Theorising Societies

• • A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.

Equivalent subjects

You cannot enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:

• MAQ-SGYX222
• MAQ-SOCX222-Theories of Modernity

You are recommended to have completed the following subjects(s) or have equivalent knowledge before starting this subject:

• MAQ-SOCX175-Australian Society
• MAQ-SGY110
• MAQ-SOCX1000-Introduction to Sociology: Understanding contemporary society
• MAQ-SOCX180-Sociology of Everyday Life
• MAQ-SGYX120
• MAQ-SOCX1010-Introduction to Sociology: Understanding Everyday Life

Others

NCCW (pre-2020 units) SGYX222, SOC222, SOC232, SOCX222 Pre-requisite 40cp at 1000 level or above NCCW (2020 and onwards) SOCI2010 Theories of Modernity

Special requirements

• OtherDetails -

  Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.

This subject was previously known as SGYX222, SOCX222 Sociological Theories of Modernity.

Sociological theorising is about understanding and explaining the meaning of social phenomena. Usually that evolves drawing on existing concepts, or constructing our own, as prisms through which we interpret the range of human actions, behaviours and attitudes. In this unit we will discuss the role of sociological theory today. We will explore how major social thinkers have attempted to understand and explain social change, especially in the context of the deep uncertainties that characterise modernity. We will discuss original texts by Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Simmel and other more recent theorists whose works are examples of ‘the sociological imagination’ and its usefulness to thinking about social change.

• Short essay (30%)
• Essay 2 (50%)
• Online participation (20%)