Socio-Legal Studies Descriptions

Unit outlines will be available through Find a unit outline two weeks before the first day of teaching for 1000-level and 5000-level units, or one week before the first day of teaching for all other units.
 

Socio-Legal Studies

Major

A major in Socio-Legal Studies requires 48 credit points from this table including:
(i) 12 credit points of 1000-level core units
(ii) 6 credit points of 2000-level core unit
(iii) 6 credit points of 2000-level selective units
(iv) 6 credit points of 3000-level core unit
(v) 12 credit points of 3000-level selective units
(vi) 6 credit points of 3000-level Interdisciplinary Project units

Minor

A minor in Socio-Legal Studies requires 36 credit points from this table including:
(i) 12 credit points of 1000-level core units
(ii) 6 credit points of 2000-level core unit
(iii) 6 credit points of 2000-level selective units
(iv) 12 credit points of 3000-level units

1000 level core units of study

SLSS1001 Introduction to Law, Policy and Society

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lectures/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1x500wd short writing task (10%), 1x250wd online quiz (5%), 1x1750wd report (35%), 1x2000wd exam (40%), tutorial participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit provides students with an introduction tothe understanding of legal ideas, policy formation, institutions and practices in their social and historical contexts. It will provide an historical overview of legal institutions and forms of law in Australia, the place of the idea of the rule of law in state-formation, liberalism, processes of civilisation and colonialism, law, policy and the public/private distinction, changing conceptions of human rights, as well as outlining the central features of the various fields of law and policy.
SLSS1003 Law and Contemporary Society

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lectures/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: tutorial participation (10%), 1x500wd short essay (10%), 1x2000wd essay (40%), 1x2hr exam (40%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit provides an understanding of the central themes and issues in social scientific analyses of the operation of law in society. After briefly outlining the various ways in which social life is organised in terms of law, the unit will examine a range of key concerns in the development of legal ideas, institutions and processes today, including the increasing legal regulation of private life, law and science, human rights, the globalisation of law, terrorism, risk and security, law and social inequality and citizenship.

2000 level units of study

Core
SLSS2607 Making Policy and Law

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Socio-Legal Studies Prohibitions: SCPL3604 Assessment: 1x1000wd participation (10%), 1x1500wd essay (40%), 1x2000wd policy report (50%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
How and why do some ideas about social justice, resource (re)distribution and inequality get translated into policy and law while others do not? This unit examines how a web of decisions and actions that allocate values come into being. A system of laws constitutes a critical component of this process. Through the use of case studies, students are given the opportunity to explore the policy and legislative dynamics that underpin the emergence, development and demise of value choices.
Selective
SLSS2606 Socio-Legal Theory

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Socio-Legal Studies Prohibitions: SCLG2615 Assessment: 1x1500wd case study essay (30%), 1x2500wd research essay (50%), 1x500wd equivalent presentation (10%), participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This core unit explores theoretical approaches to studying socio-legal dynamics in a globalised society. It examines key theoretical debates drawing on classical theorists (Weber, Durkheim, Marx), more recent social theorists (Habermas, Foucault, Bourdieu) and critical notes from gender, queer, race, postcolonial, and science studies.
SCPL2601 Australian Social Policy

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Sociology or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Social Policy or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Socio-legal Studies Prohibitions: SCPL3001 Assessment: 1x1500wd essay (35%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (45%), 1x450wd equivalent participation in online discussions (10%), tutorial participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
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.
CRIM2604 Race, Law and Justice

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Sociology or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Socio-Legal Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Criminology Prohibitions: SLSS2604 Assessment: 1x1000wd critical analysis (20%), 1x2000wd research essay (40%), 1x1500wd take home exercise (30%), tutorial participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will examine histories and continuing legacies of colonialism and racialisation and their interaction with legal systems and criminalisation. Topics covered could include dispossession and theft of sovereignty in settler colonial nations, structural racism and its relation to law, racialised policing and profiling, mass incarceration policies and movements by Indigenous peoples and people of colour to achieve social and legal justice.

