21603 Advocacy and Social Change
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Spring 202621603 Overview
- University of Technology Sydney
- Spring 2026
- Management
- Undergraduate Bachelor of Management subject
- Online input weeks, weekly tutorials
- Assessed by three tasks
What the subject is about
Advocacy and Social Change at the University of Technology Sydney studies how ordinary people, community groups, charities, unions and social movements try to move the institutions whose decisions shape their lives.
- Assessed by An individual advocacy contest report (30%), a group public action presentation (30%) and an individual personal advocacy project (40%).
- Key step Starting the contest report from the reading for one of the three Week 3 theories, which the Week 3 overview says you will fail without.
- Do first Email the coordinator a short outline of your issue, your decision-maker and your intended approach before drafting.
What you get in the full 21603 Study & Assessment Guide
- 14 chapters, 76 pages — every assessed topic, week by week
- 37 original practice questions, most with model answers
- 14 worked examples, solved the way 21603 marks
- 27 computed figures, redrawn from the course’s own numbers
- Before-you-submit checklist for the Assessment 3 (40%) — what markers reward, what costs marks
Free on this page: assessment table, chapter map, one worked example, key terms, FAQ. The rest is in the full study & assessment guide.
How 21603 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Advocacy Contest Report | 30% | Individual report or essay of 800 to 1,000 words, excluding references, examining a current economic, social or environmental justice issue through one of the three Week 3 theories. Due 31 August, 11:59pm, on the assignment page; the schedule and tutorial slides list 28 August. |
| Assessment 2: Public Action Presentation | 30% | Group work for 4 to 6 students: an 8 to 12 minute presentation on a public event the group attended, plus a group discussion, delivered in Week 9 or 11, with the slide deck submitted as a PDF. |
| Assessment 3: Personal Advocacy Project | 40% | Individual portfolio: a 1,000 to 1,500 word report plus two pieces of advocacy communication of about one page each, one for a public audience and one for a decision-maker. Due 2 November, 11:59pm. |
Weights, formats and due dates come from each task’s Canvas assignment page. Canvas pages disagree on Assessment 1: its assignment page gives 31 August at 11:59pm, while the teaching schedule and the tutorial slides give 28 August. The Week 4 and Week 5 tutorial slides also list three submissions for Assessment 2 that its assignment page does not show: an individual confirmation of the event by 14 September, the group slide deck the day before the presentation, and an individual peer review the day after. Every brief states that work not meeting its requirements is treated as not meeting the criteria, and the report carries a penalty of up to 30% for falling outside 800 to 1,000 words.
Assessment structure
What other students are asking about 21603
- Where can I find lecture notes or study guides for 21603 at UTS?
- The 21603 study guide in AskSia Library covers Advocacy and Social Change in 14 chapters, with the assessment table, a chapter-by-chapter topic map, key terms and a worked example, free to read on this page.
- Is there a final exam in 21603?
- No final exam is listed in the offering this AskSia Library guide is built from; 21603 is assessed by Assessment 1: Advocacy Contest Report 30%, Assessment 2: Public Action Presentation 30%, Assessment 3: Personal Advocacy Project 40%.
- What does 21603 cover on systemic advocacy in modern australia?
- In AskSia Library's 21603 guide, the Systemic Advocacy in Modern Australia chapter explains collective action after the Second World War, the neoliberal turn, quiet advocacy, combining insider and outsider work, digital and networked movements (Week 1).
- What does 21603 cover on civil society between market and state?
- In AskSia Library's 21603 guide, the Civil Society Between Market and State chapter explains the market, the state and civil society, what each sector does at its best and worst, defining civil society, civil society and democracy (Week 2).
- What does 21603 cover on dimensions of power and social capital?
- In AskSia Library's 21603 guide, the Dimensions of Power and Social Capital chapter explains decision-making, agenda-setting and ideological power, bonding and bridging social capital, power over and power with (Week 2).
Current 21603 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 31 August, 11:59pm | Assessment 1: Advocacy Contest Report due | Date on the assignment page; the schedule and tutorial slides list 28 August. |
| 28 September and 12 October | Assessment 2: group presentations in tutorials | Week 9 and Week 11 sessions, as set by the presentation schedule. |
| 2 November, 11:59pm | Assessment 3: Personal Advocacy Project due | Monday after the second StuVac week; ideally one PDF, with a video or animation piece uploaded as a media file. |
Dates are as published in the Canvas assignment pages, the teaching and learning schedule and the presentation schedule for the Spring 2026 offering. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What 21603 covers
21603 runs over the Spring 2026 semester. Week 1 defines systemic advocacy and traces its history in Australia, Week 2 covers power, the three sectors, power mapping and systems change, Week 3 the three theories of policy change, Week 4 campaign strategy and tactics, Week 5 framing and messaging, Week 6 media, Week 7 elite-focussed advocacy and Week 8 community-based advocacy.
