Code | Faculty | Department |
---|---|---|
01130064 | Faculty of Humanities | Department: Sociology |
Credits | Duration | NQF level |
---|---|---|
Minimum duration of study: 3 years | Total credits: 374 | NQF level: 07 |
The increasing prominence of people in the workplace who possess the in-depth analytical skill and knowledge with respect to the evermore exacting challenge of the contemporary globalised world of work – both inside of South Africa and internationally – means that there is a growing demand for Industrial Sociology and Industrial Sociologists. This programme aims to equip graduates with understanding, critical knowledge and the thinking abilities to respond to the many problems and challenges of and in the workplace, in a proactive, creative and useful fashion.
Important information for all prospective students for 2024
The admission requirements below apply to all who apply for admission to the University of Pretoria with a National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Independent Examination Board (IEB) qualifications. Click here for this Faculty Brochure.
Minimum requirements | ||
Achievement level | ||
English Home Language or English First Additional Language | APS (Grade 11) | APS (NSC/IEB completed) |
5 | 30 | 28 |
* To retain admission, candidates must obtain an APS of at least 28 in the NSC/IEB.
Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the APS.
Applicants currently in Grade 12 must apply with their final Grade 11 (or equivalent) results.
Applicants who have completed Grade 12 must apply with their final NSC or equivalent qualification results.
Please note that meeting the minimum academic requirements does not guarantee admission.
Successful candidates will be notified once admitted or conditionally admitted.
Unsuccessful candidates will be notified after 30 June.
Applicants should check their application status regularly on the UP Student Portal at click here.
Applicants with qualifications other than the abovementioned should refer to the Brochure: Undergraduate Programme Information 2024: Qualifications other than the NSC and IEB, available at click here.
International students: Click here.
Transferring students
A transferring student is a student who, at the time of applying at the University of Pretoria (UP) is/was a registered student at another tertiary institution. A transferring student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance. Students who have been dismissed from other institutions due to poor academic performance will not be considered for admission to UP.
Closing dates: Same as above.
Returning students
A returning student is a student who, at the time of application for a degree programme is/was a registered student at UP, and wants to transfer to another degree at UP. A returning student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance.
Note:
Closing date for applications from returning students
Unless capacity allows for an extension of the closing date, applications from returning students must be submitted before the end of August via your UP Student Centre.
Students who are deemed to be at risk of their level of academic literacy are compelled to take ALL 110 and ALL 125.
Students who are deemed NOT to be at risk of their level of academic literacy are compelled to take language modules to the value of 12 credits from the list of language modules (see Academic literacy).
ABV 320 – may be selected in any year of study, but preferably in the first year.
ABR 311 – May be selected in any year of study, but preferably in the second year.
Choose one of the following disciplines and select two semester modules at each year level. Modules not taken as core modules can also be selected as elective modules:
Additional elective module options
Select modules to the value of at least 48-64 credits from the list of disciplines above or from the following additional electives:
Academic literacy
Students with an achievement level of 5 or 6 or 7 for English Home Language or an achievement level of 6 or 7 for English First Additional Language may apply for an exemption from ALL 110 and ALL 125 or the foreign qualification equivalence, as per the conversion table.
Students who are deemed NOT to be at risk of their level of academic literacy are compelled to take language modules to the value of 12 credits from the other departments.
Students with an achievement level of 4 and below for English Home Language or an achievement level of 5 and below for English First Additional Language or the foreign qualification equivalence must register for ALL 110 and ALL 125.
