The Library is open over the October long weekend, with reduced hours on Monday 2 October 2023. View the long weekend opening hours here.
HSC: Society and Culture
High achieving Society and Culture students share their top tips for completing an outstanding major project.
Find out how to access award-winning PIPs in their entirety onsite at the State Library, or at your local library, here. Or keep scrolling for PIP extracts, available online.
PIP Extracts
2022: Introduction Extract - 'That's not very ladylike'
An investigation into the socially constructed Likeability Dilemma and the extent to which it inhibits female leaders from breaking through the glass ceiling and creates implications for conformity at the macro level.
2022: Introduction Extract - TikTok... Times Up for Internalised Misogyny!
'Pick-Me Girls' is a misogynistic phenomenon that constructs women as being in inherent competition, performing for the 'male gaze' challenging the notion of female solidarity.
2022: Log Extract - Heroines don't dream of heroes
To what extent is Japanese Anime and Manga an agent of patriarchal oppression or gender-based liberation for adolescent audiences?
2022: Log Extract - Lights, Camera, Oppression
An investigation into the role of popular culture and filmic institutions in the diffusion of gender roles at the macro level of Indian society.
2022: Central Material Extract - The Space in Between
An investigation into the diasporic experiences of second-generation immigrants in western societies such as Australia in relation to their acceptance or rejection of western culture.
2022: Central Material Extract - Single and under construction
An investigation into the socio-cultural construction of singleness. To what extent are singles constructed as figures of empowerment or the subject of exclusion?
2022: Central Material Extract - If he can see it will he be it
To what extent does the media construct a diverse range of inclusive masculinities or reinforce orthodox constructions of masculinity?
2022: Central Material Extract - Consumer Occulture
An investigation into Neo-Paganism’s embrace of Consumerist values and the subsequent implications for diverse cultural identities.
2022: Conclusion Extract - Unkept Women of Politics
The continuity of the political influence of mass media and systemic misogyny within Parliament are greatly responsible for the disparity of men to women's involvement and success within Australian Federal Politics.
2022: Conclusion Extract - The Man-Made World
An investigation into the prevalence of androcentrism within contemporary Western industry, and the subsequent exclusionary implications of a system structured to reward masculinity.
2021: Log extract - In business to change the world
Globalisation has seen an increase in digital tech and awareness of geo political issues, thus brands have increased their power to influence socio-political change at a macro level.
2021: Log extract - What’s the catch? Blackfishing
The rise of digital technologies has developed concepts of blackfishing which contributes to existing prejudices against people of colour, thus further perpetuating social exclusion.
2021: Central material extract - Rest in Perpetuity
An investigation into the extent to which the socio-cultural construction of death has been altered by communication technologies. Is the changing nature of grief and memorialisation accepted or rejected by contemporary adolescents?
2021: Annotated reference list - A beginner’s guide on the word: ‘Feminist’
This study will evaluate the role of misandrist and misogynistic attitudes in the feminist movement, and how these behaviours can lead to further feminist dissent amongst institutions.
2021: Introduction extract - The L Word
The objective of this study will be to investigate the multifaceted nature of lesbian social exclusion through the relationship between patriarchy and women’s sexuality.
2021: Central material extract - Born to buy
An investigation into how the advertisement industry reinforces society's masculine ideals to perpetuate a capitalist, consumer-based reality.
2021: Conclusion extract - Queerbaiting is the hook that lures out the LGBTQI+
The changing heteronormative cultural narratives enculturated by the media promote queerbaiting which demobilise LGBTQI+ agency.
2021: Central material extract - Feminism? In this economy?
An investigation into how neoliberalism compliments Australian ideology and identity to undermine feminism.
2021: Central material extract - This is Australia. Speak English
An investigation into the construction, perpetuation, and ramifications of Australia’s monolingual attitude.
2021: Introduction extract - The Drover…and His Wife
The Exclusion of Women from Australian National Identity
2020: Central material extract - Change the system not the climate
An investigation into the social and ideological nature of the ecological crisis, and the need for radical structural change.
2020: Introduction extract - Girls behind the game
An investigation into the Gender Disparity and Hegemonic Representations of Women in Gaming Culture and Esports.
2020: Introduction extract - News Media: The Guardian of Democracy the Elite
A cross-cultural investigation into the power and influence corporate media owners and consumers have over the news media content produced throughout Australia.
2020: Log extract - And they're still painting privilege
An in-depth investigation on the role of mass media and unconscious bias in the perpetuation of prejudices and racial stereotypes that influence injustices experienced by minority groups within contemporary society.