The mark comes from three tasks weighted 30%, 30% and 40%.
Defining Systemic Advocacy
the working definition, individual advocacy and public education, a five-part scholarly definition, cooperative and confrontational, insider and outsider approaches (Week 1)A short definition with sharp edges
The subject defines advocacy as people acting together to get an institution’s decision-makers to do something about an issue. That simple sentence rules a lot out.
- The working definition of advocacy
- Individual advocacy and public education
- The five-part scholarly definition
- Advocacy versus fundraising
- Cooperative and confrontational stances
- Insider and outsider strategies
Systemic Advocacy in Modern Australia
collective action after the Second World War, the neoliberal turn, quiet advocacy, combining insider and outsider work, digital and networked movements (Week 1)Advocacy behind everyday rights
Weekends, paid leave and a minimum wage did not arrive by accident.
- Rights won through campaigning
- Post-war collective action
- The neoliberal turn
- Quiet advocacy and funding tension
- Combining inside and outside tracks
- Digital and networked campaigns
Civil Society Between Market and State
the market, the state and civil society, what each sector does at its best and worst, defining civil society, civil society and democracy (Week 2)A map of who does what
Week 2 asks how democracies like Australia are organised.
- Advocacy in liberal democracies
- The market sector
- The state sector
- Civil society as a third sector
- Defining civil society organisations
- Civil society and democracy
Dimensions of Power and Social Capital
decision-making, agenda-setting and ideological power, bonding and bridging social capital, power over and power with (Week 2)Power is more than giving orders
Week 2 asks two questions every advocate faces: who can give us what we want, and what kind of power can we build to make them act?
- Power as a resource
- Lukes’ three faces of power
- Agenda-setting and advocacy
- Bonding social capital
- Bridging social capital
- Power over and power with
Power Mapping a Campaign
where mapping sits in campaign strategy, the influence and support axes, the key steps, research questions, cost of action and cost of inaction (Week 2)From who has power to who can help
Week 2 introduces power mapping as the practical end of all the theory about power. Once a group knows its goal, it has to pin down the person who can grant it and then work out who that person pays attention to.
- Where mapping fits in a campaign
- The support and influence scales
- Naming people, not organisations
- Unknowns as research questions
- Theorising a path to the target
- Cost of action and inaction
Advocating within Systems: Six Conditions
what a system is, policies, practices and resource flows, relationships and power dynamics, mental models, explicit to implicit levels (Week 2)Problems that outlast programs
Week 2 asks why so many well-meant programs leave the underlying problem untouched.
- What a system is
- Policies, practices and resource flows
- Relationships and power dynamics
- Mental models
- Explicit to implicit levels
- Choosing a precise campaign ask
Multiple Streams Theory
problem, policy and politics streams, focusing events and indicators, policy windows, policy entrepreneurs, applying the guided task (Week 3)A theory about timing
Multiple Streams Theory, associated with Kingdon and Zahariadis, explains why an issue that has sat untouched for years can suddenly become law.
- The problem stream
- The policy stream
- The politics stream
- Policy windows
- Policy entrepreneurs
- The seven-step guided task
The Advocacy Coalition Framework
policy subsystems and actors, belief systems, the devil shift, pathways to policy change, mapping coalitions with the worksheet (Week 3)A theory built around alliances
The Advocacy Coalition Framework explains policy as the result of a contest between alliances.
- Policy subsystems and policy actors
- Coalitions formed on shared beliefs
- Deep core, policy core and secondary beliefs
- The devil shift and angel shift
- Five pathways to policy change
- Using the ACF worksheet
Social Construction of Target Populations
power and social construction, advantaged, contender, dependent and deviant populations, advocacy as reconstruction (Week 3)Why similar needs get different treatment
This theory, developed by Schneider and Ingram, explains why policy is generous to some groups and harsh on others.
- Target populations and policy design
- Political power and public image
- Advantaged, contenders, dependents, deviants
- Rewards and burdens by category
- Advocacy as reconstruction
- The guided SCTP task
Planning Campaign Strategy and Tactics
elements of an advocacy campaign, four tactical positions, advocacy strategies and tactics, the campaign plan in a page (Week 4)From ideas to a working plan
Week 4 turns the theory of the first three weeks into campaign practice.
