How does society shape the world we live in? What influences interactions between people in everyday life? Why is society structured the way it is, and is change possible? By delving into diverse topics such as discrimination and inequality to family life and friendship, this unit introduces the conceptual tools sociologists use to explain the world.

In a rapidly changing world, how do we make sense of current social and political problems effectively? By exploring sociological concepts in creative ways, this unit gives students the tools to analyse, research and respond to real world issues such as globalisation, crime, social justice, community breakdown, and racial, sexual and indigenous inequality.

In this unit of study we will examine the main strands of sociological thought and identify the key concepts, debates and issues in the development of sociological theory. It will focus on the writings of leading social theorists and sociologists, their contribution to the development of a distinctly sociological theory, and their continuing impact on current theoretical debates in sociology. Topics covered will include: the origins of sociology; industrialism; classical theorists; sociology of urban society; interactionism and everyday life; psychoanalysis; sociology of knowledge and culture; feminist challenges to sociological paradigms; postmodernity and the future of society. This unit is mandatory for Sociology majors.

This unit takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of major global problems. Lectures, readings, and activities will examine these problems through the multiple lenses of comparative sociology, systems engineering, climate science, humans rights discourses, world history, and literature.

This unit of study introduces students to a range of qualitative research methods in common usage throughout the social sciences. The unit has both analytical and practical components. With regard to the former, students are introduced to the methodological issues in contemporary sociology and their impact on the research process. An emphasis will be placed on developing a critical ability to read sociological research, with an eye to understanding its methodological adequacy, the political and ethical issues that arise whilst conducting research, and debates over interpretation and the production of knowledge. With regard to the latter component, students will undertake practical exercises in order to learn to appreciate and use a selection of research approaches, methods and techniques.

Students will be introduced to both past and current sociological perspectives of health and illness, including Parsonian, Marxist, Weberian, Feminist and Postmodern approaches. We will examine topics such as the social, unequal, structuring of illness; the construction of medical 'facts'; professional, corporate and state control over health care systems; medical controversies; iatrogenic illness; and medical technology.

This unit examines sociological approaches to social inequality. Questions about social inequality are integral to contemporary notions of equality, citizenship, human rights, social justice and emancipation. A central theme of the unit (and a central preoccupation of sociologists) is ways in which social relations of inequality are shaped, represented, experienced, negotiated and challenged in everyday life. Some important questions for this unit are: How do sociologists understand and explain patterns of inequality? What are the enabling and constraining factors shaping people's 'life chances'? How are social relations of inequality, experienced, challenged and disrupted? Is social inequality an inevitable condition of human existence?

Drawing on contemporary sociological analysis, this unit critically explores participation, organisation and outcomes of social movements and protest. The unit considers major theories and concepts, and addresses links between societal, political and cultural arrangements and movements for change. Students will explore the theoretical ideas in this unit by investigating a range of historical and contemporary movements, including the American civil rights movement, Greenpeace, Pussy Riot, indigenous peoples' movements, liberation theology, precarity protests, Occupy, Tea Party, and Arab Spring.

This unit of study focuses on understanding 'deviance' and 'difference' from a sociological perspective. The unit covers a range of theories, from classic sociological theories of deviance to more recent critical theories of difference, and explores the key issues involved in this change of term. These theories are employed to explore a series of areas of contemporary debate in society, including youth subcultures, the construction of outsiders, rebellion, the body, and mental health.

The nature of human subjectivity has fascinated and drawn the attention of thinkers from many different fields. While the questions, ’who are we?‘ and ’how do we become individual?‘ are often asked, the ways of answering these questions constantly change. In this unit, the discursive construction of the self will be examined in the light of the political, technological and social changes that constantly influence the meanings and histories of self, subjectivity and identity. The unit will explore questions such as whether there is a human 'nature' which precedes or exists beyond society; whether historical circumstances determine human emotional response; whether new forms of technology and modes of communication influence self-knowledge; whether consumerism and materialism commodify identity; whether the roles played in everyday life and the management of social interactions produce or conceal who we are. The unit begins with commonsensical views on identity and proceeds to deconstruct them.

This unit of study examines the main sociological approaches to childhood and youth in modern industrial societies, as well as the ways in which particular perspectives on childhood are central to all social theory. It will examine the debates surrounding the historical development of childhood, and the various approaches to the impact of state intervention and social policies on both the experiences of childhood and youth and the transition to adulthood. Specific topics discussed include; the social construction of child abuse, youth homelessness and youth criminality as social problems, the stolen generations, children and the law, the fertility decline, and the differentiation of childhood experience along lines of class, gender, race and ethnicity.

This unit examines contemporary processes of globalisation. It investigates cultural, economic, and political aspects of globalisation from a distinctively sociological perspective. Theories and data related to globalisation are also applied to world-transforming trends in areas such as immigration, population, technology, human rights, civil society, and democracy. Particular attention is given to the study of both pro- and anti- globalisation movements.

Cities are synonymous with modernity and modernisation; hence, sociologists have long sought to understand the unique features of urban society. In the first part of this unit we explore foundational theories of urban sociology in their historical contexts. In the second part we examine how these theories have been challenged both through the structural transformation of established cities and through the emergence of many new types of cities in the rapidly urbanising developing world.

