ATS3730 - Sustainability and society - 2017

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Arts

Organisational Unit

Sociology

Coordinator(s)

Dr Briony Rogers

Unit guides

Offered

Clayton

  • First semester 2017 (Day)

Synopsis

The sustainability challenges confronting us are staggering in their pace, scope and complexity as climate change, environmental pollution, rapid urbanisation, population growth, resource constraints, and rampant consumption put the environment, economy and society under extreme pressure. As the world urgently searches for pathways towards greater sustainability, it is critical to understand the social, cultural, institutional, political and economic dimensions of these global environmental drivers and potential solutions. This unit explores these issues, with a view to understanding the policy reforms institutional arrangements, citizen attitudes and behaviours, economic frameworks, media influences, and broader social changes needed to create sustainable societies.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit students will be able to:

  1. identify and articulate key perspectives in environmental sociology;
  2. apply sociological and social science perspectives to analysing issues of global and local environmental change and sustainability;
  3. demonstrate strong comprehension and analytical skills in class discussion and assessment tasks.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of second-year Arts units. It is highly recommended that students only take this unit after they have completed two gateway units in Sociology.

Prohibitions

ATS2730