Course - Society and Culture

The study of society helps not only to understand the current social structures in which you are living but also trace the course of human social development through out history. ... It helps to understand the ways in which we can approach society and induce positive change.

In addition to its intrinsic value, culture provides important social and economic benefits. With improved learning and health, increased tolerance, and opportunities to come together with others, culture enhances our quality of life and increases overall well-being for both individuals and communities.

The essential difference is that society is composed of people while culture consists of knowledge, ideas, customs, traditions, folkways, mores, beliefs, skills, institutions, organizations, and artifacts. Society is the combination of people with different cultures.

• Persons - the individual human; relationships with other persons and with society, culture and the environment through time. 
• Society - human relationships from small groups to large systems. 
• Culture - knowledge shared by members of groups and systems, reflected in their customs, values, laws, arts, technologies and artefacts. 
• Environment - settings where people live and work, the interaction between people and their environment, people’s perceptions of the environment, and their actions to improve it. 
• Time - its continuous passage; perceptions of the past, present and future. 
• Power - ability to influence or persuade others to a point of view or action to which they would not normally agree. 
• Authority - the rights to make decisions and to determine, adjudicate or settle issues and disputes. 
• Identity - sense of self formed over time - personal, social and cultural. 
• Gender - socially constructed differences between genders. 
• Technologies - tools that we use to assist our interactions in society; and 
• Globalisation - the integration and the sharing of goods, capital, services, knowledge, leisure, sport, ideas and culture between countries brought about by improved technologies.

The HSC Course consists of a Core with two components:

• Personal Interest Project and
• Social and Cultural Continuity and Change

and two Depth Studies chosen from the following:

• Popular Culture
• Belief Systems and Ideologies
• Social Inclusion and Exclusion
• Social Conformity and Nonconformity