Department of English
ENG 110 Introduction to literature in English (I)
ENG 120 Introduction to literature in English (II)
ENG 118 English for specific purposes
Departement Afrikaans
AFR 110 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde
AFR 120 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde
AFR 114 Afrikaans vir sprekers van ander tale (I)
Department of African Languages
NDE 110 Introduction to isiNdebele grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take isiNdebele in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
ZUL 110 IsiZulu for beginners
ZUL 111 Introduction to isiZulu grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take isiZulu in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
SEP 110 Sepedi for beginners
SEP 111 Introduction to Sepedi Grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take Sepedi in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
STW 110 Setswana for beginners
STW 111 Introduction to Setswana Grammar – Capita selecta
*Students who want to take Setswana in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
Department of Modern European Languages
DTS 104 German for beginners
DTS 113 German: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 German
FRN 104 French for beginners
FRN 113 French: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 French
SPN 101 Spanish for beginners
SPN 102 Spanish for beginners
PTG 101 Portuguese for beginners
Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures
HEB 110 Hebrew
LAT 110 Latin
GRK 110 Greek
Minimum credits: 132
Electives, where applicable, must be at least 54 credits in total.
ABV 320 – May be selected in any year of study, but preferably in the first year.
ABR 311 – May be selected in any year of study, but preferably in the second year.
Module content:
Find, evaluate, process, manage and present information resources for academic purposes using appropriate technology.
Module content:
Apply effective search strategies in different technological environments. Demonstrate the ethical and fair use of information resources. Integrate 21st-century communications into the management of academic information.
Module content:
This module intends to equip students to cope more confidently and competently with the reading and understanding of a variety of texts, to apply these skills in a variety of contexts and to follow the conventions of academic writing.
Module content:
This module equips students to understand and use a range of discipline-specific terminology; apply the strategies of critical and comprehensive reading to their own academic literacy; apply the conventions of academic writing to their own writing, using the process approach, to produce intelligible academic texts and use the correct referencing technique as required by the faculty.
Module content:
The theoretical basis of Labour Relations
In this section the basic concepts, historical context and theoretical approaches to the field of labour relations will be discussed. The institutional framework in which labour relations operates, will be addressed with particular emphasis on the structural mechanisms and institutional processes. The service relationship that forms the basis of labour relations practices, will also be analysed.
Labour Relations practice
In this section students are taught the conceptual and practical skills related to practice aspects such as handling of grievances, disciplining, retrenchments, collective bargaining, industrial action and dispute resolution.
Module content:
This module deals with the core principles of economics. A distinction between macroeconomics and microeconomics is made. A discussion of the market system and circular flow of goods, services and money is followed by a section dealing with microeconomic principles, including demand and supply analysis, consumer behaviour and utility maximisation, production and the costs thereof, and the different market models and firm behaviour. Labour market institutions and issues, wage determination, as well as income inequality and poverty are also addressed. A section of money, banking, interest rates and monetary policy concludes the course.
Module content:
The entrepreneurial mind-set; managers and managing; values, attitudes, emotions, and culture: the manager as a person; ethics and social responsibility; decision making; leadership and responsible leadership; effective groups and teams; managing organizational structure and culture inclusive of the different functions of a generic organisation and how they interact (marketing; finance; operations; human resources and general management); contextualising Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in each of the topics.
Module content:
Invitation to Sociology
How do we understand ourselves as individuals in relation to society? How are our individual life courses and large-scale processes of social and historical change related to each other? How have our societies come to be what they are today? And how can we think of our private troubles as public issues? These questions are at the very heart of sociology as a distinctive way of thinking about and understanding the social worlds that we inhabit. This module invites students to become familiar with sociological ways of thinking about current issues and personal experiences (particularly in the southern African context), and to develop the analytical skills that are necessary in order to ask and answer critical questions about the communities, society, and world that they live in. The module will include a specific emphasis on academic reading skills.
Module content:
Thinking sociologically
Drawing from the idea of Sociology as a discipline that focuses on critical thinking, the module will introduce students to ways of questioning the obvious and the taken-for-granted. In particular, power and inequality will be problematised, with a focus on how power operates to structure racial, class and gender inequalities across institutions, ideologies and identities. The module will introduce students to the operations of power as manifested in the production of institutions, the proliferation of identities and heightened contestations among ideologies. The module will include a specific emphasis on writing skills.
