Entry requirementsStudents who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree course at the University of Melbourne.
Academic titleDiploma in Arts (Social Theory)
Course descriptionNOTE: This course is in phase-out mode and is no longer accepting applications for admisssion.
Current students needing assistance with course planning for completion of the course requirments should contact the Arts & Music Student Centre.
The Ashworth Program in Social Theory draws on high-level expertise and a wide range of related disciplines across the Faculty of Arts. The program provides a context where the theoretical and substantive issues raised in other disciplines may be critically examined and further explored. This makes social theory an appropriate choice for students with an interest in any of the social or human sciences.
The Ashworth Program is home to a vibrant research community and hosts conferences, colloquia and seminar programs on a regular basis. It attracts eminent scholars to the University of Melbourne as visiting research fellows and boasts a distinguished list of international associates. A variety of career pathways is available to students of social theory, drawing on analytical and research knowledge gained in this area of study. Students interested in expanding their interests and knowledge in social theory are provided with an articulated structure of higher degree options at the University of Melbourne.
Social theory is an interdisciplinary program that investigates the everyday assumptions that shape our lives and reflects in a systematic and critical manner on the ways in which social life is organised and, sometimes, transformed. Principal themes addressed in the program include contemporary social and critical theories, psychoanalytic theory and the nature of identity and themes that critique modernity and postmodernity, forms of agency and rationality.