Students

SOCI3050 – Activism and Social Change

2022 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Justine Lloyd
justine.lloyd@mq.edu.au
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

General Assessment Information

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – 10 marks out of 100 credit will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Workshop/online discussion participation 20% No ongoing
Reading Reflection 20% Yes Monday 14 Mar 10am
Campaign Analysis Outline 20% No Monday 11 April 10am
Campaign Analysis 40% No Monday 6 June 10am

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

Reading Reflection

Assessment Type 1: Summary
Indicative Time on Task 2: 18 hours
Due: Monday 14 Mar 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: Monday 11 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

Campaign Analysis

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 50 hours
Due: Monday 6 June 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

Attendance Modes

This course is offered in two modes: (1) In person-scheduled-weekday; (2) Online-scheduled-weekday.

The main difference between these two modes is that, in addition to listening to lectures and completing course activities,

  1. In person-scheduled-weekday students attend weekly face-to-face 2 hr seminars on campus during semester weeks;
  2. Online-scheduled-weekday students complete weekly online exercises instead of seminars, and also attend 2x1hr (the first in Week 3 and the second in Week 10) special online synchronous sessions via zoom during semester.

Lectures

Lectures are recorded and start in Week 1. All lecture recordings will be 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 Theme TOPIC
1 21-Feb intro Unit Overview and Introduction
2 28-Feb history A Brief History of Social Action in Australia
3 7-Mar theories Social Movement Theory
4 14-Mar theories Mass politics, mass organizing
5 21-Mar methods Action Research
6 28-Mar theories New Social Movement Theory
7 4-Apr strategies Direct Action and Nonviolence
  11-Apr   mid-semester break
  18-Apr   mid-semester break
8 25-Apr strategies Global Justice: from Alt Globalisation to Trump
9 2-May strategies Green washing and Pinkwashing: Corporations and Movements
10 9-May strategies New Media, New Strategies/
11 16-May consolidation Conclusion
12 23-May Presentations Student Conference
13 30-May Presentations Student Conference

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

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

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

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

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

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

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 2022.02 of the Handbook