Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

• Examine different meanings of community and frameworks for social change and social justice

• Critically evaluate community development challenges, theories and methods with reference to specific projects

• Generate and assess major action strategies and tactics for communities and community change with particular consideration of social justice issue.

• Critically evaluate personal experience with social change and social justice informed by a Christian world view, so that it can be coherently combined with academic knowledge

Unit Description

The problem of Community is introduced and different meanings of community are explored with special reference to community development and social change. The unit focuses on ways of making sense of change, its dynamic nature and the striving for peace and social justice. Learners are introduced to the assumptions and theory of practitioners who seek to bring about social change and to the practical ways of responding to the challenge of social inequality. Critical theory frameworks and perspectives on community work will be covered, drawing on texts by Butcher et al and three major contemporary Australian texts – Ife and Tesoreiro; Kenny and Weeks; Hoatson & Dixon as well as contributions of Friere. The unit will introduce key underpinning social theories including a range of concepts of particular relevance to community development such as: discourse (Foucault) social power and habitus/field (Bourdieu) social contract (Rousseau) state-society formation and roles (e.g. Weber, Marx) liberalism, socialism and social welfare (e.g. Marx, Mills) natural rights (Hobbes) and human rights the public sphere and communicative rationality(Habermas) civil society (Aristotle) structure and agency (Giddens) Students are exposed to the basic common elements of community change that include building the strengths and independence of community groups, organizations and networks; building equity, inclusiveness and cohesion amongst people and their groups and organizations; and empowering people and their organizations where appropriate to influence and help transform public policies and services and other factors affecting the conditions of their lives. The unit offers learners the opportunity to engage with compelling accounts of resistance, critique, hope and vision from communities whose stories are often invisible, trivialized or erased by the dominant society. Thus the role of narrative is explored to demonstrate how people have reclaimed and reshaped a traditional art form in the service of their ideas and demands for justice. Learners will also develop understanding of how groups are bringing out, bringing up and bringing back values of justice and fairness into their communities.

Topics

• Understanding Community Development and Social Change
• Frameworks for social change
• Theoretical Concepts
• Theories and Philosophies of Community Development
• Power Imbalance.
• Poverty and wealth
• Challenges faced by minorities
• What’s the real problem?
• Learning to listen
• Creative Strategies

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Unit offerings

Face to face: Semester 1, 2025 (Every Year, Semester 1)

Please note

The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.

This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.