Social Being: Power, Structures & Agency (SWSP1012)

Course overview

This a core first-year course in the Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) program. The course is designed to introduce core concepts in social science and ways of knowing about social being. It provides foundation knowledge about theories and concepts you will use throughout your academic study at university.

We all have common-sense notions about ourselves, society, culture, social institutions, different forms of social, economic and political inequality, and what - if anything - can or should be done about them. We form these notions through our own experiences, people we know (for example, family and friends), social institutions, and wider societal discourses. Ideologies (belief systems) play a powerful role in shaping our views. In this course, we want to explore these processes in relation to some of the challenges facing people in contemporary Australia and consider what this might mean for us as citizens and future professionals. To this end, we will examine the idea of humans as fundamentally social beings, focusing on the concepts of power, structure, and agency. Specifically, we will explore how we might advance "human rights, social justice" and "respect for diversity" (International Federation of Social Work, 2014) in Australia today. Our analysis will draw on a range of theoretical perspectives, as found in social work's critical, post-structuralist, feminist, anti-oppressive, and decolonial traditions. You will learn how the concepts of power, structure and agency are conceptualised within these theoretical traditions and work on individual and group projects to explore their relevance in illuminating your own experiences and formulating your shared aspirations as future professionals. ﾠﾠ

The course is divided into three parts.

• In Part 1, we will introduce the concepts of structure and power, alongside the ideas of human rights, social justice, and diversity.
• In Part 2, we will begin to explore the concepts taught in Part 1 of the course in relation to a chosen topic of concern to you as citizens and future professionals.
• The concept of agency will be introduced in Part 3. You will return to their chosen topics to explore the possibilities and limitations of your own agency as citizens and future professionals to help address the concerns raised in Part 2 of the course.

Following the completion of the course, interested students may have the opportunity to attend a symposium with other social work students from selected international universities to share concerns around human rights, social justice, and diversity, and discuss ideas of how these might be addressed.

ASWEAS Required Curriculum Content Areas covered in this course:

The Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) program is accredited by the Australian Association of Social Workers.

The Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards (2020) stipulates that accredited social work programs are required to include content that addresses the five core curriculum areas listed below. This course contains content in the following curriculum areas:

1.     Constructions of social work purpose, place, and practice: YES

2.     Power, oppression, and exploitation: YES

3.     The history and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: NO

4.     Culture, identity, and discrimination: YES

5.     Psychosocial health and wellbeing across the lifecycle: YES

Course requirements

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

SOSC1011

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

Tutorials begin in Week 2.

All students should sign into a tutorial byﾠWeek 1 of the semester. Unfortunately, we do not have control over the timing of tutorials and lectures, as this is established by central timetabling services.

Please check your UQ email regularly or have it forwarded to an email that you do check regularly, e.g. on your mobile phone as we provide updates to you in this way, including weekly course contents, change of venue, cancellation of the lecture, and matters pertaining to your assessment tasks.

Aims and outcomes

The purpose of this course is to provide you with the introductory conceptual and analytic skills needed to examine the nature and dynamics of power, structure, and agency, and the implications thereof for you as citizens and future professionals. Its main aims are to - 

1. Consider the concept of power and structure from a variety of theoretical perspectives.
2. Develop skills in applying theoretical concepts to analyse social issues and circumstances. 
3. Develop a deepening awareness of key challenges facing Australian society in terms of human rights, social justice, and respect for diversity. 
4. Discern opportunities for advancing and sustaining human rights, social justice, and respect for diversity in contemporary Australia.
5. Develop effective oral and written communication skills in relation to presenting a logical, thoughtful, and critically reflexive argument. 

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

Quiz (in-class)

• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Quiz

Weight

20%

Due date

12/08/2024 8:00 am

Other conditions

Time limited.

See the conditions definitions

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to defer this exam.

Deferring the quiz:

• Should you be unable to complete the quiz due to medical reasons or exceptional circumstances, you may be eligible to apply for a deferred examination.
• Deferral requests are submitted online via my.UQ. Deferral requests received in any other way will not be approved.
• Please note that SAPs are not sufficient information to defer exams.
• An explanation of approved reasons for deferring exams and the process for applying can be found here. 
• For an explanation of the process for applying, please see here.

Disability Policy Statement

• Any student with a disability who may require alternative academic arrangements in the subject is encouraged to seek advice at the commencement of the semester from a Disability Adviser at Student Services. 
• The University Health Service can arrange advice and assistance on professional accreditation/registration issues that might arise as a result of alternative arrangements.

Peer-reviewed Conference Abstract (portfolio)

• Team or group-based
• In-person

Mode

Written

Category

Essay/ Critique, Portfolio

Weight

30%

Due date

13/09/2024 1:00 pm

Other conditions

Student specific, Longitudinal.

See the conditions definitions

Task description

Submission guidelines

This assessment requires students to submit an electronic version of their assignment via Blackboard.  

The anti-plagiarism software Turnitin is being used at UQ. The electronic version of your assignment will be submitted via Blackboard, using the Turnitin software. Work submitted will be subjected to a plagiarism detection process.  

Please refer to ITS help if you experience difficulties in submitting your assessment in Blackboard or using Turnitin. 

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 14 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Applying for an extension 

• Extension requests are submitted online via my.UQ. Extension requests received in any other way will not be approved. 
• Information about applying for an extension can be found on my.UQ. 

