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Unit of Study SOC10430 - Religions and the State (2018)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

    N/A

Unit description

Introduces students to key theoretical approaches to the sociological study of religion. Particularly the unit focuses on the relationships between religious and political worldviews underlying contemporary social issues such as terrorism, abortion and homosexuality. Students will explore the history, main social teachings and beliefs of Judaism, Christianity or Islam as a basis for examining contemporary religious fundamentalisms.

Unit content

Module 1 Understanding religion
Topic 1 Religion as a social phenomenon
Topic 2 Types of religion
Topic 3 Types of monotheistic religion

Module 2 Religion in society
Topic 4 Secularisation theory
Topic 5 Religion in the public sphere
Topic 6 Theories of religious affiliation
Topic 7 Fundamentalism and conservative politics

Module 3 Religion and politics
Topic 8 Violence and the social construction of evil
Topic 9 Gender and sexuality
Topic 10 Migration
Topic 11 Sociology and religious faith

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Online Session 2 N/A

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 describe the history, key teachings and beliefs of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
2 explain the social dimensions of religions and religious belief
3 discuss the historical relationships between religious and secular laws
4 analyse relationships between religious and political worldviews
5 critically examine the role of religion in violence and gender issues.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. describe the history, key teachings and beliefs of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
    • GA2:
    • GA7:
  2. explain the social dimensions of religions and religious belief
    • GA2:
    • GA7:
  3. discuss the historical relationships between religious and secular laws
    • GA3:
  4. analyse relationships between religious and political worldviews
    • GA3:
  5. critically examine the role of religion in violence and gender issues.
    • GA3:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.