Overview
This unit provides you with an understanding of Australian society in an increasingly diverse and globalising world and how it has developed over time. It will examine how Australian history has helped to define Australian national identities. You will explore issues of power and social change and consider a range of social issues using sociological concepts. This will give you an understanding of the politico economic distribution of resources that shape social inequalities around culture, ethnicity, "race", gender and sexuality. You will develop an understanding of Australian Indigenous issues, processes of settlement and colonisation and multiculturalism and the implications of the globalisation of society. In this way the unit will be the basis for a professional career in human service and other workplaces.
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 - 2019
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 'Have your say' button
Students gave textbook mixed review feeling it was too advanced and too US-centric.
Has set an Australian textbook which is more readable and less detailed.
Feedback from 'Have your say' button
Overall students said the unit was too difficult and key concepts needed more explanation
The new textbook will address this
- Understand contemporary Australian society in a global context
- Identify the relevance of sociological concepts for developing professional identity
- Outline the role of cultural diversity in Australian history and identity
- Use a critical whiteness lens to discuss issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 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 | 4 | |
| 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
The Sociological Quest
Authors: Evan Willis
Allen & Unwin
Crows Nest Crows Nest , NSW , Australia
Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
Copies can be purchased at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code)
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
Sociology, Human services, systems and social innovation
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch. 1 Introduction & Ch. 2 Nature of Sociological Explanation
Hopkinson (2007) 'WTF is Sociology?'
Events and Submissions/Topic
Complete ichange module
Module/Topic
Is Sociology a Science? Challenging appearances & the ideology of "common sense"
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch. 3 Sociology's place in the Academy
Babakiueria (Kanopy) (URL)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Complete Practice Quiz
Module/Topic
The Sociological Imagination 1: History and Cultural Factors - roles & norms in capitalist society
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch. 4 Sociological Imagination
Lerner (1997) Rethinking the paradigm: race & class (CRO)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Sociological Imagination 2: Structure of Capitalist Society & Critique
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch. 5 Structure & Critique
Garner (2007) Whiteness- an introduction (PDF)
Winton (2014) The 'C' word: thoughts about class in Australia
Events and Submissions/Topic
20 Question MC QUIZ 1 Friday (Apr 5 2019) 6am-10pm
Module/Topic
Biology as ideology - it it really in your DNA?
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch. 6 The Social and the Biological
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures 1: State Ideology & Neo-liberal Politics
Chapter
Political Compass Quiz (URL)
Wallerstein (2001) Ch. 1 The French Revolution as world-historical event
Birch (2017) What exactly is neoliberalism?
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures 2: Class Structure & Capitalist Globalisation
Chapter
Textbook: Willis (2011) Ch.7 Theory & Method Ch. 8 Doing Sociology
Wallerstein (1998) Heritage of Sociology
Walter & Saggers (2007) Poverty & Social Class (CRO)
Quiggan (1999) Globalisation, neoliberalism & Inequality in Australia
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures 3: Class & Cultural Norms
Chapter
Germov (2013) Imagining Health Problems as Social Issues (CRO)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures 4 : The Gender Order & Families
Chapter
Bessant & Watts (2007) Ourselves in Families (CRO)
Torres (2000) Indigenous Australian Women (CRO)
Transgender Basics [YouTube]
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Social Structures 5: Nation-state and "race": An imaginary community
Chapter
Craven & Price (2011) Misconceptions, stereotypes & racism (CRO)
Thompson (1994) The cult of disremembering (CRO)
Reverse Racism (stand up comedy) [YouTube]
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Cultural Norms: Moral panics: Sex, drugs & deviance
Chapter
Hari Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong (URL)
Freij & Germov (2015) Sociology of licit and illicit drugs (CRO)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Intersectionality
Chapter
Bob Jensen White Supremacy, Patriarchy and Capitalism (podcast)
Events and Submissions/Topic
30 QUESTION MC QUIZ 2 Friday (Jun 7 2019) 6am-10pm
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.
QUIZ 1 20 Questions in 20 minutes - at the end of Week 4
QUIZ 2 30 Questions in 30 minutes - at the end of Week 12 (BEFORE the exam period)
0
Other
Quizzes will be available on Friday of Week 4 and Week 12 between 6am and 10pm
The online quiz is graded as it is completed. The results will be available when the overall quiz closes (ie the following day).
Objectives
The quizzes are set to test your understanding of fundamental concepts, methods, perspectives and facts covered by the textbooks and lectures. Each quiz 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. If there are timezone issues for you please contact me well in advance.
They will be delivered through the ‘Assessment’ section of the 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.
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 exam period.
- Understand contemporary Australian society in a global context
- Critical Thinking
2 Written Assessment
Developing the three sensibilities that make up the sociological imagination is an important component of working with people in human services like social work or in other professions. For this assessment, you are asked to write a 1000 word essay describing why a historical, structural and cultural sensibility is important in understanding society and how this is relevant to your likely future career.
Week 6 Monday (22 Apr 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 8 Monday (6 May 2019)
Assessment items will be returned on Monday 2 weeks after submission
Structure (30%)
Academic essay conventions apply - your essay should be well structured with a clear introduction (connecting private troubles with public issues) and a conclusion (summing up your critical sensibility as a potential agent of social change).
Sociological Content (50%)
Discussion
Historical Sensibility: Demonstrate an understanding and application of the role of historical understanding in human service work.
Structural Sensibility: Describe the social structures of class, race and gender in Australia and explain how your understanding impacts on human service work?
Culturally Sensibility: Demonstrate an understanding of how dominant social norms construct our cultural 'commonsense' and why human service workers need to have a critical understanding of social norms given to them by the culture.
Professional Role (20%)
Your essay should demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the sociological imagination to human service work (or other kinds of professional roles you may adopt in future)
A detailed marking rubric is available on the Moodle site
- Identify the relevance of sociological concepts for developing professional identity
- Outline the role of cultural diversity in Australian history and identity
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
3 Written Assessment
You are asked to write a 1500 word essay from a critical whiteness perspective including the impact of the issue on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You should use the sociological imagination template to address one of the following social issues:
Suicide
Climate Change
Northern Territory Intervention
Domestic Violence
Please, to ensure your own self-care, it is advised to choose a social issue that you do not have personal experience with. Do not interview people for this assessment, use the sociological literature and other sources to present the issue drawing on a critical whiteness perspective.
Week 11 Friday (31 May 2019) 11:45 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week Friday (14 June 2019)
Assessment items will be returned on the Monday following 2 weeks after submission
Structure (30%)
Academic essay conventions apply - your essays should be well-structured and referenced with a clear introduction (outlining how the sociological imagination addresses the topic) and a conclusion (summing up your critical analysis of the topic and how your perspective has changed as a result).
Sociological Content (50%)
Discussion
History: Demonstrate an understanding of the role of historical understanding in relation to the social issue
Structure: Demonstrate an understanding of the ways that the structures of class, race and gender apply to the social issue?
Socio-Cultural norms: Explain how the cultural 'commonsense' frames the issue and critique it
Using a critical whiteness perspective (20%)
You should demonstrate the use of a critical whiteness perspective to include the impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in your analysis
A detailed marking rubric is available on the Moodle site
- Understand contemporary Australian society in a global context
- Use a critical whiteness lens to discuss issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Cross Cultural Competence
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.
What can you do to act with integrity?
