Society and Politics

Studies in Society and Politics encompass the core disciplines outlined below. These can be studied at the undergraduate level within the Bachelor of Arts or at the postgraduate level.

For those students who wish to pursue their interests and studies in Society and Politics into focused professional arenas, the School offers postgraduate programs in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies, International and Community Development, Psychoanalytic Studies and Politics and Policy.

Australian Studies

Australian Studies comprehensively examines major debates in Australian society and history. At each level students are encouraged to explore a range of sources from popular culture to policy statements.

Criminology

Criminology is an interdisciplinary field that draws upon law, sociology, history, psychology and other disciplines to address the substantive issues of crime, security, policing, and punishment. Criminology is also concerned with the social processes that shape criminalisation, control and security. Criminology combines critical theory with an applied focus on the analysis of the policies, the practices of criminal justice professions, and other participants (for instance victims), and the shifting role of the state in the government of crime.

Major issues addressed include the principles and practices of the criminal justice system, historical and contemporary shifts in the nature, organisation and practices of policing at local, state, national and transnational level, the impact of, and responses to, terrorism and transnational crime, how deviant identities are formed and regulated, the role of law in the control of behaviour, and different practices for conducting criminological research.

International and Community Development

International and Community Development is a professional, cross-disciplinary program offered at postgraduate level to students coming from all disciplines. The program is designed to serve the needs of those seeking a qualification in international and community development studies, in particular post-graduate qualifications, for professional enhancement and personal reasons. The units examine the historical record of development, the anthropological, social, political, economic and policy dimensions of development, and the evolution of thought on the meaning of development, its role of poverty reduction, and approaches towards sustainable development.

Philosophy

Philosophy seeks to lift our thinking from the practicalities of everyday life and from the necessity of professional training in order to reflect on the eternal truths whereby we are urged to live. Individual units cover questions which deal with the nature of human existence; world religions; ethics in a global context; political philosophy; and the nature and value of science and of the arts. A distinctive feature of the major is its focus upon Asian philosophy, psychoanalysis, and philosophy as practiced in continental Europe.

Politics and Policy

In Politics and Policy, students will examine issues of power and authority through studies of policy, institutions and political movements. Students will also be introduced to the political values, ideas and ideologies that orient political action. Throughout the sequence of units, students will be encouraged to understand contemporary political problems at local, national and global levels. Key themes include democracy, citizenship, globalisation, risk, environment, gender and religion. Our units are intended to encourage students to make better sense of the world in which they live and understand the current social and political challenges they face. Central is a concern to understand how Australian and global institutions should respond to complex policy problems in an era of globalisation and rapid change.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society and social relations. Thinking sociologically allows the individual to step outside the taken-for-granted processes of everyday living towards examining the processes which create, maintain and change social groups in society.