Master of Mind and Society

Course code: 3908 + Course abbreviation: MMind&Soc + Total credit points required: 72 + 1.5 years full-time, 3 years part-time

Study mode and course location

On-campus (Caulfield; Clayton)

Course description

Mind and society studies at Monash explore the mind–society interface in modern, multicultural societies. Its goal is to provide mid-career mental health professionals and others with a broad and deep understanding of the social and psychodynamic forces which shape individuals, social institutions and societies. It will be of interest to psychotherapists, psychiatrists and counsellors, policy analysts, researchers and administrators in the mental health field, as well as postgraduate students interested in the debates developing between psychological medicine and the social sciences.

The approach to teaching is inter-disciplinary, in which history, politics, sociology, cultural studies and psychodynamics come together. Core units include an analysis of the principal schools and major debates around how the mind is made, and how theories of the mind have shaped modernity, and examine volatile contemporary issues of social, ethical and political concern through the lens of the psychotherapies. These issues are presented by a series of national and international guest speakers.

Minimum pass grade

To graduate with the Masters, students must gain a credit (60 C) or above in core units and a minimum credit average overall.

Course structure

Students complete 72 points, comprising 24 points of core units (12 points at level 4 and 12 points at level 5), plus 48 points of elective units, of which at least 12 points must be at level 5. Note that not all electives are available each year. All units are worth 12 points.

Core units

MIN4000 Introduction to mind and society
MIN5010 Contested terrain: contemporary debates in social conflict, power and the study of the mind

Electives

Choose four elective units from the following:

CHB4203/5203 Ethical issues in patient care
CHB5207 Ethical issues in professional life
HYM4270/5270 Research methods in biography and life writing
HYM4280/5280 Reading and writing biography and life stories
HYM4900/5900 History, biography and autobiography
LLC4040/5040 Writing madness
LLC4050/5050 Freud’s Vienna
MIN5080 Race, self and social conflict
MIN5090 Pathologies of the self
PLM4145/5145 Crises of reason: psyche, society, morality

Exit points

After successful completion of 24 points of coursework, comprising 12 points of core units (level 4) plus 12 points of elective units (level 4 or 5), students may exit the program with a Graduate Certificate of Mind and Society. After successful completion of 48 points of coursework, comprising 24 points of core units (12 at level 4 and 12 at level 5) and 24 points of elective units (levels 4 and/or 5), students may exit with a Graduate Diploma of Mind and Society.

Course coordinators

Professor Carla Lipsig-Mummé, Professor Barbara Caine, Dr Graeme Smith

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