SECULAR, RELIGIOUS, SPIRITUAL: WAYS OF BEING MODERN
SOC3SRS
Not currently offered
Credit points: 15
Subject outline
What can contemporary expressions of religious life and spiritual experience tell us about ourselves, the societies we live in and the nature of social change in our world? In this subject students examine how contemporary orientations to faith, piety, spirituality and the search for self-transcendence connect to broader debates and transformations across the globe. Students in this subject are given the opportunity to develop their conceptual, self-reflexive and critical abilities as they investigate the personal, local and global implications of religious life and spirituality. Who said modernization would be the death of religion, and why? Can religious claims and secular criticisms co-exist? What explains the success of global religious movements? Does the soul have a body? Are religion and spirituality forms of social critique? These questions will be addressed on the basis of case studies drawn from western, non-western, developed and developing countries.
School: School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Credit points: 15
Subject Co-ordinator: Wendy Mee
Available to Study Abroad Students: Yes
Subject year level: Year Level 3 - UG
Exchange Students: Yes
Subject particulars
Subject rules
Prerequisites: 15 credit points of any first year sociology subject and 15 credit points of any Humanities and Social Sciences subject, or subject coordinator's approval.
Co-requisites: N/A
Incompatible subjects: SOC2SRS
Equivalent subjects: N/A
Special conditions: N/A
Graduate capabilities & intended learning outcomes
01. Evaluate the key conceptual and theoretical approaches in the sociology of religion and secularity
- Activities:
- Class based exercises, preliminary essay and research essay
02. Independently research, summarise and synthesise contemporary secular religious and spiritual practices from a range of different perspectives and geographical locations
- Activities:
- Class based exercises, preliminary essay and research essay
03. Produce a well-documented, clear, cogent and sophisticated written argument about the place of secularity, religion and spirituality in contemporary society
- Activities:
- Research essay
04. Work with a tutorial group to compile and present critical reflections on issues relevant to the study of secularity, religion and spirituality in a range of countries
- Activities:
- Class based exercises
05. Work with a tutorial group to critically apply knowledge of sociology of religion concepts and theories to the analysis of contemporary societies from a global perspective
- Activities:
- Class based exercises