SOCL11060 - Being Bad

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit looks at the contributions that culture, social structures and interpersonal relationships make to the formation of normal and deviant identities and behaviours in contemporary society. In addition to undertaking an analysis of competing theoretical perspectives of deviance and identity, you will be given the opportunity to explore key debates and controversies related to identified forms of deviant behaviour. You will also be required to compare and contrast beliefs and attitudes toward the major forms of personal deviance with focus on current formal and informal responses and practices. Special attention will be given to behaviours that are thought to be wild, risky, unacceptable or dangerous including: drug and alcohol use, sexual deviance, offensive behaviours, such as offensive humour and swearing, and body modification practices. You will be provided opportunities to consider questions such as, ‘is ‘being bad’ a form of resistance to, or a symptom of, a culture that has commodified deviant identities and can ‘bad behaviour’ ever be good? The unit will draw on a range of theoretical perspectives in Sociology and Cultural Studies and also use examples from The Arts, Philosophy, and Religious Studies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the 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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 25%
3. Written Assessment 35%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 17.39% response rate.

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.

Source: SUTE Personal reflection
Feedback
Tutorial engagement was often low and the discussion sometimes lacked direction.
Recommendation
Make tutorials more structured, with set discussion activities and time allocated to help with assessment preparation.
Action Taken
The main focus of tutorials was made more explicit to help guide student preparation. Time was set aside at the end of each tutorial to discuss upcoming assessment tasks.
Source: SUTE Personal reflection
Feedback
Amount of learning materials and mixed modality of delivery was overwhelming for some students.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will signpost the essential and optional resources better in 2024 and provide summary sheets of key take-home learning outcomes for each week.
Action Taken
The essential and optional reading and resources was flagged more explicitly in 2024 than in 2023.
Source: Personal reflection Discussion with colleagues
Feedback
Students submitted three focus questions for Assessment 1 but only two were marked summatively with accompanying feedback.
Recommendation
Students will be required to submit only two focus questions in 2024.
Action Taken
Students were only required to submit two focus questions.
Source: Personal reflection, informal student feedback.
Feedback
Tutorials were poorly attended.
Recommendation
Give students more say on the timing and frequency of live 'interactive' sessions.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Personal reflection, student discussion boards.
Feedback
The mean score for the reflective style assessment was lower than the other two assessment tasks.
Recommendation
Provide students with more resources (including exemplars) to aid the writing of reflective pieces.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Explain the contributions that culture, social structures and interpersonal relationships make to the formation of normal and deviant identities in contemporary society.
  2. Apply sociological concepts and theories to key debates and controversies related to identified forms of deviant behaviour.
  3. Analyse competing theoretical perspectives of deviance and identity.
  4. Outline the positive and negative consequences of deviance.
  5. Compare and contrast beliefs and attitudes to contemporary views of behavioural social norms and deviance.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • • • •
8 - Ethical practice • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •