Anthropology
Australian
studies
Behavioural studies
Communications
Comparative
cultures
Criminal justice and
criminology
Politics
Sociology
Tourism
Women's studies
http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/schools/psi/
Room
W1017, West Wing, Menzies building, Clayton campus
Room B4.35, building B, Caulfield campus
+
61 3 9905 2443 (Clayton)
+ 61 3 9903 2378 (Caulfield)
The School of Political and Social Inquiry is made up of the disciplines of
anthropology, behavioural studies, criminal justice and criminology, politics
and sociology. It also includes the National Centre for Australian Studies, the
Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research, the Centre for Population and
Urban Research, and the Centre for Work and Society in the Global Era
(WAGE).
The school offers undergraduate and applied graduate courses, and honours and
higher-degree supervision in all disciplines of the school and in a variety of
interdisciplinary fields (taught in conjunction with other schools within the
Faculty of Arts). It also offers graduate diplomas, coursework masters and
higher research degrees in criminal justice, international relations,
counter-terrorism studies, applied social research, communications, publishing
and editing, and tourism.
The core disciplines traverse social and political theory, governance issues
and also address issues of globalisation, national and international identity,
causes of crime and the administration of justice along with the formation of
particular cultural groups and networks.
The school also coordinates the undergraduate communications major on Monash's
metropolitan campuses.
Students completing an undergraduate degree with majors or minors in
anthropology, Australian studies, behavioural studies, communications, criminal
justice and criminology, politics, sociology and 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, government service in criminal justice and allied organisations, in
market research organisations and working for political parties or welfare
groups.
Anthropology
is the study of cultural diversity and the diversity of human expression
through space and time.
Anthropologists are concerned with their own society, but only as one among
many. When anthropology seeks to understand economics, politics, religion,
violence, child-rearing or art, it aims eventually at a broad comparative
knowledge which does not assume that the contemporary Western expressions are
the most important, or even the most revealing, in the quest for an
understanding of human cultures and societies. In fact, anthropologists have
been led to examine in detail societies which are very different from their
own, where ideas about beauty, morality, authority and dignity vary markedly
from those with which they are familiar.
Anthropology's comparative approach to understanding humanity is becoming
increasingly important. In recent years, there has been a growth of major
social and political movements throughout the world in which people are
stressing a sense of community, shared identity and assertions of difference on
the basis of factors such as ethnicity, sexuality, gender and status as
indigenous peoples, which cut across national boundaries. At the same time,
many people are expressing concerns for social justice issues, environmental
degradation and so on. Anthropology is a vital discipline because of its
emphasis on the importance of cultural difference in these diverse expressions
of humanity.
Those who qualify as anthropologists, after undergraduate and graduate studies,
may be in a position to engage in first-hand research, become advisers or
consultants to industry, government and non-government organisations on a
diverse range of matters, and teach. But our principal aim is to impart to all
our students, regardless of the occupations they hope to pursue, an informed
and culturally-sensitive awareness of their involvement in their own and other
societies and cultures.
Australian studies explores the distinctive nature of Australian society and culture and the nation's relationship with the rest of the world. Incorporating both traditional and new fields of the humanities and social sciences, Australian studies investigates how past and current interpretations of Australia influence national identity and self-expression. Australian studies explores these issues in a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of culture and society. It also gives universal context to national and international concerns through its interrogation of historical formations impacting on the nation, including the environment, cultural stereotyping, the evolution of the modern nation state, and popular culture, as well as through its exploration of growth information age industries of the 21st century, tourism and communications.
The
discipline of behavioural studies is concerned with a holistic understanding of
the biological, sociological and psychological bases of human behaviour and the
consequent interpretations of the nature of human development, personality and
interpersonal relationships. Students have the opportunity to learn how to read
and interpret the wide array of literature on human behaviour as well as
develop skills in critical analysis. They are exposed to the different
paradigms of contemporary psychological thought, interpersonal and
intercultural communication and relationships, and the study of socially
normative behaviour and its aberrant counterpart.