Module content:
This introduction to social anthropology introduces basic themes of the discipline including ritual, religion, marriage and sex. It combines classic studies with recent scholarship, and asks the ‘big question’ about human society and human cultures that offer challenging perspectives on the world we live in.
Module content:
This module builds on the ethnographic and theoretical themes introduced in APL 110, asking particular questions about how we may think about the relationship between the local and the global; indigenous and universal; public and private; the real and the possible.The module continues in the vein of APL 110, in that it explicitly encourages students to understand the society in which they live through a series of critical anthropological perspectives.
Module content:
Introduction to Philosophy
The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely epistemology and metaphysics with reference to the work of a range of scholars from Africa and the rest of the Global South as well as from Asia and the West. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as judgment and discernment.
Module content:
Introduction to Philosophy
The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely political philosophy and ethics and the emphasis is on texts by African and Western scholars. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as judgment and discernment.
Module content:
The making of the Modern World: a survey
A selection of themes on Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and their contribution to the making of the Modern World.
Module content:
Africa and South Africa: a survey
An overview focusing on the making of African and South African societies from the earliest times to the present with emphasis on the most significant historical forces, factors and events.
Module content:
Value chain management: functional strategies for competitive advantage; human resource management; managing diverse employees in a multicultural environment; motivation and performance; using advanced information technology to increase performance; production and operations management; financial management; corporate entrepreneurship.
Module content:
An introduction to the study of organised political society at national and international levels with specific reference to political concepts, approaches and methods. The emphasis is on state and governance as frameworks for analysis in light of the salient changes brought about at national and international levels by globalisation. Attention is paid to the corresponding dynamics of regime development, performance and change at national and international levels considering increasing challenges to national sovereignty from within and without states in a context of a growing global agenda dealing with transnational issues and challenges, such as the environment, human rights, development and humanitarian intervention.
Module content:
*For absolute beginners only.
The acquisition of basic Sepedi communicative skills with emphasis on everyday expressions and suitable high frequency vocabulary, within specific social situations.
Module content:
Sepedi - communication and grammar
The acquisition of more advanced communication skills in further social situations. More extensive vocabulary and more advanced language structures are acquired and used. Further awareness of the nature and function of language structures. Writing and spelling rules. Dictionaries and dictionary use. Reading and comprehension of basic texts.
Module content:
* For absolute beginners only.
The acquisition of basic Setswana communicative skills with emphasis on everyday expressions and suitable high frequency vocabulary within specific social situations.
Module content:
Setswana – communication and grammar
The acquisition of more advanced communication skills in further social situations. More extensive vocabulary and more advanced language structures are acquired and used. Further awareness of the nature and function of language structures. Writing and spelling rules. Dictionaries and dictionary use. Reading and comprehension of basic texts.
Module content:
*For absolute beginners only
The acquisition of basic isiZulu communicative skills with emphasis on everyday expressions and suitable high frequency vocabulary, within specific situations.
Module content:
isiZulu - communication and grammar
The acquisition of more advanced communication skills in further social situations. More extensive vocabulary and more advanced language structures are acquired and used. Further awareness of the nature and function of language structures. Writing and spelling rules. Dictionaries and dictionary use. Reading and comprehension of basic texts
Minimum credits: 132
Core modules
For second Semester, select either SOC220 or SOC221.
Module content:
Basic principles of the employment contract. Collective labour law. Statutory conditions of employment. Individual labour disputes. Collective labour disputes. Settlement procedures.
Module content:
Industrial sociology
This module addresses sociological approaches to the workplace. Its focus is on theories of work and the current themes and debates within the sociology of work with an emphasis on exploring these issues from a southern perspective. Some of the themes that will be covered include the theorisation and conceptualisation of work, work in industrialising societies, workplace restructuring and reorganisation, flexibility in the labour market, changing technologies and the implications for work and employment, and new forms of work (including atypical work, service work, emotional labour, professional work).
