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 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 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 examines identity and self in changing social, political and technological conditions, including religious identity, emotions and social life, power relations in forming selves, celebrity identities, the influence of new technology and communication, social identity in friendship and families, and commodified identities in consumer culture.

This unit explores ideas of 'otherness' via concepts of exclusion, marginalised, inequality and discrimination. It examines structural and institutional sources of those processes, and considers policy, political and legal solutions to minority rights and recognition of difference in areas like gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and disability.

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 of study trains students to a range of qualitative research. Students examine the methodological issues in contemporary sociology and their impact on the research process. Students will also undertake practical exercises in order to learn to appreciate and use a selection of research approaches and methods.

This unit enables students to acquire skills in a range of quantitative research methods in the social sciences. They learn about censuses and surveys as foundational methods of quantitative research, then move to statistical analyses of quantitative data. No prior university-level mathematical training is assumed, though a basic grasp of simple algebra acquired through upper-level study of maths at high school is expected.

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.

This unit of study focuses on social understandings of 'deviance' and 'difference.' Covering various theories, the unit addresses how deviance is constructed and regulated, and how the idea of the 'abnormal' is central to social debate on a wide range of issues, such as obesity, disability, extreme body modification, and mental health.

Our bodies are an important way we interact with society. Our identities, interactions with power and social and political institutions and even our leisure are mediated through and upon the body. Drawing on the expertise and research interests of a team of staff members, we explore various sociological perspectives relating to the body in society.

Power is a fundamental resource in the organisation and control of society and in disciplining individual behaviour. This unit explores social order and disorder by examining how power is exercised, sometimes violently, through political, legal, economic and cultural processes and structures and how it is concentrated, distributed and resisted.

Everyday social life necessarily takes place across a range of disparate spaces and places. This unit takes a sociological approach to exploring key spatial sites of social life (including cities, suburbs, villages and countryside) and examining how processes like modernisation, globalisation and gentrification have impacted those places.

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 is designed for third year students to undertake a project that allows them to work with one of the University's industry and community partners. Students will work in teams on a real-world problem provided by the partner. This experience will allow students to apply their academic skills and disciplinary knowledge to a real-world issue in an authentic and meaningful way.