- Seven elements of an advocacy campaign
- SMART objectives and specific targets
- Tactical positions after Clear and colleagues
- The six strategies of Gen and Wright
- Tactics and why they come last
- One-page plans and policy asks
Framing and Messaging Triangles
audiences and the persuadable middle, framing tasks and causal stories, values first, metaphors, the messaging triangle and rhetorical appeals (Week 5)Persuasion begins with who is listening
Week 5 treats communication as a core advocacy tool rather than an extra.
- Audiences and the persuadable middle
- What a frame does
- Diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing
- Causal stories and blame
- Values first and the negation trap
- Building and testing a messaging triangle
Media, Information and Advocacy
broadcast and social media, mechanisms of media power, media as interests, disinformation, writing a media release (Week 6)Two kinds of media
Week 6 compares broadcast media, where journalists and editors decide what reaches a mostly passive audience, with social platforms on which users make and share content themselves.
- Broadcast media and social platforms
- Six mechanisms of media power
- Planning goal, audience, message and messengers
- Disinformation and false claims
- Ownership, funding and bias
- Writing a media release
Elite-focussed Advocacy
principles of elite-focussed advocacy, philanthropy, lobbying and broadcast media, elite strategies, engaging with politicians (Week 7)Advocacy aimed at the top
Week 7 treats elite-focussed advocacy as the top-down half of a pair, with community-based advocacy as the bottom-up half.
- Top-down versus bottom-up advocacy
- Three principles of elite-focussed work
- Philanthropy, lobbying and broadcast media
- Elite strategies and tactics
- Pitching to a politician in five stages
- Planning a meeting with an adviser
Community-based Advocacy: Organising and Mobilising
principles of community-based advocacy, organising and mobilising, transactional and transformational participation, protest, supporter emails (Weeks 4 and 8)Power built from below
Week 8 closes the input weeks with the bottom-up counterpart to elite-focussed work.
- Three principles of community-based advocacy
- Mobilising versus organising
- Transactional and transformational participation
- Acts of citizenship and recognition
- Protest and non-violent direct action
- Writing supporter emails
It belongs to the undergraduate Bachelor of Management and is taught from the Management Discipline Group of the UTS Business School.
The focus throughout is systemic advocacy, meaning collective efforts to change laws, policies, norms and relationships of power, as distinct from casework for one person or campaigns that only inform the public.
How the weeks build
Week 1 sets out the definition and traces how Australian advocacy has changed since the post-war decades.
Week 2 looks at the conditions advocacy works within: the market, the state and civil society, several ways of thinking about power, the power mapping tool and the six conditions of systems change. Week 3 introduces three theories of policy change, Multiple Streams Theory, the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Social Construction of Target Populations.
Weeks 4 to 8 turn to practice, covering campaign elements, strategies and tactics, framing and messaging triangles, media, elite-focussed advocacy and community-based advocacy.
Each input week pairs online mini-lectures and readings with a tutorial built around a real Australian or New Zealand case.
How you are assessed
Three tasks make up the mark: an individual Advocacy Contest Report of 800 to 1,000 words worth 30%, a group Public Action Presentation worth 30% in which four to six students report on a public event they attended, and an individual Personal Advocacy Project worth 40% that pairs a 1,000 to 1,500 word report with two short pieces of advocacy communication.
How this guide is organised
Fourteen chapters follow the teaching order, each with an example written for this guide and practice items with answers.
A practice chapter and a chapter for the days before the final project is due close the book.
Worked example · free
Update the Kellmore power map when an unknown actor declares
- 1Move the chamber: its question mark goes and it shifts to the opposed side, keeping its high influence over the minister.
- 1Re-read the opposition: two influential actors now argue against the route, so the minister hears the case against it from more than one direction.
- 1Re-test the path: the route through the nurses’ branch and the local MP still stands, but the evidence it carries must now answer the chamber’s objection as well as the budget office’s.
- 1Set a research question: what exactly does the chamber object to, and who there could be spoken to? A concession on its concern might move it towards neutral.
Key terms
- Systemic Advocacy
- Collective, deliberate action that aims to change the laws, policies, norms or power relationships of an institution by influencing its decision-makers.
- Individual Advocacy
- Casework in which a professional such as a lawyer or social worker seeks a good outcome for one person in one situation.
- Civil Society
- The sphere of groups people form outside the market and the state, from charities and unions to clubs, faith groups and informal networks.
