UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

Sociology Masters Degree

Students may choose from four fields of study:

General Sociology,
Industrial/Economic Sociology
Development Sociology
Health Sociology

Students can do the degree full-time or part-time. Students may also choose to do the MA by coursework and research or by Dissertation (research MA). Courses should ideally be taken in the first half of the year so that the second half can be devoted to work on the research report. This is not always possible, and you can of course also obtain MA credits from courses offered in the second half of the year.

The department reserves the right to stipulate specific courses - and, where necessary, extra courses - for any Masters student deemed to have inadequate background. MA students who want to do a course specifically designated as an Honours course may do so provided they obtain permission from the co-ordinator and the lecturer concerned. The expectations from them will be higher than from the Honours students.

MA students may not take a course at the Masters level if they have taken that course at the Honours level.

MA students have to prepare a research proposal, which is accepted by both the Departmental Higher Degree Committee and by the Faculty of the Humanities' Graduate Studies Committee. This can be a long process and requires intensive work with the student's supervisor. The draft research report proposal should be ready for submission to the Departmental Committee by the end of the first semester. wait for new dates.

The MA will be assessed as follows:

Course work: 50%
Research Report: 50%

If you do the MA part-time you are expected to complete it over two years. You should aim to finish the coursework in the first year and then do the research report in the second year.

Admission Criteria

Students who do well in the Honours degree may apply to be admitted to the MA degree. Admission is competitive, and the department has limited places in its programme. Admission to Masters requires a minimum mark of 70% in Honours for Wits students, or the equivalent from another institution. Students achieving between 68-69% may be interviewed, space permitting.

Students who did not do the Sociology Honours programme may be required to provide evidence that their training is equivalent to that offered in our Honours degree programme. If deemed necessary, they may be asked to take additional courses or repeat Honours-level courses in order to cover gaps in their earlier training. Decisions on this matter will be determined on an individual basis, considering each case on its own merits.

Compulsory Modules for MA by Coursework

Students normally do 3 modules, plus 1 research report. The following modules are compulsory:

All Sociology Students

SOCL7050 Advanced Research Methods

This module will be divided into two parts: research design and proposal writing.

The first part of the course aims to allow students to formulate, clarify and focus their research questions; understand and develop explanatory models for their projects, and become familiar with various research designs. As an outcome of this part, students will be required to prepare draft proposals for their Masters research reports (or PhD dissertations), within the framework of the course but working together with individual supervisors. This course also covers different data collection methods through a series of assignments.

Economic / Industrial Sociology Students

SOCL7010 Economic Sociology: Institutions, Capitalism & Market

All Economic / Industrial Sociology students must take this course if they have not done so at Honours level.

This course will introduce students to the main paradigms that shape modern economic policy debates and positions. Not an economics course, it will, nonetheless, provide post-graduate students in the social sciences with a solid grounding in economic and social theory in a manner that will enable effective policy advocacy and critique. Sophisticated theoretical discussion, plus detailed reading, plus policy analysis, forms the core of the course, which is designed to give students an in-depth understanding of the capitalist system, and its limitations. This course does not require any prior knowledge of economics or economic theory.

Development Sociology Students

SOCL7009 Development as Ideology and Practice

All Development Sociology students must take this course if they have not done so at Honours level.

What is ''development''? The course will explore the different meanings of the term, review the theoretical debates on ''development,'' and examine elements of the policy and practice of ''development.''

Health Sociology Students

SOCL7017 HIV/Aids in Context

This is an inter-disciplinary course that examines the sociological, historical and anthropological questions relevant to HIV/AIDS as a global pandemic. The aim of the course is to equip learners with the skills and the insights to better understand the complexity of the epidemic in order to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the efforts to combat its devastating effects. It provides a general overview of the facts, debates and controversies surrounding the current HIV/AIDS crisis, with a specific focus on developing countries, including South Africa.

SOCL7042 The Sociology of Health and Illness

An increasing recognition that professionals other than medical practitioners need to play a more significant role in formal and informal health care structures has contributed to the growing demand for experts in the Sociology of health and Illness. This course aims to fill in the gap in the training of such experts by providing a systematic and comprehensive introduction to the core concepts and current debates in the Sociology of Health & Illness. It focuses on the theoretical as well as the practical aspects in both the global and the South African contexts.