Extension guidelines 

• Extension requests should be submitted prior to the assessment deadline. 
• Extension requests must state the due date and the due time of the assessment. 
• Requests for extensions received after the assessment item submission due date may not be approved. Late requests must include evidence of the reasons for the late request.  
• The extension granted should be in proportion to the period of illness or disruption caused by the exceptional circumstances and will typically be no more than the specified maximum extension length. 
• Students on a Student Access Plan (SAP) with a clause on extension requests must still adhere to the extensions request policy outlined. Students need to attach the SAP and a note outlining their current situation with the online extension application. A maximum of 7 days will be granted on the basis of an SAP. An extension request beyond 7 days will require additional supporting information as this request will not be considered on the basis of the SAP, but rather additional events (whether they relate to the circumstances of the SAP or not). 

Outcome of application 

• Extension requests are generally processed within 2 working days. Students can see the outcome of their application by logging in to my.UQ.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Penalties for late submission

• Assessments submitted late will have 10% of the mark available deducted per day (including weekends and public holidays).
• Work submitted more than 7 days after the due date without an approved extension will not receive a mark.

Recorded Conference Presentation and PowerPoint Slides

• Online

Mode

Oral, Written

Category

Presentation

Weight

50%

Due date

25/10/2024 1:00 pm

Task description

Submission guidelines

This assessment requires students to submit an electronic version of their assignment via Blackboard.

The anti-plagiarism software Turnitin is being used at UQ. The electronic version of your assignment will be submitted via Blackboard, using the Turnitin software. Work submitted will be subjected to a plagiarism detection process.

Please refer to ITS help if you experience difficulties in submitting your assessment in Blackboard or using Turnitin.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

The maximum extension allowed is 14 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.

Applying for an extension 

• Extension requests are submitted online via my.UQ. Extension requests received in any other way will not be approved. 
• Information about applying for an extension can be found on my.UQ. 

Extension guidelines 

• Extension requests should be submitted prior to the assessment deadline. 
• Extension requests must state the due date and the due time of the assessment. 
• Requests for extensions received after the assessment item submission due date may not be approved. Late requests must include evidence of the reasons for the late request.  
• The extension granted should be in proportion to the period of illness or disruption caused by the exceptional circumstances and will typically be no more than the specified maximum extension length. 
• Students on a Student Access Plan (SAP) with a clause on extension requests must still adhere to the extensions request policy outlined. Students need to attach the SAP and a note outlining their current situation with the online extension application. A maximum of 7 days will be granted on the basis of an SAP. An extension request beyond 7 days will require additional supporting information as this request will not be considered on the basis of the SAP, but rather additional events (whether they relate to the circumstances of the SAP or not). 

Outcome of application 

• Extension requests are generally processed within 2 working days. Students can see the outcome of their application by logging in to my.UQ. 

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Penalties for late submission

• Assessments submitted late will have 10% of the mark available deducted per day (including weekends and public holidays).
• Work submitted more than 7 days after the due date without an approved extension will not receive a mark.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

Submission of ALLﾠassessment items is mandatory in this course in order to be eligible to pass.ﾠ Failure to submit all pieces of assessment will result in failure of the course overall.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Additional assessment information

Participation in Assessment Tasks:ﾠ

• To be eligible to pass this course, students must participate in all assessment tasks.

Assistance:ﾠ

• Assessment tasks will be discussed during class contact time. Please contact course academic staff should you have further questions that could not be addressed in the class time.

Academic Integrity:ﾠ

• The anti-plagiarism software Turnitin is being used at UQ. Work submitted will be subjected to a plagiarism detection process, so it is important that all students check their similarity rating. If this is over 15%, written work may be referred to the Integrity Officer. The settings on the Learn.UQ site for this course have been set to allow students to resubmit until the final deadline, so that referencing may be reworded and any issues causing a high similarity rating may be fixed. Turnitin retains the final submission as source material for conducting future plagiarism checks.
• Different rules concerning the use of generative AI apply to different assessment items. Please carefully check the specific requirements of each and every task.
• Please refer to ITS help if you experience difficulties in submitting your assignments in Blackboard or using Turnitin as instructed on the companion website.

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.

Additional learning resources information

All communications in regard to this course will be sent to your student email. It is your responsibility to check it regularly. Although you may forward emails to another address, be careful to check student email as well, as you will be deemed to have received any email sent to your student address even if it fails to forward.

Students are encouraged to read widely and to use additional academic references in their assessments. Academic sources include textbooks, journal articles and other academically peer-reviewed literature.

You can use newspaper articles and internet sources to illustrate your arguments but should not rely solely on these sources. It is important that your work has academic research and theoretical discussion as its foundation.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Additional learning activity information

Teaching and Learning Methods:

This course is delivered through weekly two-hour interactive lectures. While we need to cover substantial amounts of content, we will make space for small-group activities and discussions where possible. This will provide an opportunity for you to clarify further, explore, and engage critically with the concepts taught and relate these concepts to your own experiences and everyday life. From Week 2 to 13, one-hour tutorials will be held. The tutorials are aimed at skills development and to support your preparation for the assessment tasks of this course. Attendance at some tutorials is required for the completion of assessment tasks. Please refer to the course timetable for details.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.