- Social Capital
- The trust, norms and networks among people that make coordinated action easier and can be drawn on as a resource.
- Power Map
- A campaign planning chart that places actors by how much influence they have over a decision-maker and how far they support the cause.
- Policy Window
- A moment when the problem, policy and politics streams come together and a decision on an issue becomes possible.
- Policy Entrepreneur
- A person or organisation that works to couple problems, solutions and political opportunity so that a preferred policy is adopted.
- Advocacy Coalition
- A group of policy actors who share core beliefs about an issue and coordinate to turn those beliefs into policy.
- Target Population
- The group of people a policy affects, whose public image and political power shape the benefits or burdens it receives.
- Messaging Triangle
- A communications tool with one central message held up by three supporting messages, each backed by its own evidence and stories.
- Issue Framing
- The way an issue is presented so that audiences see a particular problem, cause, responsible party and solution.
- Insider Strategy
- An approach that works through relationships with decision-makers and the formal institutions of the state, usually seeking incremental change.
- Community Organising
- A relational practice that builds leadership and trust within a community so its members can act together on shared concerns.
21603 FAQ
How is Advocacy and Social Change at UTS assessed?
Three tasks make up the mark. The Advocacy Contest Report is an individual piece of 800 to 1,000 words worth 30%. The Public Action Presentation is a group task worth 30%, delivered in Week 9 or Week 11. The Personal Advocacy Project is worth 40% and combines a report of 1,000 to 1,500 words with two short communication pieces, one aimed at the public and one at a decision-maker.
Which theory should I use for the advocacy contest report?
Choose one of the three Week 3 theories: Multiple Streams Theory, the Advocacy Coalition Framework or the Social Construction of Target Populations. The Week 3 overview says your analysis must begin from the required reading for the theory you pick, and that skipping this leads to a fail. Pick the lens that best explains your contest, then apply its concepts to the groups involved.
What counts as systemic advocacy in this subject?
Systemic advocacy is organised, collective action aimed at changing how an institution works: its laws, policies, norms or relationships of power. It targets the decision-makers who control those rules, whether in government, a company or a university. Helping one client through casework, or a campaign that only informs people and changes personal behaviour, falls outside the definition used here.
What happens in the public action presentation?
Your group of four to six attends a public event on a justice issue, such as a protest or community meeting, then gives an 8 to 12 minute presentation and joins a discussion with other groups. Marks are given equally for critical assessment of the event within its wider campaign, for teamwork and for spoken and visual communication. The PDF slide deck must include photographic evidence, citations and references.
What goes into the personal advocacy project?
You plan how an organisation or group might campaign on one economic, social or environmental justice issue. The report covers the context and conditions around the issue and the strategy you would use, and your two communication pieces, about one page each, go in as appendices or, for a video or animation, as a media file rather than a link: one for a public audience and one written directly to a decision-maker.
The template suggests an introduction framed like an executive summary.
Can I use generative AI in this subject?
Yes, as a learning aid: to explore topics, deepen your understanding of a framework or see different ways to apply it. The subject rules out using it to write your assessments, to paraphrase sources or to translate content, and its output may never be cited. Spelling and grammar tools are allowed. Both written tasks need a cover-page statement on how you used AI.
How do I get feedback before submitting?
Email the subject coordinator early with a single paragraph or a handful of bullet points covering your plan, for example your issue, the decision-maker and the approach or theory you intend to use. Full drafts are not reviewed, so classmates and UTS HELPS are the suggested readers for those. Because there are no do-overs, guidance is most useful before you write.
Questions students ask in each 21603 chapter
- What is the difference between systemic and individual advocacy?
- Individual advocacy is casework for one person, such as a lawyer pressing for a fair result in a single dispute. Systemic advocacy aims at the institution’s rules, policies or norms, so a win changes outcomes for everyone those rules cover. The subject is about the second kind. Chapter 01 · Defining Systemic Advocacy
- What was the golden age of collective action in Australia?
- The lecture uses the phrase for roughly the 1940s to the 1970s, when the welfare state grew, unions were strong and many membership organisations formed. Campaigns were highly visible, and groups judged their strength by how many people turned up to meetings, rallies, strikes and demonstrations. Chapter 02 · Systemic Advocacy in Modern Australia
- What are the three sectors of society in advocacy studies?
- The subject divides democratic societies into the market, the state and civil society. The market covers profit-making business, the state covers government and public institutions, and civil society covers groups people form voluntarily, such as charities, unions and clubs. The sectors overlap, and most advocacy campaigns originate in civil society. Chapter 03 · Civil Society Between Market and State
- What are Lukes’ three dimensions of power?
