Courses - Faculty of Arts
Sociology
Stage I
Issues and Themes in Sociology
Introduction to sociology as a discipline and a review of some of its internal debates. Topics include: social class, gender, globalisation, power, sexual identity and family. Draws on material from a range of societies.
Understanding Aotearoa New Zealand
Provides an introduction to the sociological analysis of New Zealand society. Looks at familiar events, institutions, social processes from a sociological point of view and offers ways to understand them in new and different ways. Focuses on the structure of New Zealand society and on social and political changes which affect the lives of New Zealanders and shape their society.
New Zealand Social Policy and Social Justice
Provides an overview of key contemporary social policy issues within the context of globalising economic processes and continuing gendered and racialised divisions. Discusses the way in which debates around social policy are constructed and the implications this has for social justice. Case studies may include food and health, technology, indigeneity and children.
Cultural Studies and Society
A cultural studies approach to social life focuses on the way we experience the world, taking account of what we see, what we hear, what we consume and how we communicate. Sociological theory will be explored through investigating different cultural forms including film, advertising, art, social media, sport, and video games.
Stage II
Sociological Theory
Aims to map the social condition through theorists who also emphasise the need to transform it. Focuses on material existence, how it is interpreted through language and the investment of people in oppressive regimes, ideologies and discourses. Develops critical perspectives on the intersections of class, race, gender and sexuality.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a minimum B+ pass
Social Reality and Ideology
Sociologists construe ideology as ideas that conceal social inequalities. This course explores the meaning of ideology and some of its related concepts, such as hegemony, discourse, and subjugation. It then critically analyses some of the most pervasive contemporary ideologies. Although not exhaustive, examples include beliefs about personal responsibility, corporate job creators, faith in technology, and crime and deviance.
Prerequisite: 60 points passed from BA courses
Special Topic: Social Control
Analyses the means by which different institutions, groups and individuals control the actions, behaviours and thoughts of people in contemporary modern societies, including our own. Discusses controllers, their targets, the mechanisms they employ, the goals they seek to accomplish, and the means by which people resist. Prompts students to reflect how controlling processes have affected their everyday life.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a minimum B+ pass or 90 points passed
Special Topic
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a minimum B+ pass or 90 points passed
Sociology of Gender and Families
Focuses on the interrelationship between gender, sexuality and families in New Zealand and other Western societies. Through an examination of important moments in the life course of families – for example, partnering and parenting – it explores changes and continuities in the gendered norms, identities, practices and patterns that characterise contemporary family life.
Prerequisite: 30 points in Sociology or Gender Studies or 60 points passed
Restriction: SOCIOL 214, SOCIOL 222
Economy and Society
Examines the changing relations between work and life outside of paid employment. Particular attention is paid to new forms of expropriation that profit from claiming private ownership of collective effort, ideas and cultural forms. These developments are crucial to understanding and contesting social inequality, globalisation, organisational restructuring and new technologies. Course material is drawn from international literatures and is grounded in an understanding of contemporary New Zealand.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Employment Relations and Organisational Studies or Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a B+ or higher, or 30 points in International Relations and Business
Colonisation, Globalisation and Social Justice
Charts the political, economic, cultural and ecological consequences of imperialism, colonisation, globalisation, aid and development, up to and including the IMF/World Bank's neoliberalism and structural adjustment programme. It pays particular attention to violence (physical, psychological and ideological), environmental consequences and health impacts in these contexts.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology or Employment Relations and Organisational Studies, or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a B+ or higher, or 30 points in Global Politics and Human Rights, or 30 points at Stage I in BC courses
Sociology of Popular Culture
Popular culture appears to be everywhere, but what political and social effects might all this popular entertainment have on us? This course seeks to answer such questions through a sociological interpretation of popular culture as both an indicator of social change and as a location of meaning and significance. Topics include reality TV, celebrities, consumption, music, and technology.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology, or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with a B+ or higher, or 30 points from COMMS 100, FTVMS 100, 101, MEDIA 101, or 30 points from Comparative Literature
Ethnicity and Identity
Charts the development of the concepts of racial, national, ethnic and indigenous identities in relation to the histories of modernity and colonisation and then uses these concepts to analyse a range of contemporary issues of identity and belonging.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology or 15 points at Stage I in Sociology with at least a B+ average or 30 points at Stage I in Global Studies with at least a B+ average, or 90 points passed
Environmental Sociology
Environmental sociology provides insight into the complex social processes that define, create and even threaten our natural environment. This course gives tools with which to think sociologically about environmental issues, such as understanding how environmental issues come to be seen as environmental problems, and how political, cultural, and economic factors have come to shape our interaction with the natural environment.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage I in Sociology, or 30 points from ENVSCI 101, 201, GEOG 102, 205, or COMMS 102 and 15 points from ENVSCI 101, SOCIOL 100
Stage III
Sociology of Science and Technology
A survey of theoretical and practical approaches to understanding the relationship between technology and society. Topics studied include: technology and social theory, technology and subjectivity, the politics of artefacts and the impacts of new social media.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology, or COMMS 103 and 208
Restriction: SOCIOL 311
Critical Theory and Society
Critical theory seeks to understand the multiple contradictions of society and to offer roadmaps for progressive social change. This course explores foundational ideas in the tradition of critical theory and in contemporary critical thought. Critical theories are situated in the social and historical contexts from which they arise and are scrutinised for their relevance to contemporary struggles for social justice.