3000 level units of study

Core
SLSS3601 Doing Socio-Legal Research

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr seminar/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Socio-legal Studies Prohibitions: SLSS2601 Assessment: 2x500wd research output - data analysis exercise (20%), 2x2500wd research report (70%), participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will develop an understanding of social science research methods as they apply to quantitative and qualitative socio-legal studies. The unit will consider the epistemological, ontological and theoretical aspects of qualitative and quantitative research design and methodology and provide an overview of the main research methods applicable in both qualitative and quantitative socio-legal studies. Students will learn about the different stages involved in the development of both qualitative and quantitative socio-legal research projects.
Selective
SLSS3602 Human Rights: Law, Policy and Protest

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Socio-Legal Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Criminology Prohibitions: SCLG2624 Assessment: 1x1500wd minor essay (30%), 1x3000wd major essay (60%), required participation (10%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Global human rights and the idea of 'one humanity' became politically possible with the end of the Cold War. This unit explores the production of the human rights system as a top down process of legalisation, institutionalisation, policy development and intervention and the bottom up process of victim claim-making, collective mobilisation and transnational advocacy.
SLSS3603 Social Justice, Law and Society

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Socio-Legal Studies or 12 credit points at 2000 level in Social Policy Prohibitions: SCLG2605 or SCLG2017 or SCLG2536 Assessment: 1x1000wd short answer questions (30%), 1x1000wd equivalent presentation (15%), 1x2500wd research paper (55%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit explores different theoretical perspectives on social justice relating to income and wealth distribution, identity, social recognition, law and rights. It applies these to contemporary examples, including income and wealth disparities, race and gender inequality, disability rights, the environment and treatment of non-human animals.
SCLG3702 Social Inquiry: Quantitative Methods

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr lab/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Sociology or 12 credit points of (HSBH1003 or OCCP2087 or OCCP2088 or OCCP2085 or OCCP1097 or OCCP1096) Prohibitions: SCLG2632 or SCLG3603 Assessment: 1x2hr final exam (40%), 2x1250wd equivalent research report (60%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
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.

Interdisciplinary Project unit of study

If you are completing two majors and both of your majors are from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, please select the Interdisciplinary Impact unit of study for your first major, and the Industry and Community Project unit of study for your second major.
If you are completing two majors but only one of your majors is from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, please select the Interdisciplinary Impact unit of study for that major.
If you are completing one major only and that major is from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, please select the Interdisciplinary Impact unit of study for your major.
FASS3999 Interdisciplinary Impact

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Intensive December,Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1hr lecture/performance event week for 5 weeks 2hr workshop per week for 10 weeks 2hr online learning modules for 5 weeks Prerequisites: Completion of at least 90 credit points Assessment: 1x1000wd disciplinary mapping exercise (20%), 1x1500wd / 10 min team presentation (30%), 1x2000wd critical reflection (35%), participation and engagement (15%). Please refer to the unit of study outline for individual sessions https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Department permission required for enrolmentin the following sessions:Intensive December
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'.
SLSS3999 Interdisciplinary Impact

This unit of study is not available in 2022

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Intensive December,Semester 1,Semester 2 Prerequisites: Completion of at least 90 credit points Prohibitions: Interdisciplinary Impact in another major Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: Department permission required for enrolmentin the following sessions:Intensive December
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'.
SLSS3998 Industry and Community Project

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Intensive February,Intensive July,Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: 72 credit points Corequisites: Interdisciplinary Impact in any major Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This interdisciplinary unit provides students with the opportunity to address complex problems identified by industry, community, and government organisations, and gain valuable experience in working across disciplinary boundaries. In collaboration with a major industry partner and an academic lead, students integrate their academic skills and knowledge by working in teams with students from a range of disciplinary backgrounds. This experience allows students to research, analyse and present solutions to a realworld problem, and to build on their interpersonal and transferable skills by engaging with and learning from industry experts and presenting their ideas and solutions to the industry partner.