SOCIOL 322 A Sociology of Relational Life - Course Outlines

Course Prescription

Introduces students to new developments in sociology by examining the significance of our relationships to others: intimate partners, friends, acquaintances, and even pets. The course considers the ways relationships are embedded in life through everyday practices, sharing photographs, and telling stories. In so doing, it engages with contemporary debates about the rise of individualism and the decline of family life.

Course Overview

Our personal and familial connections to other people, pets, other animals, material objects, and to places form this course’s substantive focus. As such, the course considers yet goes beyond our connections to family and whānau to investigate a broader web of relationships that make up our lives. We’ll be examining debates over the nature of relationality, its place in our identities, and disputes over the meaning and significance of our connections.

The starting point for the course is the work of sociologists from the United Kingdom, for instance, Carol Smart, David Morgan, Lynn Jamieson and Janet Finch. As a group, these sociologists are united in their criticism of individualisation and detraditionalisation theorists, for example, Anthony Giddens and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim. They are also united by being at the forefront of a move towards finding out what matters to us personally and relationally through examining the meanings we give to every practices, interactions, and negotiations. You’ll encounter most of these thinkers during the course, as well as others who draw on their work, and some who are critical of their underlying assumptions.

This kind of sociology asks us to cultivate a new sociological imagination in order to develop rich insights into our intimate and personal experiences; recognise the social or collective elements of these experiences; and, in a more conventional vein, think about the role of class, age, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in giving shape to our relational and family lives.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 30 points at Stage II in Sociology

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Be familiar with individualisation thesis and debates about it (Capability 1.1, 2.1 and 2.3)
Be familiar with the key concepts informing the new cultural sociology of personal and relational life, (Capability 1.1, 2.1, 2.3 and 4.2)
Be able to draw on these concepts to generate research questions and to make sense of personal relationships; (Capability 1.2, 2.2 and 2.3)
Recognise the social and cultural significance of relational connections to the natural environment and material objects (Capability 1.1, 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 6.1 and 6.2)
Be able to reflexively consider the role and meaning of a variety of relational connections for your own life, including your sense of identity and belonging. (Capability 1.2, 2.3, 4.1, 6.1 and 6.2)
Be able to write well-researched, clearly-argued and scholarly papers using sociological concepts and research findings to generate insights into relational and personal lives. (Capability 4.2, 5.1 and 5.2)
Be able to execute a piece of independent library base research involving the development and use of skills to locate and assess sources, synthesise and write critically. (Capability 2.2, 2.3, 4.2, 5.1 and 5.2)

Assessments

Assessment Type	Percentage	Classification
Assignments	30%	Individual Coursework
Essay	45%	Individual Coursework
Test	25%	Individual Test
3 types	100%

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect two hours of lectures, a one hour tutorial, ten hours of reading and thinking about the content and 150 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is expected at scheduled activities including tutorials to complete components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. Other learning activities including tutorials will not be available as recordings.
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is required for the test/exam.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

This course is not available for delivery to students studying remotely outside NZ in 2023.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Required readings will mostly consist of identified chapters and articles, which will be made available through Canvas.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

SOCIOL 322 was last taught in 2017 and will be taught by a different Course Convenor in 2023.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Well-being always comes first
We all go through tough times during the semester, or see our friends struggling. There is lots of help out there - for more information, look at this Canvas page https://canvas.auckland.ac.nz/courses/33894, which has links to various support services in the University and the wider community.

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption, we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and course assessment continues to meet the principles of the University’s assessment policy. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator/director, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the university website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course students may be asked to submit coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. In exceptional circumstances changes to elements of this course may be necessary at short notice. Students enrolled in this course will be informed of any such changes and the reasons for them, as soon as possible, through Canvas.

Capability 1:	Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2:	Critical Thinking
Capability 3:	Solution Seeking
Capability 4:	Communication and Engagement
Capability 5:	Independence and Integrity
Capability 6:	Social and Environmental Responsibilities

SOCIOL 322 : A Sociology of Relational Life

Arts

2023 Semester Two (1235) (15 POINTS)