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SOCY340 Social Theory

Updated: 13 October 2011
Credit Points 6
Offering
Responsible Campus Teaching Period Mode of Study
Armidale Trimester 1 Off Campus
Armidale Trimester 1 On Campus
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) Alan Scott (alan.scott@une.edu.au)
Unit Description

Social theory is driven both by real world events and by ideas, and asks big questions about the social construction of identity, how power is exercised (and resisted), structure and human agency. This course focuses upon major thinkers and schools. It does so by examining what they have to say about the central institutions of 'modernity': the state, the market and the corporation. The unit covers both the ideas of 'classical' social theorists from Marx to Foucault, but also important contemporary figures. Social theory is vital in shaping sociology's intellectual agenda, but at the same time is a reflection upon and of the world in which the theorist is living, writing and thinking. It is this tension between context and reflection that makes social theory a vital and exciting area of intellectual endeavour.
Prescribed Material
Mandatory 		Text(s):

Note: Students are expected to purchase prescribed material

Modern Social Theory
ISBN: 9780199255702
Harrington, A., Oxford University Press 2005
Text refers to: Trimester 1 , On and Off Campus
Disclaimer Unit information may be subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.
Assessment
Title Exam Length Weight Mode No. Words
Essay 40% 1800
Relates to Learning Outcomes (LO) and Graduate Attributes (GA)
LO 1-4 GA 1-4, 6 and 7
Essay 60% 3500
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 debates within social theory and the context in which those debates arose;
  2. present clearly the major theoretical issues that underlay the range of debates;
  3. write better essays in an acceptable sociological style; and
  4. present a better argued and more clearly structured case supporting your own arguments.

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. This will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		True True True
2 Communication Skills
Via this unit students will be able to communicate effectively and confidently 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 being able to argue a case without drifting into perspectivism. This will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		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 focusing in on one nation, region or culture. For this reason students doing this unit will be able to communicate in a global context. This will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		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. This will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		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. Problem-solving skills will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		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 the 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. This will be assessed in all assessment tasks. 		True True
8 Team Work
Team work is a required element of participation in tutorials and online discussions. 		True
   

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