University of New South Wales

This course examines sociological and anthropological perspectives on the nature of the social. It considers questions such as: what is the social; what is the relation between the individual and society; how is the social lived and experienced; and wow do we understand the everyday. It examines the social as idea, concept and experience through themes such as biography and selfhood, identity and difference, power and freedom, nature and culture, and state and nation.

This course examines models of aggregate income determination in open economies; theories of aggregate economic behavior with respect to consumption, investment expenditures, and financial transactions; balance of payments and exchange rate analysis; theories of inflation and unemployment; introductory dynamic analysis; and theories of growth and business cycles. The models will be applied to the data and used to analyze the observed growth patterns across the world.

This course examines psychological assessment, personality, and psychopathology. The assessment portion of the course will include key concepts related to personality and intelligence testing. The psychopathology portion of the course is an introduction to the study of maladaptive behaviour and mental disorders. The course will provide an overview of common mental disorders, including anxiety, mood, eating, childhood, and psychotic disorders. Emphasis will be placed on diagnostic criteria, contemporary theories of psychopathology, and empirically supported approaches to treating mental disorders.

This course examines weight loss by tracing every atom one eats into and out of the body while investigating the fate of fat during weight loss. There will be a focus on how humans convert food into useful energy, why energy is important, what exactly happens in the body during weight loss and weight gain, and how one can change their lifestyle in subtle ways to live a healthier life.

This course examines the history of sexuality from the Ancient world, through the 18th and 19th centuries, ending up in the twentieth century.

This foundation course provides a study of the psychopathology of high-profile offenders, including serial killers, psychopaths, violent criminals, and sexual offenders. Taking a lifecycle approach, it examines the antecedents of offending, genetic influences, and the detection, prosecution, treatment, and punishment of this group. Real case examples are used to illustrate offender groups such as Fred West, Jeffrey Dahmer, Peter Sutcliffe, Ted Bundy, Dr Harold Shipman, Ivan Milat, and Michael Bryant. This intensive course is taught by some of Australia’s leading forensic psychiatrists, clinicians, and researchers from the forensic mental health services, police, corrective services, law, and forensic medicine.

This course offers students an opportunity to examine how environmental politics are played out within society. Students examine the intersection of environmental concerns, power relations, advocacy, and activism. The study of advocacy and activism campaigns and case studies focus on mapping the evolution of a controversy, teasing out the distinctions between advocacy and activism, analysing the role of popular culture, managing social and traditional media, and identifying successful interventions that have an impact on environmental policy and decision making processes. Key questions explored during the course include: How do citizens make sense of and respond to initiatives that have potentially damaging consequences for society?; How do science, business and activists attempt to persuade?; How are power relations invoked, challenged and negated within environmental advocacy and activist campaigns?; and What role does popular culture play in creating and sustaining particular valuing systems and cultures?

This course examines the relationship between media, society and politics by examining the ways in which information is mediated between social, cultural and political institutions. It develops a conceptual framework from which to analyze the dynamic technological and regulatory environment in which the media operates and to investigate the consequences of changes in these areas for media practitioners, politicians and ordinary citizens. Topics covered include media ownership and regulation; the media and society; the media and politics; the media and social movements; the politics of spin; censorship, freedom of speech/press; new media and democracy; global media and global politics.