Society and Culture deals with areas of interest and relevance to students, and develops knowledge, understanding, skills, values and attitudes essential to an appreciation of the social world. The interaction of persons, society, culture, environment and time, and how they shape human behaviour, is a central theme of study. Students develop an understanding of research methodologies and undertake research in an area of particular interest to them. The research findings are presented for external assessment in the Personal Interest Project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it important to study society?
Why culture is important in our society?
What is relationship between society and culture?
What do you study in the Preliminary course?
What do you study in the HSC course?
Why is it important to study society?
The study of society helps not only to understand the current social structures in which you are living but also trace the course of human social development through out history. ... It helps to understand the ways in which we can approach society and induce positive change.
Why culture is important in our society?
In addition to its intrinsic value, culture provides important social and economic benefits. With improved learning and health, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others, culture enhances our quality of life and increases overall well-being for both individuals and communities.
What is relationship between society and culture?
The essential difference is that society is composed of people while culture consists of knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, folkways, mores, beliefs, skills, institutions, organizations, and artifacts. Society is the combination of people with different cultures.
What do you study in the Preliminary course?
- Persons - the individual human; relationships with other persons and with society, culture and the environment through time.
- Society - human relationships from small groups to large systems.
- Culture - knowledge shared by members of groups and systems, reflected in their customs, values, laws, arts, technologies and artefacts.
- Environment - settings where people live and work, the interaction between people and their environment, people’s perceptions of the environment, and their actions to improve it.
- Time - its continuous passage; perceptions of the past, present and future.
- Power - ability to influence or persuade others to a point of view or action to which they would not normally agree.
- Authority - the rights to make decisions and to determine, adjudicate or settle issues and disputes.
- Identity - sense of self formed over time - personal, social and cultural.
- Gender - socially constructed differences between genders.
- Technologies - tools that we use to assist our interactions in society; and
- Globalisation - the integration and the sharing of goods, capital, services, knowledge, leisure, sport, ideas and culture between countries brought about by improved technologies.
What do you study in the HSC course?
The HSC Course consists of a Core with two components:
- Personal Interest Project and
- Social and Cultural Continuity and Change
and two Depth Studies chosen from the following:
- Popular Culture
- Belief Systems and Ideologies
- Social Inclusion and Exclusion
- Social Conformity and Nonconformity
If you have further questions, please contact:
HSIE Coordinator - Mr Nick Hales