Contemporary Issues in Australian Politics: Race, Nation, Class and Gender
UndergraduateMAQ-POIX20102024
Previously MAQ-POIX201
Course information for 2024 intake View information for 2025 course intake
Consider the politics of fairness in modern Australia. Dig into the treatment of Indigenous Australians and new arrivals. Question if men and women receive equal opportunities. Explore the politics of same sex relationships. See connections and consequences.
Enrolments for this course are closed, but you may have other options to start studying now. Book a consultation to learn more.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Contemporary Issues in Australian Politics: Race, Nation, Class and Gender
About this subject
On successful completion of this subject, you will be able to:
- Have the ability to peer below the surface feature of Australian politics and its discourse to identify the underlying inequalities at play
- Understand and identify linkages between, for example, class and race and Australian nationhood
- Critically analyse Australian politics and assess the degree to which it reinforces and normalises inequality
- Demonstrate capacity to assess the extent that the media and new economic technologies impact – if at all – on the reproduction of existing social relations
- Demonstrate critical understanding of the interplay between discourse, ideology, structures and agency in shaping the makeup of Australian society in terms of race, nation, class and gender
- Introduction: politics & social division
- Indigenous politics: "History wars", Reconciliation, Intervention, 'Closing the Gap'
- People Movement: Immigration, Asylum-Seekers, Nationalism, and the Politics of Border Controls
- The Domestic Politics of Foreign Wars: Conflicts on the Homefront
- Class in Australia, `Affluenza', and the Impact of the Economic Boom
- Labor, Reformism, and Class: The End of Australian Social Democracy?
- Class and Industrial Relations: The Accord, Enterprise Bargaining, WorkChoices, Fair Work
- Class Action: the 1998 Maritime Union Dispute
- Gender: The Rise and Fall of the Women's Liberation Movement in Australia
- `Are We There Yet'? Equality, Post-Feminism, `Raunch Feminism', the 3rd Wave
- Women, Babies, and the Family: the Politics of Raising Children
- The Politics of Sex: Same-Sex Relationships in Australia
- Conclusion: Are We Happy Now? The Australian Body Politic & Happiness, Affluence, Self-Improvement, and Depression
This subject was previously known as POIX201 Contemporary Issues in Australian Politics: Race, Nation, Class & Gender.
As Australia progresses through the second decade of the 21st century, it confronts a number of persistent questions:
- Has it lived up to its reputation as an egalitarian country whose unofficial motto is ‘fair go!’?
- How have class relations been impacted on – if at all – by the economic boom of the past two decades?
- Are Australian women and men really equal in the context of the rise and fall of the Women’s Liberation Movement and the emergence of so-called ‘raunch feminism’?
- What are the prospects for closing the gap between the country’s indigenous people and its more recent arrivals?
Taking as its central themes, race, nation, class and gender, the subject is structured in the following way:
- Weeks 2-4 deal with race and nation;
- Weeks 5-8 with class politics;
- Weeks 9-12 with gender and sexuality;
- Week 13 concludes the subject by examining the health of the Australian body politic in light of the foregoing discussions about its divided state.
- Take-Home Exam (30%)
- Major essay (50%)
- Online Participation (20%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
This research-intensive university in north-western Sydney offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. With over 44,000 current students, Macquarie has a strong reputation for welcoming international students and embracing flexible and convenient study options, including its partnership with Open Universities Australia.
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- QS Ranking 2024:
- 10
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 10
Entry requirements
Prior study
You must have successfully completed the following subject(s) before starting this subject:
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
MAQ-PLT210 (Not currently available)
MAQ-POIX201 (Not currently available)
Others
NCCW (pre-2020 units) PLT210, POL201, POL250, POIX201
Pre-requisite: 40cp at 1000 level or above OR (10cp in POL or POIR or POIX units)
NCCW (2020 and onwards) POIR2010 Contemporary Issues in Australian Politics: Race, Nation, Class and Gender
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateMAQ-ART-DEG
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