Page 196 - HKSYU Prospectus 2023-24

Shue Yan University Prospectus 2023-24

civilization. Students are invited to reflect on their own self-understanding and self-evaluation
based on this comparative understanding of Western and Chinese civilizations.

SOC 360 Social Change and Modernity
1 Term; 3 Credits
The course aims at providing students with basic knowledge in sociology on social
change and modernity to shed light on phenomena (global and local) of social changes that
significantly affect contemporary social conditions of human existence; increasing students’
awareness on the impacts of modernity and postmodernity on people’s daily lives; and helping
students to gain insight on their own life situations under those social dynamics.

SOC 362 Tourism and Culture
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce to students various aspects of tourism, mainly
focusing on the interrelation between tourism and culture from an anthropological perspective.
The course will cover the origin, major theories, methodology and practice of the anthropology
of tourism. The course will analyse tourism as a cultural phenomenon with complex meanings
for both host and guest societies. Students will learn about the relationship among culture,
society and tourism by examining the socio-cultural complexities implied in a changing world.
Particular emphasis is placed on the socio-cultural dimension of travelling behaviour, cultural
development, heritage preservation, community involvement, ethnic identity construction, and
commodification of both the tourist and the toured.

SOC 371 Chinese Culture and Society
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course will explore what “traditional” Chinese culture means in Chinese-speaking
societies. It will also consider the new Chinese cultural identity of the urban “middle-class”,
which has emerged through the processes of commoditization, urbanization, privatization, bio-
politicization, individualization and migration, and how these processes might have opened up
opportunities and threats for cultural industries. A special emphasis is placed on how the
communist party has challenged traditional social structure and cultural values, and how the
socialist transformation in the Mainland shapes Chinese society with development, innovation
and environmental change. Topics to be discussed include: Confucianism and familism;
religion and superstition; food and migration; cosmology and health; consumerism and Chinese
women’s liberation; education and inequality; urban development; and civil society.

SOC 380 Arts and Everyday Life in the Digital Era
1 Term; 3 Credits
This course aims to introduce the interrelation between digital technology and the
development of arts and everyday life practices. By facilitating interconnectedness and
interactivity, digital technology influences creative output and its reception in everyday life.
Issues addressed in this course include the emergence of popular art, visuality and museum,

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