Behavioural studies is of interest to all those who would like to develop an
understanding of people and human behaviour and the interaction and impact of
society and the individual. It is an excellent adjunct to the full complement
of studies within the social sciences and humanities
A foundation in behavioural studies prepares students for employment in most
areas involving interpersonal interaction, particularly in the broader human
services. It also serves as a platform for further studies in social work,
welfare work, human services, counselling, mediation and education.
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 undertake a major research consultancy in a selected
communications industry in the final year of the major.
Graduates work in a wide range of fields including corporate communications,
journalism, marketing and public relations. The graduate communications
program, established in 1992, offers a graduate certificate, a graduate diploma
and a masters qualification in communications and media studies.
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.
Crime
is an issue that all citizens and governments confront on a daily basis. The
causes of crime, the crime problem and how it should be dealt with are the
subject of intense debate. The major in criminal justice and criminology, which
is offered on the Caulfield and Clayton campuses, 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 workings and
tensions, 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 and the media,
crime and politics, crime prevention and victims of crime in order to broaden
their career options in criminal justice and allied areas.
Students learn to critically analyse crime issues at the global, national,
state and local level. The two first-year units `Understanding crime' and
`Criminal justice in action' introduce students to various facets of crime and
how it is dealt with by the criminal justice system. Second and third-year
units build on the knowledge gained in first year and offer students the
opportunity to critically analyse and evaluate crime-related issues in greater
depth.
Graduates with a major or minor in criminal justice and criminology may find
employment in a wide range of fields, including police, courts, corrections,
human services, attorney-general departments, departments of justice, law
reform commissions, ombudsman offices, anti-corruption commissions, local
government, private security and private prisons.
The
politics program offers 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.
The
focus of sociological teaching and research is the study of industrial and
post-industrial societies in a global context. It involves the investigation of
diverse human groups, communities, institutions and organisations, and the
networks of meaning and association that link individuals and groups to the
broader social structures of such societies. The wide range of units available
is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore broad
theoretical and methodological issues. Sociology employs both classical and
contemporary perspectives and uses a diverse range of interpretive, analytical
and research skills in order to develop a critical understanding of the social
institutions and processes of industrial and post-industrial societies.
Introductory sociology introduces students to a variety of perspectives and
substantive areas of sociology: socialisation, deviance, the family,
sexualities and gender, industrialisation and globalisation, class and social
inequality. In later years, sociological theories and methods are examined in
greater detail. A wide range of electives are available: sexuality and gender;
men and masculinity; families, labour and industry; youth and social change;
ethnicity and minority relations; population and migration; popular music;
media, communications and societies; prisons; women and madness; social
psychology; children and society; work and social change; power and policy;
sociological perspectives and sociological research. Many of these substantive
units give students an understanding of the diverse aspects of Australian
culture in its global context.
Women's studies is an exciting interdisciplinary field of inquiry broadly concerned with questions of gender, sexuality and culture. Women's studies is informed by the belief that all social processes are `gendered', and women's studies units bring innovative theory and research techniques to the study of women's lives, their status in society, and the dilemmas and contradictions in gender relations and sexualities. Women's studies units cover specific topics such as how gender issues are represented in film, literature, popular culture, advertising and the media; feminist and gender theory; the relationship between gender and crime; the connections between gender, consumption and marketing; feminist research methodology; how different cultures shape gender identities and sexualities; shifting cultural and historical forms of femininity and masculinity; how questions of sex or gender relate to questions of class and race; and cross-cultural feminism. The undergraduate program is designed to introduce students to a variety of feminist models of analysis and to assist them in developing a range of methodological skills. Women's studies units also foster the development of transferable professional skills among students. Units offered by the centre are complemented by a wide range of electives offered throughout the school and the faculty. Women's studies units are offered on the Clayton campus, and selected units may be taken as electives within other majors in the school.
For details of the following courses, see `Outline of undergraduate studies' earlier in this section:
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