Prerequisite: SOCIOL 200 or 30 points above Stage I in BA or Global Studies courses
The Pacific in the World
Brief history of post Second World War theories of economic development and modern world systems. Explores Pacific responses to world systems such as colonisation, capitalism, globalisation and militarisation. Examines Pacific relations with colonial and imperial powers such as Aotearoa New Zealand, Britain, and US. Analyses the limitations of world systems models.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Global Environment and Sustainable Development or Sociology
Researching Social Problems
Develops skills in integrating theory and methods so that students can critically engage with social problems using a sociological lens both inside and outside the university.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology or 60 points passed at Stage II from BA courses
Law, Inequality and the State
Examines, in a comparative mode, how law as a set of social relations and categories can both create and remedy inequalities of gender, race, and class.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology or 15 points from CRIM 201, 202 or 30 points at Stage II in Global Politics and Human Rights
Restriction: SOCIOL 215
Critical Theories of Schooling
Compulsory schooling in western society has traditionally been seen as a significant instrument of socialisation, progression and economic advancement for young people. The course will engage students in ideas which challenge this view by drawing on critical theories such as Labelling, Marxist, Foucauldian, and Anarchist theory, and exploring topics including colonialism, patriarchy, racism, and the social control of youth.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology
Sociology of the Media
An exploration of the relationship and patterns of interaction between media, culture and society through an examination of the print and broadcasting media, and advertising in New Zealand.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology, or Media, Film and Television, or Communication
A Sociology of Relational Life
Introduces students to new developments in sociology by examining the significance of our relationships to others: intimate partners, friends, acquaintances, and even pets. The course considers the ways relationships are embedded in life through everyday practices, sharing photographs, and telling stories. In so doing, it engages with contemporary debates about the rise of individualism and the decline of family life.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology
Sociology of Violence and Death
Drawing on writings from a variety of intellectual traditions, this course explores the contested nature of violence through an examination of a number of contemporary debates about the causes, agents, consequences, as well as responses to and interventions in, incidents of violence.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology, or 15 points at Stage II in Sociology and CRIM 201 or 202, or 30 points at Stage II in Health and Society
Sociology of Health, Illness, and Medicine
Presents a conceptual and topical overview of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Medicine. Specific topics to be addressed include: the social distribution of disease; the social production of disease; the social construction of 'illness'; the social construction of treatment practices; patient experiences of illness and healthcare; the social organisation of medicine; and alternative visions of healthcare.
Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology, or COMMS 212 and 15 points in Sociology, or 30 points in Health and Society, or HLTHSOC 100 with a B+ or better, or SOCSCIPH 200
Postgraduate 700 Level Courses
Advanced Problems in Sociological Theory
Explores gender and sexuality through theories influenced by Marx and Freud. Deleuze (with Felix Guattari) and Lacan are typically used to problematise the relationship of the subject to the capitalist patriarchy. Draws on feminist, queer and trans theory. Scope to research on alternative themes such as race.
Restriction: SOCIOL 733
Advanced Skills in Research
Examination of sociological issues in research design, execution, analysis and interpretation. Particular attention is paid to computer assisted data and benefits of employing multiple methods.
