Course syllabus

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YOUTH AND SOCIETY

Course teacher: Professor Alan France - a.france@auckland.ac.nz

Tutors 

Hayden Crosby 

Leal Rodriguez 

Lectures Tuesdays 11 - 1 pm Old Government House G36

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

Welcome to SOCIOL334 - YOUTH AND SOCIETY. 

Over the coming semester you will be introduced to a wide range of debates concerning what it means to be young today. In this process we will examine a wide range of key contemporary debates that are instrumental in shaping our understanding of youth. Across the course will examine questions such as: 

  • can youth be understood through a generation lens? 
  • is education creating new futures for the young? 
  • what does work mean for young people today?
  • how is the digital world changing the lives of young people?
  • why and how do young people take risks or commit crimes? 
  • how important is a sense of place and space to young people's feeling of belonging? 
  • what impact is migration having on young people's citizenship? 
  • why do we have high levels of mental health and suicide among our young? 

Given the recent crisis of COVID 19 , the general Election and the referendum on cannabis  we will also look at some of the implications these have for the young....

 COURSE AIMS

This unit aims to give students a broad introduction to:

  • The historical nature of the sociological study of youth and how it has been conceptualised in a wide range of academic and political discourses
  • provide a theoretically informed analysis of the social processes associated with growing up in the contemporary world
  • the place of young people in society today
  • the role of the media and young people’s relationship with new technology
  • the ‘youth crime problem’ in late modern society
  • an overview of the ways in which key social institutions and political processes shape the experiences of young people.
  • the nature and dynamics of social divisions among youth (e.g. inequality in relation to class, gender, ethnicity, and geography).
  • The social and economic processes associated with the construction of diverse social identities cultural practice and human agency
  • The role of public policy in shaping the experiences and opportunities of young people
  • Understanding social change and how it relates to the experience of growing up

LECTURE PROGRAMME

There are 11 lectures and 1 revision lecture. The outline of each of these can be found under the Pages option. Core reading is outlined although links to all readings can be found at the Reading List option. Please make sure you try to read at least two of the articles on the reading list each week. 

ASSESSMENT

The course has three forms of assessment - an autobiography (20%)  a course essay (40%)and an exam (40%)

ALL assignments must be submitted to electronically in Canvas 11. 59 pm on the due date. You do NOT need to submit a hard-copy. all essay's will be marked online

Ideally extensions should be requested before the due date. However, please contact me if extenuating circumstances mean you could not apply before the assignment was due. I will treat these on a case-to-case basis.

Late submission of coursework is possible without an extension, so long as you are ready to accept a penalty by losing marks. Late penalties help ensure fairness, otherwise some students would have more time to complete work than others.

The penalties for submitting work late when you do not have an extension are 2% per day (including weekends, given electronic submission is available), with no coursework being accepted if more than seven days late.

Everyone confronts difficulties at some point. So please talk to or email me if you are experiencing troubles finishing or submitting coursework. I will work with you wherever possible and, of course, it is better to get an assignment in than not at all (even if it is incomplete.

COURSE KAUPAPA (guiding principles)

Whanaungatanga - Whakapapa is a conceptual orientation whereby we acknowledge the intergenerational Interconnectedness of all things. Flowing from our understanding of whakapapa we acknowledge the importance of building and maintaining relationships, care for each other, and working collectively. 

Mana - The combination of our power and ability to act as well as a measure of our social standing. Our actions should acknowledge and enhance the mana of ourselves and others. There are consequences for actions that fail to do so. 

Rangatiratanga - In full acknowledgement of our interconnectedness we also maintain our independence as learners and our responsibility to act as rangatira (leaders) of our learning process. Good leadership also takes account of the needs, abilities, and mana of the group.

CLASS RESPONSIBILITIES

It is the duty of everybody in the classroom to uphold the individual and collective mana of the group. Our actions, including speech, should acknowledge and enhance the mana of ourselves and others. There are consequences for actions that fail to do so. Actions that diminish the mana of others include any practice which aims at bullying, excluding, marginalizing, harassing, discriminating against, rendering insecure, exploiting, criminalizing, terrorizing, or harbouring exterminatory fantasies against an identity group of people imagined as sharing a common determining feature. Speech or actions that are, for example, knowingly racist, sexist, ableist, ageist, homophobic or transphobic are completely unacceptable in the classroom.     

While free speech is a fundamental right in a democracy and we encourage respectful debate and discussion of diverse ideas, an abstract idea of free speech in general cannot and must not be used as a cover for specific instances of hateful speech or discrimination. Students in the course are expected to respect all other students and staff. If you witness hate speech or discrimination you are encouraged to raise this with the lecturer, your tutor or the University Proctor.

 

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due