Skip Navigation

Sociology at Flinders

The Flinders University Department of Sociology is one of the premier sociology departments in Australia with an intensive research culture, eminent staff and an international student body.

Flinders Sociology has played an important role in shaping the course of social research and policy in Australia. Now, at its 30-year anniversary, Flinders Sociology continues its rigorous research culture and engagement with public policy issues.

Charles Lemert Returns to Flinders Sociology
Internationally renowned social theorist Charles Lemert returns to Flinders Sociology to offer a new Masterclass. Entitled Night Terrors and the Rude Awakening of Global Capitalism, the Masterclass will be held 2-5pm on May 18, 19, 20 and 22, 2009. Charles Lemert is John C. Andrus Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University, USA and Visiting Professor of Sociology at Flinders University.

For more information or to register your interest please contact Mrs Gillian Keightley at the Department of Sociology.

Contemporary Social Theory
Professor Anthony Elliot's new book, Contemporary Social Theory - An Introduction, is arguably the definitive undergraduate textbook on contemporary social theory. Professor Elliot, one of the world’s most acclaimed social theorists, provides a dazzlingly original, accessible and comprehensive tour de force of the field – from the Frankfurt School through structuralism, feminism and postmodernism to globalization theories and beyond.
read more
2009 Bursaries for International MA and PhD Students Now on Offer
The Department of Sociology is offering several Bursaries to MA and PhD students for the 2009 academic year. The Bursary is offered in the form of partial tuition remittance, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000. The number of awards granted will vary based on the number and quality of the applications. They will be awarded on a competitive basis to suitably qualified candidates with consideration of past academic excellence and proposed future research.
more information
Australian Muslims Disadvantaged
Research conducted by Emeritus Professor Riaz Hassan reveals that Australian Muslims are more socially and economically disadvantaged than their non-Muslim counterparts, despite being, on the whole, better educated and more youthful. "...they should be able to participate in the economic and social life as other educated people are and they are not doing so, and I think that's nothing to do with their religious beliefs," Professor Hassan said.
read more
Gender and Everyday Life
Dr Mary Holmes' new book, Gender and Everyday Life, provides a fascinating and genuinely readable exploration of how society divides people into feminine women and masculine men. It explores gender as a way of seeing women and men as not just biological organisms, but as people shaped by their everyday social world.

Dr. Holmes considers the strengths and limitations of different ways of thinking and learning to ‘do’ gender. This book will be of great use and interest to students to gender studies, sociology and feminist theory.

Making the Cut
Cosmetic surgery is fast becoming an addiction to quell the insecurities of the modern workplace and enhance job prospects: according to Flinders University sociologist Professor Anthony Elliott, more and more people are undergoing the surgeon’s knife as a “quick fix”, fuelling a global boom in cosmetic surgical procedures. In his new book, Making the Cut: How Cosmetic Surgery Is Transforming Our Lives, he argues that global economic changes are creating a sense of uncertainty and fear, and that the move to cosmetic surgery is a key response.
more information


Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia
Email: Sociology@flinders.edu.au, Tel:  +61 8 8201 2026, Fax: +61 8 8201 3521