The School of Political and Social Inquiry is made up of the disciplines of
anthropology, behavioural studies, criminal justice and criminology, 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 units 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 units we offer, whether they are 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 units that are cross-cultural and comparative. Anthropology is offered only on the Clayton campus.
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 that 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 that contain material on Australia. Students enrolled
in the Bachelor of Arts can pursue an interest in Australian studies by
choosing units with an Australian focus or content.
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. Behavioural studies units have
close links with other arts disciplines and arts-based professionally oriented
courses such as social work, education, and criminal justice and criminology.
Behavioural studies is offered at the Caulfield and Clayton campuses.
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 units 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 units 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 units 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 units 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 units from
cognate areas may be allowed.
Second-year units 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 major in criminal justice and criminology provides students with the skills to understand the complexities of crime, to learn about the various stages of the criminal justice system, to critically analyse its working and tension and to explore alternative strategies. Criminal justice and criminology students can combine an interest in areas such as police, courts, corrections, law and order, justice, causes of crime, crime prevention and victims of crime in order to broaden their career options in this area.
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 units 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 disciplines. It is,
therefore, an excellent discipline for learning about the interrelationships
that 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 that one finds in the humanities and social sciences.
On the Clayton campus in 2002, the Politics section will offer five first-year units, 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 units. No previous knowledge of politics is assumed.
On the Caulfield campus, the Politics section offers two first-year units.
The
focus of sociological 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 units available are 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 units 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.
The following units is offered by the Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research. The centre is located in the south wing, sixth floor, Menzies building.
Dr
Denise Cuthbert, honours adviser and director, first semester (room S621)
Dr Maryanne Dever, undergraduate adviser and director, second semester (room
S622)
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