Sociology student work at Murdoch University


Student work

Along with the usual essays and exams, in the Murdoch Sociology degree, you will engage with a variety of assessment tasks, to make your study stimulating and challenging.

You will be encouraged to be creative in exploring different modes of thought, analysis and communication - from personal reflections to group research projects, writing essays to designing surveys, blogging to analysing movies or newspaper articles.

Here you can explore some of the work our students do.


Social research methods

As part of the social research methods unit, students have designed surveys about the influence of sexually explicit music videos on the sexual activity of young people; environmental issues associated with the Swan river, apologising to the Stolen Generations, attitudes to cannabis law reform, and to juvenile justice. They have undertaken these surveys with family and friends and learnt how to analyse the results - useful tools for jobs in government, social research, or community development.

Others have done ethnographic work or participant observations of their own choice, including studies of:

  • The ways surfers negotiate who catches the wave first
  • How people sit when alone or in groups (when alone you need a prop such as a paper or food or a mobile, or a tree to sit with!)
  • How people react when they miss a train
  • How people engage with a man doing embroidery


Race relations in Australia

In another unit on race relations in Australia, students were asked to contribute to a blog discussion about asylum seeker issues.

External website - Image Visit the discussion on the Hot Shots website.

Read from some of the postings below::

Anonymous: October 15th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
"If forty white people landed in Australia on a dilapidated vessel there would be huge media exposure and popular interest. People would want to know why on earth they made this journey.

Let's face it Australia is a long boat journey from just about anywhere, never mind sharks and the dangers of the ocean itself. We would want to know what was going on in their own country.

These people would no doubt be billeted and the government would be in contact with their government, because we are humane compassionate people. Yet our usual boat people are condemned in the first instance for their nerve in entering our shores illegally.

So human compassion is thrown out the window.

For most who are offended it is about security and economics. It has generously been reported recently that thousands of British citizens arrived in Australia over the last year and continue to overstay their visas illegally.

The only time this even gets a mention is, when a supporter of asylum seekers is stating this fact in defense of a recent boat arrival. We don’t seem very concerned that some of those overstayers might be very bad people. But at least they speak English, are probably working (illegally), or have funds to support themselves. They are not a drain on the economy.

Of course I'm sure our regular boat people would love to work to support themselves.

So is it just that our economic survival is deemed at stake by the arrival of these people that we can't sympathize for them? Or is it that they are somehow 'less deserving' because they are bad or different."


Betty Richards comments: October 15th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

"I have often heard people who have come to Perth from overseas and other Australian states exclaim at how shocked they are at the overt racism that the citizens here express.

I was unpleasantly reminded of this fact when I ended up on the 'Perth Now' wesbite (http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/comments/0,21590,24745112-2761,00.html), after someone bringing it up in our lecture today. Reading some of the comments that people have left for the article '35 asylum seekers intercepted' made me feel sick and disgusted.

An example of some of the comments are

'turn them around and send back to port of embarkation no if and or but's about it and if they refuse sink them as potential pirates'

"The coastal patrol boats have guns - so damn SHOOT THEM before they get too close. Don't let them anywhere near the coast. I don't care where they go, as long as not Australia, the KRUDD really screwed this one up and big time.'

These people have been conditioned by the Howard government and media, resulting in a sick sense of national identity and a complete lack of empathy towards anyone but themselves.

If people who are living in inhuman conditions don't deserve our sympathy, than who/what does?"


Meiying Liza Chen comments: October 14th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

"A lot of people in Australia are mistaken about asylum seekers, and see them as illegal immigrants.

Over the last few days the media has incorrectly called them 'illegal immigrants' or 'illegal arrivals' to describe unauthorised boat arrivals who are most likely asylum seekers. The terms 'illegal immigrants' or 'illegal arrivals' are not only incorrect when used to describe them, but are also misleading and derogatory.

They are not criminals or illegal immigrants and have not broken any law. Under Australian and international law, a person is permitted to enter Australia for the purpose of seeking asylum, whether by boat or by air.

A refugee's claim for asylum has nothing to do with how they arrive in a country, but everything to do with their need for protection. There are other people who fit the term 'illegal immigrant', like people who stay over their visas and asylum seekers are not among them.

A lot of us see asylum seekers as queue jumpers. We fail to understand that these people come from war torn countries where Australian delegates are not present like Iraq and Afghanistan.

They do not have people to approach or a standard process to follow, thus they flee their own countries to seek protection. About 84% of these asylum seekers have legitimate claim for seeking refugee status."