Social Issues in South Africa
Credit-Bearing
Undergraduate |
Sociology 144 is presented in the second semester of the first year. This module builds on Sociology 114, which has the key objective to further introduce students to the disciplines of Sociology and Social Anthropology. The main theme of this module is social issues – broadly seen as matters that can only be explained by factors outside an individual’s personal control and immediate social environment, which affect many individuals in a society. The central aim of this module is to also provide some insight on how South Africans understand and deal with social issues. It features a comparative analysis of social issues across historical periods and social groups by gender, race/ethnicity, social class, and culture. The sociology focus is presented in the third term, followed by the Social Anthropology focus in the fourth term. Both sections introduce students to key South African social issues as selected by the particular lecturers from year to year, and might include themes around education, health, HIV/AIDS, religion or other issues. After completion of the module, students would have a more distinct understanding of how both the methodological and social theory basis of the two disciplines differently inform an understanding of social issues in South Africa. Students would accordingly be able to make a more informed decision about selecting either Sociology or Social Anthropology as a major from the second year onwards. |
Poverty, Inequality & Development
Credit-Bearing
Undergraduate |
Debates on the causes and meaning of poverty, inequality and development; critical thinking on underdevelopment and ‘sustainable development’; development initiatives in South Africa today. |
Race
Credit-Bearing
Undergraduate |
Sociological understanding of race. The contemporary significance of race in South Africa. Race and social identities. Race and inequalities |
Community Development
Credit-Bearing
Undergraduate |
The objective of this module is to equip students with the essential knowledge, insights, skills and mindset in the context of participatory, human-centred and sustainable micro-level development in South Africa. The theoretical focus is strongly supportive of work done in “rural sociology” and the “sociology of development”, as well as in the interdisciplinary field of “community development”. This is intrinsically linked to ideas of social theorists who wrote on community, social cohesion and development or social change. The methodological approach and applications focus strongly on qualitative- and action research. The learning process is directed by a service learning approach, which aims to amalgamate social- and community development theory, as well as “communitybased” research methodology, with practical experience. In short, service learning aims to give students the opportunity to apply abstract academic concepts and principles to a real life situation while learning new skills, developing new values and attitudes and at the same time providing a service to a group of people, based on the idea of a reciprocal learning experience for both students and the particular community members they are engaging with. |
The Anthropology of Development
Credit-Bearing
Undergraduate |
The critical deconstruction of development as discourse and intervention, with attention to unintended consequences as power relations. |
