The
School of Political and Social Inquiry is made up of the disciplines of
anthropology, sociology and politics. It also includes the National Centre for
Australian Studies and the Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research. The
school offers undergraduate and graduate courses, and honours and higher-degree
supervision in all three disciplines and in the interdisciplinary field of
women's studies. It also offers interdisciplinary graduate courses and
supervision in international relations, applied social research,
communications, publishing and tourism.
The core disciplines traverse social and political theory, and also address
issues of national and international identity along with the formation of
particular cultural groups and networks.
The National Centre for Australian Studies offers subjects that can be taken as
part of the Bachelor of Arts in the areas of Tourism (Berwick campus) and
Communications (Clayton and Berwick campuses). The field of women's studies
covers the history and representation of women and sexual difference and the
complex construction of gender relations in the past, present and future.
Students acquire the ability to undertake a wide range of political and social
research, including ethnographic studies and questionnaire design.
Students completing an undergraduate degree in anthropology, sociology,
politics, tourism, communications or women's studies acquire analytical and
writing skills that enable them to seek employment in both the public and the
private sector. Career options include positions in the mass media, in market
research organisations and working for political parties or welfare groups.
Graduates are regularly placed with key federal government departments,
including foreign affairs and communications.
Anthropology
is the discipline concerned with the study of culture in general and of
specific cultures and their social organisation in particular. The specific
cultures may be the cultures of other societies, minority cultures within our
own country, or the cultures of our own past. All anthropology staff have deep
and intensive research experience in other societies and their cultures and
bring to the subjects we offer, whether they be about others or ourselves, a
distinctly anthropological perspective and an understanding of, and respect
for, cultural difference. The ethnographic expertise of the discipline extends
through South and Southeast Asia and Melanesia to the study of minority
communities and their cultures in Australia, incorporating a range of
theoretical perspectives. Anthropology staff provide students with access to
subjects which are crosscultural and comparative. Anthropology is offered only
on the Clayton campus.
An honours year is available in anthropology as well as an MQual and an MA by
coursework and research, which allows for specialist interests in anthropology,
comparative societies, gender and feminism, as well as postgraduate research
degrees.
The
study of our own country is central to an appreciation of Australia's place in
the world. As the centenary of federation approaches, there is a growing
interest in both the past and the future of our society. By undertaking an
integrated program of Australian studies, students will gain the knowledge and
skills which will equip them to understand and interpret the culture we
inhabit.
Within the Faculty of Arts, there is a wide range of courses in both humanities
and social science areas which contain material on Australia. Students enrolled
in the BA can pursue an interest in Australian studies by choosing subjects
with an Australian focus or content.
Students may also undertake two summer school courses: AUS1010S (Out of empire)
and AUS1020S (Democracy and nation).
For postgraduate courses, refer to the entry under National Centre for
Australian Studies in the graduate handbook.
First-year subjects with specific Australian focus offered within the faculty are listed below. Full details can be found under the entries for the relevant schools. Some listings are subject to change and not offered every year. Students should consult the school offering the subject.
The study of human behaviour can be undertaken from two broad perspectives, one based in the humanities and the other in the sciences. Monash University provides both.
Students interested in human behaviour as a humanities-oriented stream of study can take the behavioural studies minor offered through the Faculty of Arts. A major will be offered to students from 2001, subject to final approval. Behavioural studies subjects have close links with other arts disciplines and arts-based professionally-oriented courses such as social work and police and justice studies.
Communications
and media studies focuses on the organisation, processes and effects of
traditional and new communications technologies such as print, television, film
and electronic media. Students gain an understanding of the practical operation
of the media as well as the social and cultural dimensions of communications,
and the complex relationships between audiences, producers and policy-makers.
Students also examine the nature of communication and the capabilities and
applications of communication in a range of societies.
Communications and media studies students learn to critically analyse the media
and learn about the structure of communications industries and the relations
between media, culture and power. Communications theory is an integral part of
the major, coupled with an investigation of the practices, technologies and
processes that make up modern media.
The program prepares students to work across the public and private sectors,
and a wide range of communications industries. The program offers an
international approach to the study of communications, provides practical
experience in the use of new communications technologies, and offers students
an opportunity to take part in an internship in a selected communications
industry in the final year of the major. Other areas of study at Monash
University which students might consider undertaking to complement the major
include journalism, public relations, marketing, multimedia and cultural
studies.
Graduates work in a wide range of fields including corporate communications,
journalism, marketing and public relations. The graduate communications program
on the Clayton campus, established in 1992, offers the Master of Arts in
Communications, the Graduate Diploma of Arts (Communications), and the Faculty
Certificate in Communications.
The
comparative cultures course replaces the former comparative societies course.
