Students

SOCI3050 – Activism and Social Change

2021 – Session 1, Infrequent attendance, North Ryde

Notice

As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group activities on campus, and most will keep an online version available to those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.

To check the availability of face-to-face and online activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Nicholas Harrigan
nicholas.harrigan@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
130cp at 1000 level or above
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

Social movements are an important presence in contemporary societies. How are they organised? Why do they emerge? What shapes their development? This unit provides a framework for answering these questions. It focuses on both the history of social activism, including campaigns like the suffragettes and civil rights movement through to the Arab Spring and climate campaigning; as well as prominent theories and concepts for understanding the rise and success of social movements. As part of the assessment students will examine a contemporary campaign, looking first-hand at how movements organise and evaluating their success. This unit also allows students to progress to a PACE unit where they have the opportunity to work in a placement with a social change organisation.

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:

  • ULO1: identify the major theories developed to explain social movements
  • ULO2: evaluate strengths and weaknesses of dominant theories
  • ULO3: apply social movement theory to contemporary Australian and international movements
  • ULO4: analyse strategic and ethical problems that arise in the quest for political change
  • ULO5: reflect on practical realities of social movements through analysis of activities of social movements and social movement organisations
  • ULO6: design and execute primary research on a particular social movement campaign

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Reading Reflection 20% Yes Week 4, Monday 15 March 10am
Campaign Analysis Outline 20% No Mid-semester Recess (first week), Wednesday 7 April 10am
Workshop/online discussion participation 20% No Ongoing
Campaign Analysis 40% No Week 13, Monday 31 May 10am

Reading Reflection

Assessment Type 1: Summary
Indicative Time on Task 2: 18 hours
Due: Week 4, Monday 15 March 10am
Weighting: 20%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

This task requires students to answer a question in relation to their weekly responses to readings from the first part of the unit.

See Ilearn for more information.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • identify the major theories developed to explain social movements
  • evaluate strengths and weaknesses of dominant theories

Campaign Analysis Outline

Assessment Type 1: Plan
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Mid-semester Recess (first week), Wednesday 7 April 10am
Weighting: 20%

Campaign Analysis Outline: Short plan (750 words) plus reference list for campaign analysis
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • apply social movement theory to contemporary Australian and international movements
  • analyse strategic and ethical problems that arise in the quest for political change
  • reflect on practical realities of social movements through analysis of activities of social movements and social movement organisations
  • design and execute primary research on a particular social movement campaign

Workshop/online discussion participation

Assessment Type 1: Participatory task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 24 hours
Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%

Students will participate in a range of preparatory and/or in-class learning activities throughout the session, including taking notes on weekly readings to prepare for tutorials and/or posting in response to discussion questions online. Students are required to actively discuss their responses to these required readings in class or online and within on-campus sessions.

Refer to iLearn for further information
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • identify the major theories developed to explain social movements
  • evaluate strengths and weaknesses of dominant theories
  • apply social movement theory to contemporary Australian and international movements
  • analyse strategic and ethical problems that arise in the quest for political change
  • reflect on practical realities of social movements through analysis of activities of social movements and social movement organisations

Campaign Analysis

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 50 hours
Due: Week 13, Monday 31 May 10am
Weighting: 40%

Campaign Analysis: Written Report (2000wds) OR Conference Presentation (8-10mins) plus abstract (250-500wds)
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • evaluate strengths and weaknesses of dominant theories
  • apply social movement theory to contemporary Australian and international movements
  • analyse strategic and ethical problems that arise in the quest for political change
  • reflect on practical realities of social movements through analysis of activities of social movements and social movement organisations
  • design and execute primary research on a particular social movement campaign

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Three modes of course

This course is offered in three modes (1) Weekday; (2) Special Circumstances; and (3) Infrequent Attendance. 

The main difference between these three modes is that

  1. Weekday attend a face-to-face two hour seminar on campus;
  2. Special circumstances attend a two hour zoom tutorial; and
  3. infrequent attendance complete weekly online exercises instead of seminars, and also attend two special oncampus sessions during semester. 

Lectures

Lectures are pre-recorded and available via ECHO360's Active Learning Platform (accessible via iLearn). 

Seminars

Seminars start in Week 2. Further details are available in the unit schedule. 

Technology used

The following technologies are used in this unit...

Email

Make sure that you regularly check your student email for correspondence with teaching staff and course announcements.

iLearn

Important information about the weekly schedule, course readings and assessment are all available on the course iLearn page. If you do not have access, please contact IT help. You are required to check iLearn and your student email regularly for course updates and information.

Turnitin

All written assessments need to be submitted online via Turnitin only. A link to Turnitin is available via the Assessments tab on the iLearn page. Please contact the convenor if you cannot find it (do not leave it until the day of the assessment). There is no need to submit a hard copy of the assessment or to include a cover sheet.

Grademark

Feedback will be made available online via GradeMark. It will take four forms (in no particular order): specific comments in the text of your paper; overall comments; a score on a qualitative rubric (that cannot be used to calculate your mark numerically); and a numeric score. Once you have received your assignment back, please make sure that you have access to these forms of feedback. 

Leganto

Leganto is the electronic system for accessing unit readings that can be accessed via the iLearn page. Readings are allocated via topic. As well as the required readings for each topic, you may find recommended and optional readings. The required readings are available in pdf or electronic format. If you are not able to access the readings, please contact the unit convenor via email.

Unit Schedule

Week 

Week beginning (Monday)

Topic

1

22-Feb

Introduction

2

1-Mar

A Brief History of Social Action in Australia

3

8-Mar

Social Movement Theory

4

15-Mar

Mass politics, mass organizing

5

22-Mar

Action Research: How to Research Social Action

6

29-Mar

NO LECTURE: Campaign analysis outline preparation

Recess Wk 1

5-Apr

Mid-semster break

Recess Wk 2

12-Apr

Mid-semster break

7

19-Apr

New Social Movement Theory

8

26-Apr

Direct Action and Nonviolence

9

3-May

Global Justice: from Alt Globalisation to Trump

10

10-May

Green washing and Pinkwashing: Corporations and Movements

11

17-May

New Media, New Strategies

12

24-May

NO LECTURE: Conference Session 1

13

31-May

NO LECTURE: Conference Session 2

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

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 help you improve your marks and take control of your study.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

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

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

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

Unit information based on version 2021.02 of the Handbook