Society and Culture

The main goal of the Society and Culture syllabus is to encourage students’ growth in social and cultural literacy and to develop a clear understanding of the interaction of people, societies, cultures, environments and time. In a fast-paced, increasingly globalised world, what could be more important?

Society and Culture draws on cross-disciplinary concepts and upon social research methods from anthropology; communication; cultural and media studies; philosophy; social psychology; and sociology; hence its value as a subject that encourages students to think out of the box, to inquire and to communicate effectively.

Society and Culture has a major work, the Personal Interest Project (PIP) that allows students to focus upon an area that piques their interest. This project teaches students vital skills in conducting Primary and Secondary Research These skills are invaluable in tertiary studies and in the workforce thereafter.

Student Advice About Society and Culture 

Why chose Society and Culture as an HSC subject?

Highlights from studying Society and Culture

How did you choose the subject for your Personal Interest Project (PIP)?

PIP Topics

Contact

Head of Department: Matthew Lloyd
Email: mlloyd@barker.nsw.edu.au

Yr11 Socv2 Image1
Yr11 Socv2 Image2

Year 11

The Preliminary Course studies:
  • 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.

Year 12

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: (those in bold are our current choices)
  • Popular Culture
  • Belief Systems and Ideologies
  • Social Inclusion and Exclusion
  • Social Conformity and Nonconformity