Sociology Level 2000 courses

All Sociology 2000 level modules have the following entry requirement:

Students must have passed at least one of the Sociology 1000 level modules (SOCL1015 or SOCL1014 or SOCL1013) and have 54 points towards the degree.

At this level, students wishing to major in Sociology must complete SOCL2012 and at least one other module; we would prefer them to do two others. Students wishing to major in Industrial Sociology must complete SOCL2012 and either SOCL2008 or SOCL2004; we would prefer them to complete a further module in addition.

SOCL2012 - Sociological Theory

Module Description

This unit examines the classical and contemporary theoretical approaches to key sociological issues, such as social change and social inequality, in the varied contexts of coloniality and post-coloniality, nationalism and globalisation, and modernity and post-modernity. The unit aims to develop students theoretical and conceptual skills, as well as their ability to engage with empirical material and realities.

Schedule

First semester on the C timetable slot.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

Students must be eligible for a second level course. This module is compulsory for majors in Sociology and Industrial Sociology. Strongly recommended for students who have completed first level courses in other social sciences, such as Political Studies, International Relations, Social Anthropology, History and Geography and also for students studying Psychology and Philosophy.

Module Load

There are four lectures and one tutorial per week for fourteen weeks. Two essays and one three-hour exam.

Lecturer/s

Prof Ran Greenstein and Mr Paul Stewart

Coordinator

Mr Paul Stewart

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SOCL 2008 - Organizations, Movements and Change

Module Description

This course will examine current efforts by labour movements in South Africa to transform the nature of the capitalist firm and economic policy-making in the state. In this respect it will attempt to answer the question whether democratisation in South Africa is possible, or whether bureaucracy and conservatism will reassert themselves in the new context.

Do movements change institutions or do institutions change movements - or, is there a complex interplay between the two, in which there are possibilities for them to shape each other?

It is well known that social movements - political, youth, labour, and women - played a central role in the downfall of apartheid. Yet it is often assumed that once these movements had taken formal power they lose their strength and radicalism. This view echoes conventional wisdom in the social sciences that formal organisations and social movements are separate and irreconcilable. This course questions the conventional wisdom by focussing on the interplay between formal organisations and social movements in modern society. We will focus on theoretical attempts in Sociology to understand the relation between formal organisations and movements, including Max Weber s idea that bureaucracy is an inevitable feature of modern society, and Robert Michels corollary, the "iron law of oligarchy", as well as more contemporary efforts to understand the growth of social movements.

The course will examine these issues through a study of labour and other social movements and their attempts to democratise and humanise policy-making in the state.

Schedule

Second semester on the C timetable slot

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Students must be eligible for a second level course.

Module load

Four lectures and one tutorial per week; two essays and one three-hour exam.

Lecturer/s

Ms Prishani Naidoo

Coordinator

Mr Paul Stewart

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SOCL2004 - Family, Gender and Work

Module Description

This course explores the social construction of gender through an analysis of the connections between family and work. The course offers a focused approach to study different conceptualisations of gender and how gender intersects with class, ethnicity and race to shape identity formation.

The construction of gendered relations is often examined within the site of the ?home? and ?family? while other literatures explore the reproduction and transformation of gendered relations at the site of work. This course aims to explore processes of gendering through an analysis of the connections between family (traditionally ?reproduction?) and work (traditionally ?production?). In this way, the course offers a focused approach to study different conceptualisations of gender and analyse how gender intersects with class, ethnicity and race to shape identity formation. It also enables an examination of broader processes of restructuring of the arena of ?social reproduction? through changes in the global economy, welfare state, and livelihood strategies, including changing contexts of waged labour. In this way, the study of gender formation within and across household boundaries is broadened through contemporary theoretical debates positing the tensions between micro level social relations and macro level processes of change.

Schedule

Second semester on the E timetable slot

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Students must be eligible for a second level course.

Module load

Four lectures and one tutorial per week; one essay and one three-hour exam

Lecturer/s

Dr Bridget Kenny and Ms Khayaat Fakier

Coordinator

Mr Paul Stewart

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SOCL2001 - Contemporary Social Issues in Southern Africa II

Module Description

The course provides a wide-ranging engagement with contemporary social issues in Southern Africa, including religion, health and disease, land and development and demography.

Southern Africa faces a number of serious problems generated by poverty, inequality, violence and disease. The course focuses on these special problems, but also analyses state and civil society responses to them, including social policy, social movements, cultural and religious responses and debates about social reconstruction. The course provides a sociological understanding of these issues by means of an engagement with both classical and dynamic contemporary social theory produced internationally and in the region. In this way, the course provides both training in the core of the discipline for students wishing to major in Sociology, and a broad understanding of the contemporary social world for students wishing to supplement their training in diverse fields like journalism, social work, law, development, town planning, psychology and community development, and the performing arts, amongst others.

The course is taught by a team of experienced teachers who are experts in their respective fields. Students will be able to choose options within the course which suits their particular interests (including amongst others Demography & Populations Studies and Land Reform in Southern Africa). These will be united by common themes in tutorials and writing assignments, both of which will be designed to facilitate practical and skills-based engagement with contemporary and relevant social problems.

Schedule

Second semester on the C timetable slot

Prerequisites and co-requisites

Students must be eligible for a second level course.

Module load

Four lectures and one tutorial per week; two tests one essay and one three-hour exam

Lecturer/s

Dr Samuel Kariuki, Professor Clifford Odimegwu, Mr Paul Germond and Dr Terry-Ann Selikow

Coordinator

Mr Paul Stewart

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