Page 195 - SYU Prospectus

Sociology

Heritage and Innovation”.

SOC 309 Community Economy
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to examine the theory and practice of community economy. Compared
with market-oriented economy, community economy represents some new efforts to promote
more inclusive, sustainable, and people-centred economies. This course explores the new
ideas of community economy with examples of turning such ideas into reality. The focus is put
on the key features of the conventional and new community-based economic forms. Major
topics to be covered include defining community economy, co-operatives, community-supported
agriculture, local time-honoured businesses, local independent and small businesses, street
entrepreneurs and informal economy, and corporate community involvement. The advantages
and disadvantages of different types of community economy are examined in this course.

SOC 310 Social Enterprise in Asia
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to explore a variety of ideas and practices of social enterprise in Asian
countries and regions. Alongside the fast growth of social enterprise in Western societies, many
Asian countries and regions also manage to incorporate social enterprise into their own
socioeconomic development strategies. This course uses a comparative perspective to
demonstrate different national and regional versions of social enterprise. A particular focus is
placed on the localization and integration processes of social enterprise into specific social,
cultural, economic and political contexts. To this end, social enterprises in Asian countries or
regions, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore,
Vietnam and Malaysia, will be chosen for case studies.

SOC 311 Sustainable and Innovative Cities in the Contemporary World
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course examines the different forms of modern cities such as consumption city,
gentrified city, heritage city, sustainable city, and smart city. It will demonstrate how they are
intricately interconnected and what the dialogues among the past, the present and the future
in city development are. It then demonstrates the urgency of inheriting, reimaging, and
innovating our culture to contend with the disruptive forces of globalization. By comparing Hong
Kong with other global cities, students will make use of local and global cases to research how
urban space and culture are constructed and the dialectical relationship in between them.

SOC 312 Popular Culture in Asia
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course explores the making of popular culture in the Asian contexts. In particular,
this course examines the divergence and interconnectedness of popular culture in Asia through
discussing issues and concepts like cultural imperialism, postcolonialism, soft power, cultural
supermarket, glocalization, power dynamics of regional flows, orientalism, and cross-cultural

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