Social Inquiry (2 Viewers)

[Jinglebell]

Ah, I see what's happening, you're looking at the plan for combined law, which has a slightly different structure because after 1st year emphasis is mainly on law subjects, so those doing law have the later SI subjects more spread out. Apparently in this course Political Theory is compulsory, (I think this is changed slightly from my year, but I could be wrong), but the choiceblock in 3rd year is transferred directly from straight SI, which doesn't have political theory as compulsory.

Does that make sense? At all? Bottom line is: same subject, just listed twice to make it extra confusing

 

[charlie_charlie]

Nah, its just that SI/Law ppl have a "BA Com (SI) Compulsory Subjects" which we have to choose between either Political Theory or Social Theory, but because thats offered only in Autumn Semester & Political Theory is offered only in Spring Sem, it just means you have to do some switching & changing between the two and other subjects. So it looks like, according to the course handbook that Political Theory is compulosry. I was confused too initially....
Jinglebell, whats Political Theory like? I was gonna choose Social theory, but thought that would just be Postmodernism x 100000.

 

[Niere]

Sorry to Hijack (kinda), but I'm interested in Social Inquiry too! (I enrolled in it already).
I wanted to combine law with Social Inquiry, but the cut off was too high. So I was thinking that provided I work really hard in SI, I could maybe pick up Law in my second year? Is this possible?

I want to be an investigative journalist (in world affairs/politics). The careers advisor at school told me that some of the best investigative journalists (for the ABC etc.) studied Social Inquiry and I was told the same thing when I went to the UTS open day last year.
But I now have my doubts after reading this thread.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

Don't have doubts, social inquiry is a good grounding for a journalism career still. Plus you can possibly do journalism subjects as electives and stuff and media studies and all that.

I had a friend that transferred in to law after first year, it's competitive but it is not impossible.

 

[Niere]

Thanks for your reply, that's comforting to read!
When you say your friend transferred to law, do you mean she did law in addition to social inquiry? Because I hope to eventually (maybe second year if possible) combine B Law with Social Inquiry (only my UAI is too low) rather than dropping SI altogether.

Also, for work placement (as an elective for SI), is ABC one of the options, or is this only with the journalism course?

I really have my heart set on investigative journalism, but I can also see myself in a law/political career. That's why I thought I can still do journalism via SI (hopefully later combined with law), but if not, SI and Law can result in the other careers I'm interested in (or am I fooling myself here)? I thought if I decided to go for a political career, SI (+ law) would be a better option than BA Journalism (as it's a more specific course).

 

[litttlelaura]

over the past two years i have been changing my post-hsc study options almost every week. i have been stuck between psychology, sociology, and general research. but i also loved journalism and the media after going on 2 weeks work experience in year 10 at 2 different newspapers.

up until a few weeks ago i was so lost and had no direction... until i found the social inquiry at uts. i would love to be a media or social researcher because that really interests me.

however, the only thing holding me back from this course is the politics side of it.

i was just wondering if you think this is the right course for me. also, is the politics side of the course necessary... or can you choose subjects that kind of skip that part.

thank you so much for your help!

Laura

 

[kami]

Well from what I have seen, the politics is a large part of the course - not much way you can avoid it. Though you can gear it towards areas more related to sociology, if thats of any comfort to you.

http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/hss/ug/c10100.html <--That link basically lists all the subjects you have to do for the course. Except for the electives bit, in second/third year as you can pick out electives from USYD/UNSW/MQ etc. instead of those offerred if you so wanted.

 

[charlie_charlie]

I personally found first year more sociology-like last year. Communication & Information Environments is more communication studies; Contemporary Cultures is...unique & more geared towards social texts, Power & Change is probably the most political, but you can still take a sociological perspective on it. Thats first sem. I didn't do all communications for 2nd sem, but its v similar to the first (except for the colonialism & modernity, that was more historical) In terms of social research though, its fantastic, because the core social inquiry subjects make you get right into it, and you have social researchers actually teaching your class. If you like that kind of thing, you'll love this course.

As far as I can remember, you don't have to do that much politics if that's not really your thing because you can pick and choose your electives. Having said that, doing a bit of politics really complements your social research because of the policy side of things that social inquiry really gears you towards, if you choose,