2020: Log extract - In money we trust
An investigation into the implications of the commodification of social activism on the public’s perception of its capability to educate, persuade and transform.
2020: Central material extract - Racism and Representation through the Pigeonhole
An investigation into the ways in which the misrepresentation of Indigenous Australians within film media perpetuates misinformed cultural stereotypes throughout society
2020: Central material extract - Saving or Serving - Voluntourism
An investigation into the problematic nature of the voluntourism industry and the associated repercussions for the communities deemed in need
2020: Central materials extract - The making of the other
An investigation into the role of the media in maintaining the process of othering, with a specific focus on perceptions of Indigenous Australians and women in the workforce.
2020: Conclusion extract - Onnara She - Gendered language in Japan
A critical evaluation of gendered language in Japanese and the implications that it holds for feminine stereotypes in Japan.
2020: Conclusion extract - Sign of the times
Despite perceptions of youth shallowness and apathetic political engagement, moral conservatism from government institutions has prompted a deeply engaged youth population.
2020: Annotated reference list - A fair go in a country on fire
How have the 2019/2020 bushfires shaped Australian’s perceptions of charitable donation across the socioeconomic divide?
2020: Annotated reference list - Big data meets big brother
Data tracking as part of a macro political agenda of social control, leading to the corruption of civil liberties and political polarisation.
2019: Empowering voices for change
The importance of Indigenous perspectives and technology.
2019: Saving the day, the ”gay” way!
An investigation into comic books’ capacity to act as a powerful conduit for change with regards to the acceptance and inclusion of the LGBTQI+ community.
2019: Eat. Sleep. Gender binary. Repeat.
An investigation into …Feminism’s attempt to deconstruct the gender binary and norms of the domestic sphere.
2019: Appropriation and misuse of indigenous art
An investigation into how the appropriation and misuse of indigenous art affects the inclusion of Aboriginal peoples identity and culture in Australian society.
2019: ‘The only fair is laissez-faire’
An investigation into the repudiation of capitalism within the youth of western democracies.
2019: Boys don’t cry
How the shackles of the patriarchy restrict masculine expression and hinder gender inclusivity. An investigation into the currently limited gendered terrain and a false sense of liberation.
2019: The sanitising of menstruation
An investigation into the social and cultural taboo of menstruation and its impact on gender identity in western society.
2019: The Perfect Political Persona
“Politicians are increasingly utilising social media as a campaigning platform, bypassing traditional media sources and hence, threatening democratic principles.”
2019: I am not a Feminist…..But.
An inquiry into the ‘corruption’ of feminism and if there is a need for a new title to continue purposeful discourse within the gender equality movement.
2019: Beyond the Helpless Victim
The misrepresentation of Afghan women in mainstream media has constructed harmful stereotypes that perpetuate exclusionary perceptions of an oppressed passive gender.
2019: We are the future
Despite the stereotypes of youth’s shallow digital social and political engagement, young people are a highly socially and culturally aware generation.
2019: Climate Crisis? What Climate Crisis?
Climate change action has been paralysed by political and social denialism fuelled by ignorance, apathy and misinformation.
2018: Killing me softly
A study into Western filmic discourse increasingly punishes femininity and represents the feminine as passive and tokenistic.
2018: 'Grab em' by the balls'
An investigation into how boys and young men can be effectively socialised into feminist values as allies.
2018: The class ceiling
An investigation into the perception of Australia as an egalitarian society, whilst exclusion and disadvantage continue to pervade the lowest sectors of Australia's socio-economic classes.
2018: Bleach it, don't preach it
A cultural investigation of the commodification of skin complexion by the media through the use of skin bleaching and tanning products.
2018: Racism is just a Pigment of your imagination
An investigation into how racial profiling stems from white privilege and its impact on social norms.
2018: Government and Indigenous Australians
An investigation into the nature and effects of Western Parliamentary values that prohibit equitable access to parliamentary processes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
2018: The female heroine in Scifi
An investigation into the construction of the female heroine in science-fiction films as an agent of feminist empowerment, progression or oppression.
2018: AKRASIA
An investigation into how apathy and fear in combination with changes in news media and capitalistic ideals have contributed to the erosion of civil liberties within Australia and the United States.
2018: Damsels in democratic distress
How agents of cultural transmission influence attitude formation towards gender-based representation in Australian Politics.
2018: Oh my COD! Racism remastered
An investigation into ethnic and cultural representation, discrimination and stereotypes in video games, and the perpetuation of these within the gaming community and industry.
2018: Handcuffed
An investigation into the changing importance of social stratification in Australia and South Asia and the impact of these different patterns on macro-level cultural perceptions of what it means to be "successful".