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Social Inequality - SOCI399

The organisational and institutional dynamics of modern societies are powerful generators of social inequality and yet they equally generate resources through which inequalities can be identified and challenged. This unit explores the social mechanisms that drive inequalities and surveys the impact of socio-economic inequality on a wide range of areas of social life (gender, culture, employment, and the economy). The unit considers how sociological theory can explain the emergence and persistence of social inequalities, the normative conflicts and struggles that inequalities produce, and the ways social institutions overcome, respond or merely adapt to inequality. We conclude the unit by looking at whether democratic societies can survive widening socio-economic inequalities and how we might explain the improvement in some types of inequality and discrimination and the curious persistence of others.

Credit Points: 3
When Offered:

S1 Day - Session 1, North Ryde, Day

S1 External - Session 1, External ((with on-campus sessions))

Staff Contact(s): Dr Shaun Wilson
Prerequisites:

39cp at 100 level or above Prerequisite Information

Corequisites:

NCCW(s):
Unit Designation(s):
Unit Type:
Assessed As: Graded
Offered By:

Department of Sociology

Faculty of Arts

Course structures, including unit offerings, are subject to change.
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