Society and

Culture
Overview
 Welcome Sociologists!
• Are we all mere pawns of the bourgeoisie? Is our
pursuit of material possessions a result of
ideology constructed within the superstructure
that separates the rich from the poor?
• Why are the rich, rich; and the poor, poor?
• What is the meaning of life?
• What is the purpose of a hippie?

• The study of society investigates these questions

and much, much more!
 Areas of the Course
Preliminary Course
• The Social and Cultural World (20%
of course time – 6 weeks)
• Personal and Social Identity (40%
of course time – 12 weeks)
• Intercultural Communication (40%
of course time – 12 weeks)
 Areas of the Course
HSC Year
Core
• Personal Interest Project (30% of course time)
• Social and Cultural Continuity and Change
(30% of course time)

Depth Studies (40% of course time)

• TWO to be chosen from the following:
• Popular Culture
• Belief Systems
• Equality and Difference
• Work and Leisure
 The Course
• The first unit
aims to informs you about the methodology and concepts of
the course
helps you to understand the language of the course,
• The second unit
Looks at the development of the self and others in a variety
of social and cultural settings
has you looking inwards and your place in society,
• The third unit
Allows for comparison between societies and cultures
looks outward to the way society interacts with others
What is society and culture:

• is conceptually based
• applies social and cultural research
methodologies
• integrates cross-cultural studies
• combines personal experience and public
knowledge
• is interdisciplinary, drawing upon the
following disciplines
 The Social and Cultural
World

• Persons and their interactions with

individuals, groups and the
community within the contexts of the
micro and macro worlds.
• A cross-cultural study that compares
Australia with an overseas culture in
relation to:
Social and Cultural Research
The process of social and cultural research involves:
• clearly defining a question, a problem or a topic of specific
interest
• planning the research by breaking the question, problem or
topic into sections that are manageable
• conducting a literature search by finding and reviewing
appropriate secondary material about the research topic
• choosing appropriate methodologies for the research topic
or question
• collecting facts pertinent to the problem, question or topic
• organising and interpreting collected data
• evaluating methodologies, instruments and their
applicability to the research topic
• presenting findings using a variety of forms of
communication
 The 9 Concepts
• Society • You must know
• Culture these
• Persons • We always come
• Environment back to these
• Time
• You must have
• Power
examples to
• Authority
support / illustrate
• Gender
the concepts
• Technology
 Tasks
• You are to create a diagram which
illustrates the key concepts in
relation to yourself.
 Meanings
• Macro world – the large scale social systems
such as communities, societies. It is often
concerned with social structure.
• List 5 different social structures.
• Micro world – the study of small scale social
systems and social relationships such as
families, peers
• You need to link your personal experience and
public knowledge