Comparative cultures is an interdisciplinary course focusing on processes of
social development, comparing ways of life found in societies of all kinds:
modern and pre-modern, agrarian and industrial, capitalist and socialist,
Eastern and Western. The course draws on the comparative and theoretical
aspects of the school's disciplines -- anthropology, politics and sociology --
bringing together subjects which, while focusing on a comparative understanding
of cultures and societies, see a critical appraisal of relevant social,
cultural and political theory as central to such a comparative perspective.
Comparative cultures subjects are at the analytical edge of historical and
comparative studies, self-conscious about method, constantly attempting to move
beyond established ´truth'. Given its overtly comparative, theoretical and
interdisciplinary perspective, comparative cultures also encourages involvement
in subjects outside the school as students engage with the many debates in this
area which cut across not only anthropology, politics and sociology but also
literary theory, history, philosophy and psychology.
Comparative cultures begins its specialisation at second year. Students
normally use two first-year subjects in anthropology (see separate entry),
politics (see separate entry) and/or sociology (see separate entry) as the
basis for a minor or major in comparative cultures, but other subjects from
cognate areas may be allowed.
Second-year subjects deal with the rise of capitalist societies, the study of
culture, the current complexities of international politics, understanding
prejudice and discrimination in its many guises, and the impact of scientific
rationality on our view of the world and our place in it.
In the third year, students can choose from a wide range of options dealing
with topics such as ethnicity, nationalism, globalisation and identity, media,
gender and sexuality; the cultural construction of disabilities; Marxist,
critical, structuralist and post-structuralist theories of society, culture and
politics.
An honours program is also available for students wishing to specialise further
and who may want to proceed to postgraduate research. The school offers an
MQual and an MA by coursework and research within which specialised subjects
are available in social, cultural and political theory, globalism, gender and
feminism, and South and Southeast Asian politics and society.
The
Politics section teaches courses on the Caulfield and Clayton campuses,
specialising in four broad areas: Australian politics, international relations
and global politics, culture and identity politics, and social and political
theory. Students may specialise in one or more of these areas, but are
encouraged to choose their subjects so as to explore the different approaches
to political studies.
Politics is a very broad discipline which tends to overlap continually with all
the other major humanities and social science subjects. It is, therefore, an
excellent subject for learning about the interrelationships which exist in the
human world, and for acquiring a diverse range of interpretive, analytic and
synthetic (especially conceptual) skills. The discipline is not just concerned
with the study of government, policy or political institutions; it also studies
resource allocation, decision making, social behaviour and political action,
the management or resolution of conflict, power struggles, the struggle for
political freedom, ideologies and political movements, the nature of the state
and relations between states. It is especially concerned with the nature of
power and authority, with ´practical understanding', with the relations
between theory and practice and with the series of arguments which are created
by the continual struggle by human beings to maintain their social existence
and to devise more desirable and more satisfactory forms of human community.
Politics at Monash aims to offer students up-to-date coverage and explanation
of many aspects of the contemporary world, developed and underdeveloped,
coupled with a solid intellectual grounding in the key debates, texts and
traditions of inquiry which one finds in the humanities and social sciences.
On the Clayton campus in 2001, the Politics section will offer five first-year subjects, three in first semester (PLT1020, PLT1070 and PLT1120) and two in second semester (PLT1040, PLT1050). All students who wish to proceed to politics in second year must complete any two of these subjects. No previous knowledge of politics is assumed.
On the Caulfield campus, the Politics section offers two first-year subjects (PLT1020 and PLT1531). No previous knowledge of politics is assumed. All politics students from this campus who wish to proceed to politics in second year must complete both of the first-year subjects offered.
The
focus of sociology (SCY subjects) teaching is on the study of industrial and
post-industrial societies. It involves the investigation of human groups,
communities, institutions and organisations, and the networks of meaning and
association which link individuals and groups to the broader social structures
of such societies. The wide range of subjects available is designed to provide
opportunities to explore broad theoretical and methodological issues, to
acquire research skills, and to develop an understanding of the institutions
and processes of industrial and post-industrial society. Emphasis is placed on
the research process (the careful description of human social order, the
development of theories and research strategies designed to test and apply
theories) as the means by which sociology as a discipline advances. Many of the
substantive subjects give students an understanding of Australian society in
its global context.
The introductory year sets the pattern for later years. It illustrates some of
the perspectives and methods of the discipline by examining their relevance to
some of the more important substantive areas of society, including the study of
socialisation, deviance, the family, , popular culture, sexuality, class and
social inequality. The second year seeks to deepen this approach. Theories and
methods are examined in greater detail. In the third year, a wide range of
options covering theory, methods and a variety of substantive areas are offered
from which students may choose.
An honours year is available in sociology and the school also offers an MA in
Applied Social Research and an MA in Sociology by coursework and research. This
allows for specialisation in a variety of areas. There are also MA and PhD
degrees by research.
Subjects listed under this heading are offered by the Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research. The centre is located in the south wing, sixth floor, Menzies building.
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