Module content:
Culture and religion in the construction of identities: Gender, sexuality and race
The global proliferation of identities is explored through the lens of social categories of difference. The convergence of ideologies and institutions in the construction of identities at the intersections of gender, sexuality and race is examined with a particular emphasis on modern African identities, drawing on the sub-disciplines of the sociology of religion and cultural sociology.
Module content:
Demography, health and society
This module will use intersectional and critical lenses to provide students with a broad understanding of how demographic and social factors affect population health and medical care across a range of contexts. The main theoretical underpinnings and debates, as well as basic measures of each construct will be covered to operationalise the constructs for the purposes of practical application in sociological research and understanding. The focus will be comparative, both across time and between developed and less developed societies in general and South African societies in particular.
Module content:
Cultural constructions of sex and sexuality are the primary building blocks of social organisation. Anthropological discussions of sexuality tend to revolve around the various aspects of social organisation, such as the lifecycle, gendered identities, and personhood. These discussions are informed by the cultural meanings we impute to differences in biological sex and reproduction, and the ways in which these meanings influence social organisation, personhood, and power. In this module, we will consider cultural constructions of sex and sexuality as these inform certain aspects of social organisation such as kinship and marriage. We will attempt to develop an anthropological perspective on the interplay between sex, culture and society. To this end, we will examine the physiology of sexuality, and then consider different theoretical perspectives on human sexuality as reflected in cross-cultural ethnographic case studies.
Module content:
Power and wealth
This module explores anthropological perspectives on politics, power and wealth in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Key concepts that are discussed include anthropological approaches to citizenship, cosmopolitanism, hegemony, human rights, neoliberalism, sovereignty, civil society, gender, race and class.
Module content:
The content of this module engages in the historical emergence of contemporary African philosophy in relation to the Western canon. The first quarter traces the history of modern western philosophy, recounting key positions in epistemology (e.g. Descartes, Kant), metaphysics (e.g. Heidegger, Putnam), ethics (e.g. Bentham, Levinas) and political philosophy (e.g. Rawls, Habermas).The content of the second quarter considers recent works in African philosophy, as critical responses to, but also independent of the Western philosophies, with regard to epistemology (e.g. Menkiti, Ikuenobe), metaphysics (e.g. Mbiti, Ramose), ethics (e.g. Tut, Gyeke) and political philosophy (e.g. Biko, Fanon).
Module content:
In this module contextually relevant aspects of human reality are reflected on through philosophy considered as practical activity. Students will engage issues of social, political, or economic relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. A range of themes may be investigated, such as structure and agency, social imaginaries, issues of social justice, gender and sexuality, the ethics of science and technology, the role of art and others. The focus is on key themes and debates of contemporary relevance and may include issues from any of the sub-disciplines of philosophy such as political philosophy, moral philosophy, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of mind and artifical intelligence, and philosophy of science.
Module content:
A selection of themes on the history of Africa and its people in the recent past that shaped the African historical experience.
Module content:
The development of South Africa through segregation and apartheid to democracy.
Module content:
International theory and organisation
What causes war and peace? Can international order and justice be reconciled? Does the international structure matter? The answers depend on the theoretical lenses through which world politics are viewed. An overview is provided of competing theoretical perspectives of international relations. It includes mainstream and alternative perspectives, as well as the underlying ideas, theories and variants of each. These theories also propose different approaches to global peace, amongst others peace through international organisation. A comprehensive analysis is made of selected international organisations with a universal or regional scope, such as the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, and of international law that underpins these organisations and their activities.
Module content:
Foreign policy and diplomacy
A short introduction to the study of foreign policy is followed by an explanation of the use of the comparative method and a framework for foreign policy analysis and evaluation. This allows for a comparative study of the foreign policies of selected states from the major regions of the world, amongst others of South African foreign policy. In each case study the policy environment, the formulation and implementation processes, as well as the substance of the particular state’s foreign policy are covered. Thereafter the focus narrows to diplomacy: the oldest, most versatile and universally used instrument of foreign policy. The nature, history, modes of diplomacy and legal framework of the institution are explored. Examples are drawn from global practice, with specific consideration of the evolution of diplomatic practice within the African and South African context.
