be conscious of the time limit while taking
the quiz—make sure you have a clock in front of you, and note down your
starting time. Do not wait until the last minute to complete the quiz as
it will time out once the time limit is reached (i.e.at 10PM the quiz
will close regardless of your start time).
.
There will be 2 quizzes with a total
of 50 multiple choice questions. The first quiz will have 20 questions
in 20 minutes and the second will have 30 questions in 30 minutes. There
will be only one correct or best answer to each question, and you need
to select the option corresponding to this answer. There are no
penalties for incorrect answers. While you will be able to refer to the
textbook or other resources while you are taking the quiz, you cannot
afford to do this for every question because of the time limit. You need
to have a good understanding of the unit content before taking the
quiz. Each student will receive a customised quiz, chosen in random
fashion from the test bank, so that collusion will not be possible.
Collusion or other forms of cheating are subject to academic misconduct procedures.
The
presentation of questions is one page at a time with 5 questions per
page. You must complete each page before you go on to the next one.
Attempts to backtrack to previous pages are not allowed.
Example -
Q. Which theorist developed ‘power elite’ theory?
a. Robert Merton
b. Emile Durkheim
c. Erving Goffman
d. C. Wright Mills *
The
correct answer is (d) C. Wright Mills—this is the one you need to
tick.There will also be a mock quiz early in the term for you to gain
some practice. Students who may have special difficulties in undertaking
the quiz need to contact the unit coordinator as early as possible to
make the necessary arrangements. NB These are quizzes and not EXAMS so
they are not sat in the exam period.
- Define basic sociological concepts.
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
2 Written Assessment
This is STEP 1 of the assessment of the research process and involves writing a 1000 (+/- 10%) word simplified research report demonstrating your understanding of the Sociological Imagination after the first half of the course.
This will involve you drafting the first part of your research report demonstrating that you can define key sociology concepts (class, race and gender) in relation to your self and presenting your preliminary draft of your family tree.
Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Monday (30 Apr 2018)
Assessment items will be returned on Monday 2 weeks after submission
Structure of DRAFT Research Report
INTRODUCTION: Briefly explain the concept of the Sociological Imagination
KEY CONCEPTS: Define race, class and gender in sociology terms in relation to your own life experience.
METHOD: Explain briefly the methods you used to collect evidence for your family tree.
RESULTS: Provide a preliminary diagram of your family tree.
It should follow the marking sheet available on Moodle and be adequately referenced and properly formatted.
- Explain the interactions between self and Australian society in a broad historical, cultural and social-structural context.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
3 Written Assessment
This is STEP 2 of the assessment of the research process and involves writing a 1500 (+/- 10%) word simplified research report demonstrating your understanding of the Sociological Imagination based on your analysis of your family tree.
As per the concepts discussed throughout the term you will need to focus on the concepts of race/ethnicity, class and gender (and their intersections). You will also be able to use your research to reflect on historical and cultural changes over time.
You will also need to reflect on the difficulties you encountered as a researcher, particularly on the reliability of the evidence on which your family tree is based. You can also use it to demonstrate 'taking the position of the Other' by reflecting on the difficulties you might have encountered if you had (or have) Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander family background.
You will need to have done the assigned readings and lectures to complete this task adequately but perhaps more important will be discussions with the lecturer and other students online.
It is expected that you will present your work in a profession and academic manner including accurate referencing.
Week 11 Friday (25 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Monday (4 June 2018)
Assessment items will be returned on Monday 2 weeks after submission
Structure of Research Report
INTRODUCTION: Briefly explain the concept of the Sociological Imagination in relation to the overall significance of your findings. This may include defining of key terms.
METHOD: Explain briefly the methods you used to collect evidence for your family tree.
RESULTS: Provide a diagram of your family tree of at least 3 generations (i.e. your parents and grandparents as a minimum). The more you are able to do the easier it is to see patterns.
DISCUSSION: Apply the concept of the sociological imagination to your data as follows:
History: What historical changes have impacted on the history of your family?
Structure: What class, race/ethnicity and gender dynamics are evident in your family tree? Can you see how they intersect?
Cultural norms: What cultural norms or changes are most evident in your family tree? How do you think your cultural assumptions differ most from your ancestors?
CRITICAL REFLECTION:
Critique: What was the most challenging part of this research? Do you think it was useful in learning sociological research concepts?
Reflection: What problems might you have experienced if you were/are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent?
Presentation: It is expected that students will present their work in a professional manner - it should be clear and easy to read.
It should follow the marking sheet available on Moodle and be adequately referenced and properly formatted.
- Apply sociological frameworks to major forms of social inequality in Australia in global context, such as class, race and gender.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.