Ai Matsumoto is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Sociology.

I’m from Japan, and we don’t get many opportunities to learn about gender discrimination and LGBTQI communities in my country. Through taking sociology subjects, I came to learn about problems that I never understood before, and what kind of hardships people are made to face in the current social system.

Majoring in Sociology has really helped me to have a well-rounded understanding of society and be aware of the social structures and information I take in on a daily basis, and where it comes from. It’s also allowed me to develop a deep understanding of society in terms of poverty, gender discrimination and other socially and systematically constructed discriminations.

It has been interesting to learn how our social structures influence our views and actions. In one subject, I learnt about how ideal body images presented through mass media are different across countries, and how people unconsciously conform to ideals and make judgements based on a whole range of external factors.

My favourite subject in sociology so far has been Living in a Risk Society, which is a six-week intensive subject. We learned about risks that exist in our everyday lives and gained a better understanding of how society and individuals prevent and deal with risks.

I am hoping to study a Master of Clinical Audiology next, and I am confident that my skills in critical thinking and analysis with a broad perspective will be useful in this context.