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Programme: MSocSci (Sociology) (Coursework)

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Code Faculty Department
01253031 Faculty of Humanities Department: Sociology
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 1 year Total credits: 180 NQF level:  09

Admission requirements

  1. Honours degree in Sociology or honours degree in Industrial Sociology or relevant honours degree
  2. A cumulative weighted average of at least 70% for the honours degree
  3. Research component passed at honours level
  4. An admissions essay may be required

Note: Additional modules may be required in order to reach the desired level of competency

Additional requirements

  • SOC 751 and SOC 756 or equivalent modules in research methodology and social theory are required.
  • Prospective students may have to submit an admissions essay or sit for an examination or do additional modules to enable them to reach the desired level of study.
  • An acceptable level of proficiency in English or Afrikaans is required.
  • Students with an average between 68% and 70% could be considered for admission under special conditions. Apply to the programme manager.

Other programme-specific information

  • Choose one of the following core modules: SOC  857, SOC 859 or SOC 860.
  • Choose one elective module.
  • SOC 857, SOC 859 and SOC 860 may by chosen as elective when not already selected as a core module.
  • Not all modules are offered in any given year. Please contact the programme manager in this regard.

Core modules

SOC 895    Mini-dissertation: Sociology       

SOC 812    Advanced research methodology     

Select One of the following:

SOC 857    Globalisation and development  

SOC 859    Identity, culture and society                  

SOC 860    Civil society and state       

Elective modules

One of the following:

GNR 861    Gender and the politics of knowledge                                  

SOC 830    Managing Conflict

SOC 857    Globalisation and development**    

SOC 858    The sociology of South Africa      

SOC 859    Identity, culture and society**              

SOC 860    Civil society and state**                      

SOC 861    Gender, family and households      

SOC 862    Sociology organisations    

Note:
**When not already selected as a core module

 

Core modules

  • Module content:

    This module aims to build upon students’ prior training (at honours level) in research methods to interrogate the methodological and epistemological debates of social science research. The module provides students with a deep understanding of research concepts, ethics, and approaches as well as the key elements of the research process within qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches.  During the semester students will develop the skills and background knowledge needed to plan, organise and disseminate their own sound research projects. Assessments will include tasks linked to the seminars as well as an exam.

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  • Module content:

    This module examines theoretical explanations of globalisation. In doing so its primary goal is to explore ways in which capital in the era of the end of history is compelling us to rethink sociology as a science of the present. The module begins with theoretical discussions in order to lay the ground for talk about development as a process of incorporating (in this case) Africa into the global world system. The module further studies changes brought about by globalisation to the nation-state system, work and gender relations. It also examines nationalism and ethnicity as specific features of capitalism in the era of the end of history. 

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  • Module content:

    This module focuses on the relationship between the personal and social and how these two domains are intricately related, simultaneously implying sameness and difference in the process of identification. It considers how societal structures and institutions shape and construct identities historically, whilst being shaped by individual agency, in turn. Human experience reveals a range of cross-cutting affiliations, based on ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexuality and generation, amongst others, implying a multiplicity in belonging, suggesting a relational process, rather than an essence. The social, contingent and constructed nature of identities is highlighted against experiences of dislocation within a context of globalisation.

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  • Module content:

    This module explores critical perspectives and current debates on the relationship between state, civil society, and political economy. How is state power organised and exercised? How are economic resources distributed and market dynamics structured? How do social movements and other forms of collective action shape political and economic power relations? ‘State, civil society and political economy’ explores these questions with a specific focus on the global South, and with an orientation towards understanding sociohistorical processes of change across multiple geographical scales – from the global, via the regional and national, to the local.

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  • Module content:

    A mini-dissertation of approximately 80 typed pages, based on independent research conducted by the student on an approved topic in the field of sociology, industrial sociology or gender studies, is written under the guidance of a supervisor.

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Elective modules

  • Module content:

    This module explores the politics of feminist knowledge production across a range of geopolitical contexts. The politics of making feminist theories and narratives are debated via an exploration of concepts such as coloniality, intersectionality and epistemic injustice. The module also considers the links between epistemic frames and lived experiences of oppression and introduces students to the central ideas of feminist theoretical approaches such as: decolonial feminism, neo-materialism, social constructionism and transnational feminism. The module focuses throughout on the gendered and racialised politics of knowledge production.

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  • Module content:

    This module focuses on reviewing and interrogating sociological theories of and explanations for conflict in the workplace, with specific emphasis on issues such as strike violence.

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  • Module content:

    This module examines theoretical explanations of globalisation. In doing so its primary goal is to explore ways in which capital in the era of the end of history is compelling us to rethink sociology as a science of the present. The module begins with theoretical discussions in order to lay the ground for talk about development as a process of incorporating (in this case) Africa into the global world system. The module further studies changes brought about by globalisation to the nation-state system, work and gender relations. It also examines nationalism and ethnicity as specific features of capitalism in the era of the end of history. 

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  • Module content:

    This module takes a sociological approach to understanding and interrogating South African society. It begins by looking at some of the debates and discussions about Sociology in South Africa. It then reviews and debates key issues in order to understand the political economy of Apartheid. Finally it looks at some key debates associated with post-apartheid South Africa.

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  • Module content:

    This module focuses on the relationship between the personal and social and how these two domains are intricately related, simultaneously implying sameness and difference in the process of identification. It considers how societal structures and institutions shape and construct identities historically, whilst being shaped by individual agency, in turn. Human experience reveals a range of cross-cutting affiliations, based on ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexuality and generation, amongst others, implying a multiplicity in belonging, suggesting a relational process, rather than an essence. The social, contingent and constructed nature of identities is highlighted against experiences of dislocation within a context of globalisation.

    View more

  • Module content:

    This module explores critical perspectives and current debates on the relationship between state, civil society, and political economy. How is state power organised and exercised? How are economic resources distributed and market dynamics structured? How do social movements and other forms of collective action shape political and economic power relations? ‘State, civil society and political economy’ explores these questions with a specific focus on the global South, and with an orientation towards understanding sociohistorical processes of change across multiple geographical scales – from the global, via the regional and national, to the local.

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  • Module content:

    This course takes a macro-level perspective and introduces students to scholarly accounts of the changing historical trajectory of gender relations, marriage as an institution, family forms, and household composition and livelihoods and the implications thereof for understanding gender as a social relation. As such, it adopts a historical and comparative perspective, with a specific focus on Southern Africa. In addition, the module explores the role and impact of supra-state organisations, the state and the market in mediating and regulating gender identities and relations, as well as family and household forms, against the backdrop of the nation-state form and in the context of capitalism and neo-liberalism particularly. 

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  • Module content:

    The module will allow students to engage with the theoretical framework/s and concepts of the sociology of organisations. Themes that will be covered include the changing nature of organisations, how the latter has been structured by different forms of capitalist accumulation and labour processes, changing organisational forms, organisational cultures, gender, power, conflict and leadership.

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