Sociology syllabus, dot point by dot point

the impact of colonisation on Australian Indigenous cultures, including dispossession, assimilation, the Stolen Generations and ongoing effects

How has colonisation affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and communities?

the sociological imagination as described by C. Wright Mills, and its use in linking personal experience to wider social structures

What is the sociological imagination and how do sociologists use it to study culture?

common public misconceptions about Australian Indigenous cultures, and how a sociological imagination challenges them

What are common public misconceptions about Australian Indigenous cultures and how does sociology challenge them?

the concept of multiculturalism and its relationship to belonging, inclusion and ethnic diversity in Australia

What is multiculturalism and how does it shape belonging and inclusion in Australia?

the process of socialisation, including primary and secondary socialisation and the role of agents of socialisation

How is culture transmitted through socialisation and which agents are responsible?

the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, and their significance for the sociological study of culture and ethnicity

What are ethnocentrism and cultural relativism and why do they matter for studying ethnicity?

the concepts of prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping and racism, and their impact on ethnic groups in Australia

How do sociologists distinguish prejudice, discrimination and racism, and how do they affect ethnic groups in Australia?

the sociological concept of culture, including material and non-material culture, and the process of socialisation

What is culture and how do sociologists distinguish material from non-material culture?

the sociological concept of ethnicity, and the distinction between ethnicity, race, nationality and culture

What is ethnicity and how does it differ from race, nationality and culture?

the distinctive features of Australian Indigenous cultures, including connection to Country, kinship, language and spirituality

What are the distinctive features of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures before and since colonisation?

one social movement in detail, the women's movement, including its origins, organisation, strategies and outcomes

Unit 4: Community, social movements and social change

Unit overview →

How has the Australian women's movement organised and what social change has it achieved?

the role of power, inclusion and exclusion in communities, and the factors that strengthen or weaken community

How do power, inclusion and exclusion operate within communities?

the role of social movements in achieving social change, using Australian examples such as land rights, environmental and marriage equality movements

How do social movements bring about social change in Australia?

the range of types of social movements, including reform, revolutionary, resistance and new social movements, and how they differ in scope and aim

What are the different types of social movements and how do they vary in their aims?

the concepts of social capital and sense of belonging, and how they contribute to the strength of a community

What are social capital and a sense of belonging, and how do they strengthen community?

the theory of Ferdinand Tonnies, including Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, and the way communities change over time

How does Tonnies explain the way communities have changed from traditional to modern society?

the sociological concept of social movements, including their characteristics, types and stages of development

What is a social movement and what are its key features and types?

one social movement in detail, the Aboriginal land rights movement, including its origins, organisation, strategies and outcomes

How did the Aboriginal land rights movement organise and what social change did it achieve?

one social movement in detail, the environmental movement, including its origins, organisation, strategies and outcomes

How has the Australian environmental movement organised and what social change has it achieved?

the sociological concept of community, including types of community and the characteristics that define them

What is a community and what are its key sociological characteristics?