- Steven Lukes distinguishes decision-making power, the ability to act or block action; agenda-setting power, control over which issues are taken up; and ideological power, influence over what people believe is possible. The subject focuses mostly on the second, since advocacy typically tries to move the agenda of those who decide. Chapter 04 · Dimensions of Power and Social Capital
- What is a power map used for in an advocacy campaign?
- It helps a group decide whom to work on and through whom. By placing every relevant actor according to their backing for the cause and their weight with the decision-maker, the map reveals likely allies, likely blockers and the gaps in what the group knows, before any tactics are chosen. Chapter 05 · Power Mapping a Campaign
- What are the six conditions of systems change?
- Three are explicit: policies, practices and resource flows. Two are semi-explicit: relationships and connections, and power dynamics. The sixth, mental models, is implicit. Kania, Kramer and Senge describe them as the conditions that hold a problem in place. Advocates use the list to work out which part of a system their campaign is trying to shift and what else might resist that shift. Chapter 06 · Advocating within Systems: Six Conditions
- What are the three streams in Multiple Streams Theory?
- The problem stream holds conditions people want fixed, the policy stream holds proposed solutions, and the politics stream holds the political context, such as who governs and the public mood. The theory treats them as largely independent until a policy entrepreneur links them during a window of opportunity. Chapter 07 · Multiple Streams Theory
- How do I use the Advocacy Coalition Framework in a report?
- Begin by defining the policy subsystem, then identify the actors and group them into at least two coalitions according to what they believe. Describe each coalition’s beliefs, resources and tactics, judge which one currently dominates, and explain which pathway to change seems most likely. The subject’s worksheet sets these steps out in order. Chapter 08 · The Advocacy Coalition Framework
- What is the social construction of target populations?
- It is a public policy theory from Schneider and Ingram that explains why governments treat groups differently. A target population is the group a policy acts upon, and the theory argues that its political power and its public image together shape whether it receives benefits, burdens or a mix of both. Chapter 09 · Social Construction of Target Populations
- What are the elements of an advocacy campaign?
- The subject lists seven: an objective, a target, a strategy, a message, resources, tactics and reflection. They depend on one another, so a vague objective or an unnamed decision-maker weakens everything below it. The campaign plan template provided on Canvas puts all of them on a single page. Chapter 10 · Planning Campaign Strategy and Tactics
- Why do advocates say the audience is never the general public?
- A country of millions contains people who will always agree, people who never will and people still deciding. Talking to everyone at once wastes scarce campaign time on the first two groups. Naming a precise audience, usually the decision-maker and those who influence that person, lets a campaign choose the values, frame and messengers most likely to move them. Chapter 11 · Framing and Messaging Triangles
- Why does broadcast media still matter for advocacy?
- Politicians and other decision-makers follow newspapers, radio and television closely because coverage shapes public opinion. A story that runs in an outlet they watch can push an issue up their priority list, and appearing in that coverage gives advocates reach and legitimacy that a post on their own page rarely achieves. Chapter 12 · Media, Information and Advocacy
- What makes advocacy elite-focussed rather than community-based?
- Elite-focussed advocacy goes straight to people who hold formal power and works through institutions such as parliament, the courts and the media. Community-based advocacy instead builds power among the people affected and relies on their participation. The subject describes the first as top-down and the second as bottom-up. Chapter 13 · Elite-focussed Advocacy
- What are the principles of community-based advocacy?
- There are three. The work centres on a community of place, interest or identity that takes part in key decisions; it builds social capital among members and then puts it to use; and its activity is decentralised, with volunteers acting fairly independently while the organisation supports them rather than directing every step. Chapter 14 · Community-based Advocacy: Organising and Mobilising
How to prepare for the assessments
Treat each input week as a toolkit you will need later, not a topic to finish and forget. After Week 1, write a one-line test for whether something is systemic advocacy and apply it to any campaign you read about. After Week 2, draw a quick power map of an issue you care about and note which of the six conditions it is trying to shift.
In Week 3, read all three theory readings, then choose the one whose concepts best explain your report’s contest before you search for evidence. From Week 4, keep a campaign log for the issue you plan to use in Assessment 3, recording its objective, target, strategy, messages, resources and tactics, and add a messaging triangle after Week 5. Attend the public event for Assessment 2 with that same checklist in hand.
When an idea will not settle, ask Sia to test your issue statement, power map or triangle against the criteria one at a time.
Your AI Management tutor for 21603
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