1,000 signatures reached
To: Prof B Dowton, VC: [email protected]; Dr M Parkinson, Chancellor: [email protected]; University Council: [email protected]; Academic Senate [email protected]
SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
Macquarie University is proposing to eliminate the discipline of Sociology. Under the change proposal outlined to the Faculty of Arts on 3 June 2025, the Sociology major in the Bachelor of Arts will be cut, along with the Master of Public and Social Policy, which is co-taught with Politics. In total, massive job cuts are proposed across the Faculty of Arts.
In Sociology alone, 11 of 14 academics are slated for redundancy, with the remaining staff redeployed to general interdisciplinary teaching. Alongside this, Politics will no longer be taught at Macquarie, leading to further loss of expertise. These cuts would effectively extinguish both these disciplines at Macquarie—ending more than 60 years of Sociology and Politics at the university. It is hard to imagine a time when these two disciplines were more urgently needed than now.
Other related disciplines are also under threat. The Gender Studies major is to be axed. The world-renowned Ancient History department will lose half its academic staff. Media Studies, Creative Arts, and Education face similar damage.
University management has claimed that only disciplines with declining enrolments are being targeted. This is false. Enrolments in the Sociology major, traditionally strong, have increased significantly with numbers equal to or exceeding those in Arts disciplines that have been excluded.
Why is this important?
We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics.
Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and most recognisable research discipline - removing it from the university's program is like losing a key piece from the jig saw puzzle of social science. Once it is gone, students wanting to master knowledge and develop research expertise about modern societies would be well advised to pursue their studies elsewhere.
The proposed changes mean that vital expertise in social and policy research and research design, including the mastery of quantitative and qualitative research methods and their application in evaluation methodologies and social impact analysis and policy evaluation will be irrevocably lost at Macquarie.
Research and teaching at Macquarie University is diverse, impactful, and highly employable. Critical areas taught and researched by sociologists at Macquarie include:
- Patterns, causes, and consequences of various kinds of social inequality
- The emergence and structure of intergenerational and other economic inequalities
- The significance and changing structures of care and systems of human services delivery, families and communities over time
- Societal impacts of transformations in work, economy, environment, and technology, including the social impacts of AI, energy transition, and the gig economy
- Childhood wellbeing
- Social cohesion, migration, and multicultural coexistence
- Social resilience, neighbourhoods, and healthy, caring communities
- Housing affordability & urban policy
- The rise of authoritarian and anti-democratic forces, voter behaviour and changing political norms
- Family formations and changing social norms
These are just some of the core topics currently covered by the discipline at Macquarie. In turn this loss will lead to reductions in the standing and ranking of the university, both nationally and internationally.
Sociologists at Macquarie are deeply committed to teaching and value the privilege of guiding students through their university journey. Macquarie students often remark on how sociology has opened their eyes to the world around them and alumni say how useful their sociology background has been in their careers. More than half of sociology students take units as electives to deepen other degrees, including in international relations, criminology, philosophy, journalism, psychology, law, and education. The unique value of Sociology lies in how it connects all aspects of social life, making it relevant and complementary to a wide array of fields.
Macquarie sociology graduates have gone on to impactful careers in many fields, including:
- Federal, state, and local government in research, policy making, program design and management roles
- The Human Rights Commission and NGOs like Alzheimer’s Australia
- In the private sector in corporate social responsibility roles and in social research consultancies
- Journalism and politics
Sociology at Macquarie has played a central role in Australian intellectual life since the 1960s. It was one of the founding disciplines of the university, born in an era of profound social change. Today, in 2025, we once again face rapid global upheaval, a resurgence of authoritarianism, and deepening inequality. Now more than ever, we need critical social scientists to help us understand and respond to these challenges.
To abolish the discipline of Sociology would see the university score an own goal. Think about the next steps, in which all the arts, humanities and social sciences are under threat.
Stand up for the continued importance of good social research and teaching in the increasingly complex and conflict ridden modern world.
Stand up for the discipline, support the staff and support student choice.
Stand up for the discipline, support the staff and support student choice.