Module content:
Sepedi - communication and grammar
The acquisition of advanced communication skills in further social, occupational and educational situations. More extensive vocabulary and advanced language structures are acquired and used. Heightened awareness of the nature and function of language structures.
Sepedi - reading and writing
Writing of coherent, idiomatic and grammatically correct texts in order to impart ideas and information for a selected range of communicative purposes. Writing entails creative writing as well as reduplication. Reading and comprehension of texts which contain reasonably extensive vocabularies and a relatively large variation of language structures. Commence with the reading of fairly simple literary works. Students are also further trained in the use of the dictionary.
Module content:
Sepedi - communication, grammar, reading and writing
The further acquisition of advanced communication skills in further social, occupational and educational situations. More extensive vocabulary and advanced language structures are acquired and used. Heightened awareness of the nature and function of language structures. Continuation of the writing of coherent, idiomatic and grammatically correct texts in order to impart ideas and information for a range of communicative purposes. An introduction to Sepedi speech sounds / phonetics. Reading and comprehension of texts which contain more extensive vocabularies and a larger variation of language structures. Reading of further literary works.
Module content:
Political dynamics (Micro)
The study of the theory and practice of behavioural phenomena in politics. With reference to appropriate examples, the emphasis is on the study of political culture, leadership, communication, interests groups, parties and party systems; on elections, electoral systems, voting behaviour; and on public opinion and direct popular control techniques.
Module content:
Political dynamics (Macro)
A theoretical basis and framework is provided for the description, analysis and classification of political and policy problems. The emphasis is on the nature of the state, governance and conflict in Africa. Amongst others a study is made of the issues of colonialism and post-colonialism, democratisation, authoritarianism and the development of the state in Africa, in the context of a globalising world.
Module content:
isiZulu - communication and grammar
The acquisition of advanced communication skills in further social, occupational and educational situations. More extensive vocabulary and advanced language structures are acquired and used. Heightened awareness of the nature and function of language structures.
isiZulu - reading and writing
Writing of coherent, idiomatic and grammatically correct texts in order to impart ideas and information for a selected range of communicative purposes. Writing entails creative writing as well as reduplication. Reading and comprehension of texts which contain reasonably extensive vocabularies and a relatively large variation of language structures. Commence with the reading of fairly simple literary works. Students are also further trained in the use of the dictionary.
Module content:
isiZulu - communication, grammar, reading and writing
The further acquisition of advanced communication skills in further social, occupational and educational situations. More extensive vocabulary and advanced language structures are acquired and used. Heightened awareness of the nature and function of language structures. Continuation of the writing of coherent, idiomatic and grammatically correct texts in order to impart ideas and information for a range of communicative purposes. An introduction to isiZulu speech sounds/phonetics. Reading and comprehension of texts which contain more extensive vocabularies and a larger variation of language structures. Reading of further literary works.
Minimum credits: 144
Module content:
Structure, agency and power in social theory
How do we theorise the interrelationships between structure, agency, and power in society? This is the central question in this module, which provides students with an intensive introduction to critical social theories. Engaging with current affairs and debates in society, the module will enable students to learn how to develop theoretical knowledge about the ways in which power is structured and exercised in society – both from above and below, as well as across fields (the economic, the political, the cultural) and scales (the body, private and public spheres, communities and nation-states, and the world-system).
Module content:
Thinking methodologically
This module sets out to introduce students to ‘doing research’. In this respect the assumptions and processes underpinning methodological choices in sociological research are considered in order to think about foundations of research, about how knowledge claims are made, how science is conceptualised, what role theory plays, as well as how values and ethics shape the politics of research. In addition to these foundational questions, a broad introduction to methods used in social research is provided by considering both the theoretical dimensions and practical application of various research tools. The purpose of the module is to equip students with the necessary competence to, describe ontological and epistemological debates and different approaches to research in the social sciences, delineate a research problem, identify units of analysis, make sampling decisions and formulate questions and hypothesis as well as understand the principles of quantitative (elementary statistical decision-making) and qualitative data analysis.
