Global Perspectives on Modernity
Overview
This unit explores how we got from the horse and cart to our networked, digitised and celebrity-obsessed world. The unit presents a historical overview of the evolution of modern societies that provides students with a framework for analysing the social and cultural processes, dynamics and innovations that are currently transforming them. It examines the institutional practices common to modern societies around the globe while identifying cultural differences between them. The unit also introduces students to theories of development and post-development. Students are given the opportunity to apply their learning to their own social contexts.
Requisites
01-June-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Outline the social processes which brought about the transition from premodern to modern societies
- Evaluate what has been gained and what has been lost in the transition to modernity
- Analyse the social dynamics transforming contemporary societies
- Apply an understanding of modernising dynamics to the social world around them
- Apply written, verbal and digital communication skills to articulate our transition to modernity
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On Campus Class |
1200 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Live Online Lecture (asynchronous) |
1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Specified Activities Various |
1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning |
8.50 | 12 weeks | 102 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment | Individual | 20% | 3,4,5 |
| Essay | Individual | 45% | 2,4,5 |
| Minor Essay | Individual | 25% | 1,2,5 |
| Peer Evaluation | Individual | 10% | 5 |
Content
- Being Modern: contemporary societies in global perspective
- The Great Transformations: pre-modernity, modernity and late modernity
- Factories: industrialisation, post-industrialisation and deindustrialisation
- Cities: urbanisation, mega cities, malls and the blasé urbanite
- Markets: capitalism, liberalism and neo-liberalism
- McDonald’s: rationalisation, bureaucracy and the holocaust Shopping: consumer capitalism and the commodification of identity
- Swiping Right: love, sex and relationships in the era of individualisation
- Believing and Unbelieving: secularisation and the ‘return of God’
- Living in Cyberspace: mediated work, identity, politics & celebrity
- Unity and Diversity: globalisation and ‘multiple modernities’
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Teamwork roles and processes
- Graduate Attribute- Communicating using different media
- Graduate Attribute - Information literacy
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.