Skip Navigation | ANU Home | Search ANU | Search ARTS | Contact ARTS

Please note: this is an archived site. Visit the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences for current information.

---

 

School of Social Sciences

The School of Social Science brings together the disciplines of History, Political Science and International Relations and Sociology. These disciplines involve the study of human relationships and societies. The broad aims of the School are to:

• offer majors in History, International Relations, Political Science and Sociology
• explore relationships between the four disciplines
• provide courses in sub-fields within these disciplines
• demonstrate how these disciplines can be applied to understanding and interpreting social, political and cultural forces operating in the contemporary world
• to encourage students to take majors in areas that overlap with and complement the disciplines of History, Political Science, International Relations and Sociology, such as American Studies, Australian Studies, Contemporary Europe, Population Studies and Social Research Methods.

History comprehends all aspects of human experience. History courses offered in the School of Social Sciences explore that experience, help students to develop critical and analytical skills, and encourage them to ask questions which lead to an understanding of past and present societies.

International Relations seeks to understand political relations that transcend the territorial boundaries of sovereign states, as well as the political forces that created, and may now be transforming, the modern international system and the evolving system of global governance. It is a field traditionally concerned with issues of peace, security, and strategic thought, the politics of international economic management, international institutions such as the United Nations, and questions of global justice. More recently, it has encompassed issues such as the politics of global environmental protection, international human rights, and nationalism and world order. Within the discipline, there are strong traditions of historical, ethical and critical inquiry.

Political Science studies human relationships involving power, rule and authority. It is about how societies govern themselves and understanding different ways of thinking about how societies ought to be governed. It focuses on how nations relate to each other in a global polity, and the political behaviour of individuals and groups that occurs in all societies. It is about those who exercise political power in society and those who do not.

Sociology in general is the study of collective human action, social relationships, and individual human behaviour insofar as social forces influence these. Answers to sociological questions are sought via the systematic observation of social forces that shape human action, the fundamental assumptions being that much human behaviour is socially produced and many of the relations between social forces and human action are recurrent.

The School of Social Sciences offers numerous courses in several majors in the Faculty of Arts, particularly in the following programs and degrees: American Studies; Australian Studies; Contemporary Europe; Development Studies; European Studies; Gender, Sexuality and Culture; History; International Relations; Policy Studies; Political Science; Populations Studies; Social Research Methods and Sociology. The School also plays an active part in the Australian National Internships Program.