Module content:
This module considers the colonial histories of anthropology in Africa and their impact on traditions of knowledge production in the discipline to propose a decolonised anthropology. It does so by critically reflecting on old and contemporary ethnographies from and about the African continent and pays particular attention to ethnographic methods, politics of representation, reflexivity, power and identity as pertinent questions to establish a decolonised anthropology. Students in this module are encouraged to imagine a decolonised anthropology in and for Africa.
Module content:
Fieldwork, ethnography and theory
This module reviews themes such as conducting fieldwork, writing ethnography and developing theory in anthropology. The module allows the opportunity to gain experience with ethnographic field methods in order to develop insight into the implications of methodological choices and their relationship to research questions and settings.
Module content:
In this module the focus is on understanding humankind, its knowledge and its relation to reality.This module traces the development of the conceptions of ‘self’ and ‘subjectivity’ in any given philosophical tradition in Africa, or more generally the Global South or the West, by focussing, amongst others, on issues such as the nature of the human mind, existentialism, the nature of personal identity, the relation between personal identity and morality, the nature of subjective experience and the issue of free will.
Module content:
In this module contextually relevant aspects of human reality are reflected on through philosophy considered as practical activity. Students will engage issues of social, political, or economic relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. A range of themes may be investigated, such as, structure and agency, social imaginaries, issues of social justice, gender and sexuality, the ethics of science and technology, the role of art and others. The focus is on key themes and debates of contemporary relevance and may include issues from any of the sub-disciplines of philosophy such as political philosophy, moral philosophy, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of mind and artificial intelligence, and philosophy of science.
Module content:
Historical trends in the modern world
A selection of political, economic and social themes.
Module content:
Interpreting the process of global change. Explaining the debates and the origin and nature of globalisation and its significance.
Module content:
International political economy
The nature and functioning of the international contemporary political-economic order are analysed against the background of the process of globalisation. The focus is on the interaction of political and economic trends and issues such as the economic importance and political impact of regional trade blocs; the debt burden of states; international aid; the role and influence of multinational corporations; and the transfer of technology to less-developed countries; the rise of new economic powers in the Global South; and global economic governance.
Module content:
Security and strategic studies
A study of traditional and contemporary approaches to security and strategy. Attention is paid to new theories on war, security and strategy; military and non-military security issues and threats; the national security of developing states; as well as the relationship between policy, strategy and tactics. The latter includes an introductory overview of the nature, levels, patterns, forms and instruments of strategy, and the laws of war. The national, regional and continental security situation in Africa and modes of multilateral security cooperation in particular are analysed, also in relation to extra-continental trends. Regarding the aforesaid, emphasis is placed on the legal and institutional framework, national security policy and strategic posture of South Africa.
Module content:
Political theory
A theoretical and normative study of political ideas. This includes the study of key political thinkers such as Plato, Thomas Hobbes and John Rawls as well as the contemporary manifestations of ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, conservatism and nationalism. This normative assessment of politics concludes with a critical evaluation of the development, nature and practical value of prominent democratic theories including participatory, legal, and deliberative democracy.
Module content:
Part 1: Democratic studies
A high level critical analysis of democratic theory and practice. The analysis of democratic theory will include themes such as classical, radical, deliberative and feminist perspectives. The analysis of democratic practice will include aspects such as democratisation, democratic consolidation, democratic citizenship and society, the role and importance of civil society, the institutions and procedures for democracy and “good governance”.
Part 2: Political analysis
The methods and practice of political analysis is the focus of study. The principles and problems underpinning different approaches and methods of political analysis are described and explained. This includes the nature, methods and use of comparative analysis, forecasting, risk analysis, performance evaluation and the political audit. These analytical methods are positioned in a political and policy context, with emphasis on practical application. Applicable examples and case studies are used throughout.
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