Students

SOC 222 – Theories of Modernity

2014 – S1 Day

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
Pauline Johnson
Contact via pauline.johnson@mq.edu.au
W6A 833
Other Staff
Shaun Wilson
Contact via shaun.wilson@mq.edu.au
W6A829
Tues 5-6
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
12cp
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
Modernity is characterised by a number of specific developments such as: democracy, capitalism, industrialism, nationalism, individualism and bureaucratisation. These are partly antagonistic, partly complementary tendencies. In this unit we will be examining these diverse trends through the prism of a range of classical theories of modern society. We will consider from among the following: Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Durkheim, Mead, the Frankfurt School and Foucault. None of these has the key but we suggest that all remain a vital source of illumination into tendencies and potentials of the contemporary world.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Due
workbook 20% Ongoing
Exercise 1 20% week 4
Exercise 2 20% week 6
Exercise 3 20% week 9
Exercise 4 20% week 13

workbook

Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%

Tutorials start in week 2 and are compulsory. In the tutorials, you will have an opportunity to discuss questions raised in the lectures, enter debates about the readings, and participate in class exercises. Attendance of tutorials is compulsory. Given that this is a course on social theory, your success will depend on your tutorial participation. The tutorials are also the place where you can prepare yourself for the written tutorial exercises.
Tutorials require your attendance and participation. They are your “space” where you can raise questions, discuss and clarify readings, concepts or other questions around the unit. Only you can make the tutorial work for yourself. Thus, you will need to prepare for each class. This will mean doing the readings for each week and attend the lecture.
In addition to the participation in the tutorial you are required to keep a workbook. The workbook should contain your reflections on lectures, the tutorial and the readings. It should also be about questions that come to your mind as you prepare for each week, comments about topics, summaries of the readings or questions that emerge as we go through the course week by week.
We will collect the workbook including your reader at the end of the course (week 13) in order to be able to assess your engagement with the material of the course. The workbook is part of the participation mark (20%).


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Exercise 1

Due: week 4
Weighting: 20%

Tutorial Exercises 1 - 4
You are required to write four (4) tutorial exercises. Each exercise has to be 600 words long. The task at hand is to choose one (1) of the provided questions from a week (before the due date of the exercise) and answer it by using lecture material, the required reading(s) and the suggested readings as provided in the outline.
600 words is not much. You will need to be concise and get straight to the point. We are not asking for a summary of a theorist‟s work but we are asking you to work out a specific idea about modern societies as developed by a theorist.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Exercise 2

Due: week 6
Weighting: 20%

Tutorial Exercises 1 - 4
You are required to write four (4) tutorial exercises. Each exercise has to be 600 words long. The task at hand is to choose one (1) of the provided questions from a week (before the due date of the exercise) and answer it by using lecture material, the required reading(s) and the suggested readings as provided in the outline.
600 words is not much. You will need to be concise and get straight to the point. We are not asking for a summary of a theorist‟s work but we are asking you to work out a specific idea about modern societies as developed by a theorist.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Exercise 3

Due: week 9
Weighting: 20%

You are required to write four (4) tutorial exercises. Each exercise has to be 600 words long. The task at hand is to choose one (1) of the provided questions from a week (before the due date of the exercise) and answer it by using lecture material, the required reading(s) and the suggested readings as provided in the outline.
600 words is not much. You will need to be concise and get straight to the point. We are not asking for a summary of a theorist‟s work but we are asking you to work out a specific idea about modern societies as developed by a theorist.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Exercise 4

Due: week 13
Weighting: 20%

Tutorial Exercises 1 - 4
You are required to write four (4) tutorial exercises. Each exercise has to be 600 words long. The task at hand is to choose one (1) of the provided questions from a week (before the due date of the exercise) and answer it by using lecture material, the required reading(s) and the suggested readings as provided in the outline.
600 words is not much. You will need to be concise and get straight to the point. We are not asking for a summary of a theorist‟s work but we are asking you to work out a specific idea about modern societies as developed by a theorist.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • learn how to think sociologically
  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Delivery and Resources

Changes since last offering. No changes.

