Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Work - Political Economy

The University of Sydney

This five-year degree offers a comprehensive and flexible combined degree program that qualifies you as an accredited social worker, while also allowing you to enhance your qualification with majors and minors that complement the Bachelor of Social Work. While this combined degree requires a major or minor in Sociology, or a minor in Social Policy, you can choose another major or minor in various interest areas such as diversity studies, gender studies, Aboriginal Studies, or philosophy. You'll undertake integrated studies in social sciences, social policy and social work theory and practice, with a strong emphasis on Australian and comparative social welfare studies. In the last two years of the degree all students undertake the professional social work program, which includes two fieldwork placements supervised by highly skilled and experienced practitioners in a variety of settings. We develop field education learning expectations across the program and aim to develop values, skills and knowledge for levels from beginner to a practitioner capable of meeting the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Practice Standards.Political Economy focuses on the links between the economy, society and political interests. You will be equipped to understand a range of competing economic theories, and will use them to analyse pressing economic issues in the contemporary world, including inequality and economic development, economic crisis and change, and the conflict between economic growth and environmental sustainability. You will also study the historical development of capitalist economies and their institutional foundations. In first year you will be introduced to the principal schools of economic thought and the historical development of the global economy. The second and third year units progressively build upon these foundations, further developing your understanding of central issues in the study of political economy. You can specialise in particular approaches to understanding the economy and can choose from a range of contemporary political economic issues. This major covers key research and teaching areas including economic development, the distribution of income and wealth, the political economy of human rights, finance, neoliberalism, the environment, business cycles, and global political economy and gender. You will graduate with the skills required to analyse economic issues of important contemporary public concern, including their social and political aspects.

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