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SOCY340 Social Theory

Credit Points 6
Offering
Responsible Campus Teaching Period Mode of Study Online Level
Armidale Semester 2 Off Campus C - Internet access required
Armidale Semester 2 On Campus C - Internet access required
Intensive School(s) None
Supervised Exam There is no UNE Supervised Examination.
Pre-requisites 12cp in SOCY
Co-requisites None
Restrictions None
Notes None
Combined Units None
Coordinator(s) Steven Thiele (sthiele@une.edu.au)
Unit Description

Social theory covers the main sets of claims social theorists have made about what the social world is made up of and how it works. It does this in a thematic way by making a distinction between social theories which look for explanation inside social life and those which posit something which directs social life from above.
Materials No text required
Disclaimer Unit information may be subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.
Assessment
Title Exam Length Weight Mode No. Words
Essay 50% 2250
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO 1-4, GA 1-4, 6 and 7
Essay 50% 2250
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO 1-4, GA 1-4, 6 and 7

Learning Outcomes (LO) Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
  1. understand a broad range of disputes about the nature and dynamic of social life;
  2. present clearly the major theoretical issues that underlay the range of disputes;
  3. write better essays in an acceptable sociological style;
  4. present a well argued case that avoids perspectivism.

Graduate Attributes (GA)
Attribute Taught Assessed Practised
1 Knowledge of a Discipline
The unit covers a wide area in the various dimensions of social theory. 		True True True
2 Communication Skills
Via this unit students will be able to communicate effectively and confidantly in oral and written forms. In particular they will be able to write in a sociological style that will enable them to communicate within the broader sociological community. They will be able to present a sustained argument that recognises difference while still begin able to argue a case without drifting into perspectivism. 		True True
3 Global Perspectives
Students will be able to appreciate that social theory is globally oriented and that an understanding of social life cannot be gained by focussing in one one nation, region or culture. For this reason students doing this unit will be able to communicate in a global context. 		True True
4 Information Literacy
Students in this unit will be encouraged to closely read and understand the information they are given in their unit material. They are encouraged to be critical of this information and not just to re-present it. Students are encouraged to read widely once they have utilised their given material and to collect and organise relevant information in essay style answers. 		True
5 Life-Long Learning
Students doing this unit are given the resources to understand that learning is not something they do only when they are enrolled formally in educational institutions. They are encouraged to see that social theory deals with ideas and problems central to a thoughtful human existence and that thinking about these ideas and problems can go on over their entire life. 		True
6 Problem Solving
Social theory is concerned with a range of problems thrown up by the social lives that people live. This unit is not concerned with solving the day to day problems that people confront, but with thinking about the problems humans have in understanding their social world. 		True True
7 Social Responsibility
This unit does not pretend to know what it means for someone to be socially reponsible. Instead, it introduces students to the different ways in which people consider themselves responsible and they way they hold others to be responsible. It leads students to take ideas seriously and to take a position after thinking through alternative explanations of responsibility. 		True True
   

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