ASC287 - Love, Sex and Relationships

Unit details

Year

2025 unit information

Enrolment modes:

Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)*

Credit point(s):1
EFTSL value:0.125
Unit Chair:Trimester 2: Kiran Pienaar
Prerequisite:

Nil

Corequisite:Nil
Incompatible with: ASC387, ASC487
Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - on-campus unit enrolment:

1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week

1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week

Educator-facilitated (scheduled) learning activities - online unit enrolment:

1 x 1-hour online lecture per week (recordings provided)

1 x 1-hour online seminar per week

Typical study commitment:

Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit.

This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site.

Note:

*Community Based Delivery (CBD): only for students of the National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Research and Innovation NIKERI Institute (located at the Waurn Ponds campus)

Content

In the last quarter of the 20th century, major shifts in the structure of families have occurred in Australia and other Western countries. A number of trends such as changes to fertility rates, rates of marriage, remarriage and divorce and the growth of single households have had a major impact on the composition of families and the recasting of intimate relationships.

As a consequence, there is now a great deal of diversity in people's living arrangements.

The unit comprises four modules which focus upon unheralded changes in the definitions of families, sexuality and caring relationships in the context of the sociological imagination, sociological theories of gender and relationships, sexuality and emotion and the blurring of public/private boundaries in everyday life.

Learning Outcomes

ULO These are the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) for this unit. At the completion of this unit, successful students can:

Alignment to Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs)

ULO1 Define important concepts relevant to modern understandings of family and kinship in their diverse forms

GLO6: Self-management

ULO2 Analyse and explain leading sociologists' texts on families and kinship networks

GLO3: Digital literacy

ULO3 Argue the strengths and weaknesses of traditional and contemporary understandings of human intimacy

GLO4: Critical thinking

ULO4 Apply social theories to understand evolving forms of human relationships

GLO5: Problem solving

ULO5 Argue the value of sociological ideas and insights in deepening our understanding of changing attitudes to sex, love and other forms of human intimacy

GLO2: Communication

ULO6 Use the "sociological imagination" to situate the personal dimension of our lives in its wider social-cultural context

GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities

Assessment

Assessment Description Student output Grading and weighting
(% total mark for unit)
Indicative due week
Assessment 1: Essay 1600 words
or equivalent
40% Week 7
Assessment 2: Seminar/Online Exercises 800 words
or equivalent
20% Week 9
Assessment 3: Test 1600 words
or equivalent
40% Week 11

The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.

Learning resource

The texts and reading list for ASC287 can be found via the University Library.

Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.

Unit Fee Information

Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.

Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.

Estimate your fees

For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.