Restriction: SOCSCRES 702, 703
Sociology of Mental Health
Interrogates advanced sociological theories of medicine and psychiatry, investigating mental health interventions as social, economic, cultural and political projects. Key issues will include The Enlightenment and theories of the self, the rise of science and the 'psy' professionals, institutionalisation and community care, current sociological theories of mental health, the medicalisation of everyday life, and gender, race and mental illness.
Special Topic: The Sociology of Disasters
Disasters are increasing in scale, cost, frequency and severity. This course examines their causes and consequences and considers their future avoidance. In doing so it draws on social theory, Science and Technology Studies, and broad literatures on disaster. Topics include: the risk society thesis, the social patterning of disasters, and the political economy of disasters (disaster capitalism).
Special Topic: Governing Population and Society
Explores the relationship between population, state and society with a particular emphasis on the settler colonial and post colonial context of Aotearoa New Zealand and the South Pacific. Social theories of biopolitics, gender, racism and technology are examined in order to develop critical insights into population ‘problems’ of migration, borders, fertility/mortality, citizenship and diversity.
Special Topic: Sociology of Universities
Interrogates the purpose of a university from a sociological lens. Explores how the university is imagined and the different social drivers that guide the ‘purpose’ of a university. Topics include non-performative diversity, the university as a site for ‘cultural wars’, the neoliberal university, critic and conscience and academic freedom.
Sociology of Law: Human Rights
Examines recent developments in the sociology of human rights within the study of law and society. Sociological thinking can offer a critical examination of international rights thought and practice, addressing the place of rights discourse in law and literature, feminist issues, indigenous rights, the place of rights in critical race theory and for refugees.
Research Projects: Design and Practice
Explores some of the major principles of research design and practice before discussing particular methods of research. Students will work through problem definition, literature review, and research design. Both ‘empirical’ and ‘theoretical’ projects will be encouraged.
Restriction: SOCIOL 731, SOCSCRES 701
Family, Gender and the State
The influence of changing ideologies of mothering, fathering, family and work, as well as the political forces and pressure groups that promote them, on both the development and restructuring of social and legal policies in several industrialised nations, including New Zealand.
Current Debates in Gender and Sexuality
Traces contemporary sociological debates in the analysis of gender and sexuality. This includes reference to feminist concerns with identities, differences, bodies, power and agency. These issues are taken up and explored through an examination of practices enacted on/or through sexed bodies.
Modern Times, Modern Crimes
Sociology sees itself as being centrally concerned with the question of modernity. However, until recently, it has avoided active scholarly engagement with modernity's underbelly: war, genocide and torture. This course argues that rather than appearing as peripheral aberrations they are central to the project of modernity. Special attention will be paid to the roles played by science and technology in the production of inhumanity.
Deviance and Social Control
Examines cultural, medical and sociological explanations of deviant behaviour. Particular attention is given to the manner in which social control has historically functioned in relation to race, class, gender, colonialism and sexuality, and the means by which individuals and groups have been politically, socially and culturally marginalised.
Sociology of Science and Technology
Starting from the premise that science is a social phenomenon, this course investigates how science is shaped by norms, institutions, beliefs and other social forces. It asks students to consider how the human world affects science, and how science affects the human world.
Settler Societies and Indigenous Peoples
Critically examines settler colonialism and the contemporary politics and practices of recognition and reconciliation between indigenous and settler peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the USA. The course examines the literatures on settler colonialism and contemporary practices of recognition and apology, as well as the work of courts, tribunals, governments and indigenous communities across these four societies.
Critical Theory and Social Change
Investigates the social forces and forms of thought currently producing progressive social change out of the contradictory realities of the existing social situation. Considers the immanent possibilities for radical change at the present moment of late capitalism, the grounds on which social change might be justified and the practical steps that might be taken to realise them.
Research Project - Level 9
To complete this course students must enrol in SOCIOL 790 A and B, or SOCIOL 790
Dissertation - Level 9
To complete this course students must enrol in SOCIOL 792 A and B, or SOCIOL 792
Dissertation - Level 9
To complete this course students must enrol in SOCIOL 794 A and B, or SOCIOL 794
Thesis - Level 9
Prerequisite: A BA(Hons) in Sociology with at least a B+ average
To complete this course students must enrol in SOCIOL 796 A and B
