Course and Subject Handbook

Family life, gender relations, and sexuality have been significant sites of concern, activism, and contestation for decades in Australia and internationally. For some, a greater diversity of family forms, changing relations between women and men, and an increasing tolerance of diverse sexualities have been signs of socio-cultural enlightenment. For others, the decline of the family, the erosion of traditional gender roles, and sexual openness herald a more general unravelling of the social order.  This subject places these differing perspectives in a sociological context and considers questions about what the changes mean for social justice, social cohesion and the future.