Sociology 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.
 

Sociology

Major

A major in Sociology 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 Sociology requires 36 credit points from this table including:
(i) 12 credit points of 1000-level core units
(ii) 12 credit points of 2000-level units
(iii) 12 credit points of 3000-level units

1000 level units of study

Core
SCLG1001 Introduction to Sociology 1

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 Assessment: 1x500wd review exercise (10%), 1x1500wd essay (35%), 1x1500wd take home assessment (35%), 1x1000wd equivalent discussion posts (20%). 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 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.
SCLG1002 Introduction to Sociology 2

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 Assessment: 1x1000wd annotated bibliography (20%), 1x1750wd take-home exercise (35%), 1x1750wd research essay (35%), 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 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.

2000 level units of study

Core
SCLG2601 Sociological 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 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Sociology or 12 credit points of Cultural Studies or 12 credit points of Socio-legal Studies Prohibitions: SCLG2001 or SCLG2520 Assessment: 1x2000wd essay (40%), 1x1500wd critical analysis quiz (25%), 4x250wd short reading presentations (25%), 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 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.
Selective
SCLG2000 Global Social Problems

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 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Assessment: 1x1750wd comparative research report (40%), 1x1750wd social problem policy paper (40%), 1x1000wd panel presentation (20%). 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 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.
SCLG2613 Sociology of Childhood and Youth

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 Prohibitions: SCLG2522 Assessment: 1x1500wd annotated bibliography (30%), 1x1500wd essay (30%), 1x1500wd take-home exercise (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 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.
SCLG2623 Sociology of Terror

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 Assessment: 1x1500wd essay (30%), 1x3000wd essay (60%), 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 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.
SCLG2637 Society and Identity

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 Prohibitions: SCLG2612 or SCLG2625 or SCLG2626 or SCLG2629 Assessment: 1x 1000wd presentation (20%), 1x 2000wd essay (40%), 1x 1500wd 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 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.
SCLG2638 Sociology of Exclusion

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 Prohibitions: SCLG2604 or SCLG2635 or SCLG3606 Assessment: 12x1000wd total equivalent discussion posts (20%), 1x1500wd essay 1 (30%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (40%), 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 explores concepts of exclusion, marginalisation, inequality, and discrimination. It examines structural and institutional sources of those processes, and considers policy, political and legal solutions to practices of exclusion and recognition of difference in relation to aspects of identity, such as gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and disability.
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.
SCPL2602 Understanding 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 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 Social Policy Prohibitions: SCPL3002 Assessment: 1x1000wd tutorial reflection (10%), 1x1500wd essay (40%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (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
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.
SCPL2604 Comparative 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 Social Policy or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2509 or SCLG2611 Assessment: 1x1000wd equivalent presentation (10%), 1x1500wd research essay (40%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (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
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.
CRIM2602 Crime, Punishment 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 2 Classes: 2x1hr lectures/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 1000 level in Criminology or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Social Policy or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Socio-legal Studies or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2634 or SCLG2566 Assessment: 1x1000wd reflective essay (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 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.

3000 level units of study

Core
SCLG3701 Social Inquiry: Qualitative 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 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2002 or SCLG2521 or SCLG2602 Assessment: 1x1250wd participant observation task (25%),1x1500wd qualitative interview exercise (30%),1x1750wd research reflection (45%). 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 of study teaches students about a range of qualitative research methods. 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.
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.
Selective
SCLG3601 Contemporary Sociological 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 seminar/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG3002 Assessment: 1xoral presentation (20%) 1x4000wd essay (70%), seminar 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 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.
SCLG3608 Sociology of Deviance and Difference

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, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2608 or SCLG2523 or SCLG2004 Assessment: 1x1500wd research essay (30%), 1x2500wd take-home exercise (40%), 500wd equivalent discussion posts (20%), 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 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.
SCLG3610 Sociology, Power and Violence

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 Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2607 or SCLG2618 or SCLG2621 or SCLG2630 Assessment: tutorial participation (10%), 1x1500wd take home exercise (30%), 1x1800wd major essay (35%), 1x1200wd minor essay (25%). 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
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.
SCLG3612 Sociology of Culture

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 or 1x online lecture/week with participation activities, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points at 2000 level in Sociology Prohibitions: SCLG2606 or SCLG2609 Assessment: 4x300wd discussion board participation (15%), 1x1800wd essay (40%), 1x1500wd takehome exam (35%), 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 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.

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'.
SCLG3999 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'.
SCLG3998 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: Block mode
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.