Technologies used. This unit has a presence on ilearn and you will be required to have regular access to a reliable broadband internet connection and a computer.

Required Readings.

Week 1 Introduction to Theories of Modernity No required readings

Week 2 Karl Marx Marx, Karl „Manifesto of the Communist Party‟ The Marx-Engels Reader R.C. Tucker (ed.) Norton and Co. (1972) pp. 473-500.

Week 3 Karl Marx Marx, Karl „Estranged Labour‟ The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844) The Marx-Engels Reader R.C. Tucker (ed.) (W.W. Norton and Company Inc. 1972).

Week 4 Friedrich Nietzsche Nietzsche: “Signs of Higher and Lower Culture‟ Human, All Too Human A Book For Free Spirits, University of Nebraska Press (1984).

Week 5 Max Weber Weber, M. 'Science as a Vocation' From Max Weber. Gerth and C.W. Miller (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967) pp. 129-156.

Week 6 Max Weber Weber, Max. 'The Spirit of Capitalism' The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, (London: Unwin University Books, 1974), pp. 47-78. Ehrenreich, B. ‟The Dark Roots of American Optimism‟ Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World (London: Granta: 2009).

Week 7 Émile Durkheim Durkheim, E. (1933) „The Anomic Division of Labour‟ The Division of Labour in Society, The Macmillan Co.pp. 353 – 373.

Week 8 Émile Durkheim Coser, L. (1984) „Introduction‟, to É. Durkheim, The Division of Labour in Society, Palgrave: London, pp. ix – xxiv.

Week 9 George Herbert Mead Mead, G. H. (1972) Mind, Self and Society. From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, pp. 135 – 226 (excerpts), The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London.

Week 10 The Frankfurt School Horkheimer, M. „Rise and the Decline of the Individual‟ The Eclipse of Reason (Continum, 1974). Week 11 Michel Foucault Foucault, Michel. „Panopticism‟ from Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, pp. 195-228 (Allen Lane, 1975).

Week 12 Agnes Heller Heller, A. and Ferenc, F. (1988) „On Being Satisfied in a Dissatisfied Society‟, in The Postmodern Political Condition, Polity: Cambridge, pp/ 14-30.

Unit Schedule

  Course Calender  
1 Lecture (no tutorial!) Theories of Modernity: Themes of the course
2 Lecture & Tutorial

de Tocqueville

3 Lecture & Tutorial Karl Marx
4 Lecture & Tutorial Karl Marx
  Tute exercise 1 is due (20%)!  
5 Lecture & Tutorial Nietzsche
6 Lecture & Tutorial Max Weber
7 Lecture & Tutorial Max Weber
  Tute exercise 2 is due (20%)!  
  MID SESSION BREAK  
  MID SESSION BREAK  
8 Lecture & Tutorial
Émile Durkheim
9 Lecture & Tutorial Émile Durkheim
10 Lecture & Tutorial The Frankfurt School
  Tute exercise 3 is due (20%)!  
11 Lecture & Tutorial Michel Foucault
12 Lecture & Tutorial Agnes Heller
13 Lecture & Tutorial Conclusion
  Tute exercise 4 is due (20%)!  

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy  http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • read and write critically

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • learn how to think sociologically
  • read and write critically

Assessment tasks

  • workbook
  • Exercise 1
  • Exercise 2
  • Exercise 3
  • Exercise 4

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • learn how to think sociologically
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills
  • read and write critically

Assessment tasks

  • workbook
  • Exercise 1
  • Exercise 2
  • Exercise 3
  • Exercise 4

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life
  • develop writing, research and analytical skills

Assessment tasks

  • workbook
  • Exercise 1
  • Exercise 2
  • Exercise 3
  • Exercise 4

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life

Assessment task

  • workbook

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • learn how to think sociologically
  • read and write critically
  • learn to communicate your own ideas simply and directly

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • learn how to apply those concepts in everyday life

Assessment tasks

  • workbook
  • Exercise 4

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment tasks

  • workbook
  • Exercise 1
  • Exercise 2
  • Exercise 3
  • Exercise 4