PhD studies

Sociology Department
Professor Ran Greenstein, PhD advisor, CBE 413, 011-717-4455
Ran.Greenstein@wits.ac.za

Faculty of Humanities
Faculty Officer, Postgraduate SWE 4B 717-4002
Faculty Assistant, Postgraduate SWE 4C 717-4007

The PhD programme in sociology combines individual work, supervision and structured training. During their first six months of the programme, students are expected to complete a research proposal. A series of workshops, mandatory for all entering students, serves to guide them through that stage, by providing a forum for discussion, exchange of ideas and experiences, and joint progress towards completion of the task. This stage culminates with a seminar in which all candidates present their proposals, before formal submission to the Faculty of the Humanities.

This proposal workshops are complemented by monthly seminars, open to all students in the programme, aiming to address issues of theoretical concern across individual topics and fields. Students are encouraged to take part in other departmental seminars and activities. We aim to provide opportunities for tutoring, marking, and teaching, as part of the overall training towards an academic career.  

Individual work with supervisors can be supplemented with consultation with staff members across the sociology department and the school of social sciences, to encourage broad intra- and inter-disciplinary interests and expertise. 

The Sociology staff are experts in a wide range of fields, and the areas of possible PhD supervision include, but are not restricted to:

• anarchism, syndicalism and socialism
• comparative politics and historical research
• environmental sociology
• economic and political development
• gender and work
• global institutions and economic restructuring
• health sociology
• higher education reform
• labour and left history
• labour movements in southern Africa
• militarisation
• political sociology
• rural development, land and agrarian reform
• religious movements
• social theory and political philosophy
• the social aspects of HIV/AIDS
• the social and political theory
• the sociology of disability
• the sociology of gender
• the sociology of race and identity
• the sociology of the media
• the sociology of policy, and policy analysis
• South African macro-economic policy
• South Asian studies
• urban and rural social movements
• work and employment

If you are interested in PhD studies, the first step is to contact the postgraduate coordinator, outlining your academic background and area of interest. PhD admissions take place four times a year.