Students

SOCI3050 – Activism and Social Change

2023 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Lecturer, Tutor
Amanda Wise
amanda.wise@mq.edu.au
Amanda Wise
amanda.wise@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

Faculty of Arts: Late Assessment Submission Penalty Policy

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends).

After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (incl. essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc.) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. Outcomes of Special Consideration requests may include students being set a new question or topic. 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Workshop/online discussion participation 20% No ongoing
Reading Reflection 20% Yes Week 4
Campaign Analysis Outline 20% No Week 8
Campaign Analysis 40% No Week 13

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: Week 4
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: Week 8
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: Week 13
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

Unit Schedule

WEEK Lecture TOPIC
1 Course Introduction and Overview
2 A Brief History of Social Action in Australia
3 Social Movement Theory
4 Mass politics, mass organizing
5 Participatory research (i.e. methods for researching the final assignment)
6 New' Social Movements
7 Direct Action and Nonviolence
  mid-semester break
  mid-semester break
8 Global Justice
9 Green washing and Pinkwashing: Thinktanks, Corporations and Movements
10 New Media, New Strategies
11 drop-in clinic (consultations on final assignments)
12 Student Conference
13 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. 

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Unit information based on version 2023.02 of the Handbook