This unit examines the relationship between terrorism and globalisation. Explores themes of massacre, ethnic cleansing, and terrorism in the context of social uncertainty and crises in nation states. Examines the production of victims and the process of cultural symbolisation of the body and the new social and political imaginaries emerging. Examines the uses of victimhood in trying to escape terror and achieve reconciliation. Draws on the work of Scarry, Kristeva, Appadurai, Nordstrom, Foucault, Zulaika and Taussig.

This unit outlines the sociological analysis of celebrity, examining how we can see celebrity as a particular social form characteristic of modernity, and what makes it possible to speak of a 'celebrity society'. It reflects on the history of celebrity, the concept of court society, the production of celebrity and the economics of attention, para-social interaction, celebrity in sport, politics, diplomacy, management and business, the power relations characterizing celebrity society, and the trend lines in the future development of celebrity.

This unit of study is intended to prepare undergraduate students to undertake independent quantitative analyses of social science data. Topics include: basic statistical numeracy, how to achieve quantitative results, how to write about quantitative analyses, and basic literacy in generalised linear models. The unit of study is writing intensive. No specific prior mathematical training is assumed, though a basic grasp of simple algebra is expected. By the end of the course, students should be able to approach quantitative social science data with confidence.

In this unit of study Australian social policy is explored: the legal and administrative framework; relationships between family and the state; employment, unemployment, unpaid work and welfare; the public/private mix; aged care policies, the culture of welfare state provision, indigenous policies, migration, multiculturalism and the formulation and delivery of social welfare services in Australia.

This unit is essentially conceptual and theoretical, emphasising the contested principles of social policy - discourse, theories, ideas and ideologies - around which the contemporary welfare state was, is and continues to be organised, discussed and debated. This unit focuses on the application of concepts and theories in practical social policy arenas. In particular, the emphasis will be on the debated, sometimes contested, nature of concepts and theories in social policy discourses in contemporary societies.

This unit examines how industrialised countries manage social risks and how welfare policies can be meaningfully compared. By exploring theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of social policy, it investigates key principles underpinning social policies in a variety of countries, and how we can best explain differences between them.

This unit explores definitions of crime, criminological theories of crime causation, and core concepts and research methods in criminology. It examines key features of criminal justice institutions and crime justice policy, and addresses contemporary debates about crime in relation to topics such as gender, race, ethnicity, and youth offending.

This unit explores key features of criminal justice processes and practices, with a critical examination of policing, sentencing, punishment and prison in their historical, social, political and cultural contexts. It considers a range of related concepts and issues, including the expansion of punishment in society and post-release life.

This unit examines the nature of friendship, its place within theories of late modern society and its significance for changing conceptions of personal and public life. Students will learn how friendship transforms sociological understandings of family, kin, marriage, community, sexual intimacy and work relationships. Friendship's significance for the lifestyles of diverse social groups is considered and we investigate friendship's unique role within our own personal narratives.

This unit provides a detailed introduction to key social theorists whose ideas are being used extensively in contemporary sociological theory and research. These theorists include: Irving Goffman, Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. A particular focus is on approaches to human action in its various structural and cultural contexts, the possibilities and limits of human agency, and questions of social change.

This unit addresses the political, ethical and practical problems that may arise during the process of conducting research. It will also examine the social and logical links between theory, method, data and analysis. In the seminars we will critically examine the work of other researchers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their approaches. As part of their assessment, students will select a topic of their own and develop a theoretically informed research proposal.

Through the principles of visual sociology and visual research methods involved in image making this unit considers societies, ideologies and cultures found in images. It appraises visual dialogues, value systems, paintings, photographs, film and documentary and offers a critical examination of image-reproduction in transnational contexts.

This unit will examine key issues in the sociology of culture, using a combination of traditional lectures and tutorials and a flipped classroom approach. It will explore a range of frameworks for understanding cultural practices, productions, and media representations. It aims to link culture to specific case studies to combine theory with research.

This unit frames debates about social policy, delivery of public goods, and human wellbeing in relation to processes of globalisation. Drawing on sociological and interdisciplinary perspectives, it focuses on social policy issues and responses, including governance, regulation and service delivery at local, national, regional and global levels.

Interdisciplinarity is a key skill in fostering agility in life and work. This unit provides learning experiences that build students' skills, knowledge and understanding of the application of their disciplinary background to interdisciplinary contexts. In this unit, students will work in teams and develop interdisciplinarity skills through problem-based learning projects responding to 'real world problems'.

This unit provides theoretical, conceptual and analytic insights into substantive sociological research, so students might reflect on their own research processes. The aim is to investigate the variety of ways in which sociological research can be conducted and conceptualised, and to develop skills in the critical analysis of academic work.

This unit examines a range of sociological research methods, including their historical and political locations and logics, with a view to providing students with a strong methodological framework to situate their own research practices, and to produce greater reflexivity about social research and writing in sociology.

This unit provides students the opportunity to begin developing their own research project working closely with their supervisors and engaging in activities that will facilitate the timely completion of their research. Activities may include drafting a literature and methods review, submitting an ethics application, and the scoping for fieldwork.

Working closely with supervisors, students produce an original piece of written sociological research, which may include the analysis of data gathered from fieldwork that is applied to relevant literature/s, or the writing of a thesis using secondary sources, which are analysed to produce an original contribution to knowledge.