The
Global Labour
University
International Masters Programmes for Trade Unionists
Brazil / Germany / India / South Africa / U.S.

Please note that courses and their semester time slots are subject to annual change by the Department of Sociology of Wits University. For further information about Sociology at Wits, please visit http://www.wits.ac.za/socialsciences/sociology/

Compulsory Courses

Honours Research Essay

Through in-class sessions, individual supervision and practical tasks, students will be trained in a variety of research methods that will enable them to embark on an applied research project. They will conceptualise and design a research project and conduct a pilot study that will culminate in a written research essay.

Economic Sociology: Institutions, Capitalism and Markets

This course will introduce students to the main paradigms that shape modern economic policy debates and positions. Although it is not an economics course, it will, nonetheless, give post-graduate students in the social sciences a solid grounding in economic and social theory. The four main paradigms dealt with are Economic liberalism, Keynesianism, Marxism and Anarchism

Labour and Development

This course analyses the role of labour in the development process. Labour and development in Southern African and the Global South will be emphasized. Key topics include Labour's relationship with the post-colonial state and the relationship between trade unions and other civil society organisations.

Elective Courses

Environmental Sociology: The Political Economy of Nature and Development

The course explores environmental issues, while drawing upon a wide range of theorists. The rise of a global environmental social movement is traced, including the environmental justice movements in South Africa and elsewhere. Students are encouraged to address a particular environmental problem as part of their written contribution to the course.

Labour in the Global Economy

This course focuses on how the nature of work is changing in the new economy, and the implications for economic opportunity and inequality in both South Africa and the United States. The course consist of three main parts. Part one focuses on general theoretical issues in the world of work and the major changes that have taken place on a global scale. Part Two consists of series of comparative case studies that explore these themes in different industrial sectors in both the U.S. and South Africa. Part Three examines the response of labour, at a local (both U.S. and South African), regional (Southern African and North American) and global scale.

Sociology of Health and Illness

There is a 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.

Sociology of Land and Agrarian Reform in Southern Africa

The course will introduce students to some of the key debates that have come to characterise land and agrarian reform in post-apartheid (1994) democratic South Africa and by extension the Southern and Eastern African region. The cardinal aim of the course is to equip students with the knowledge base and skills required to critically engage with policy debates on land and agrarian issues. The central thrust of the course is to understand the protracted nature of land reform policy-making process in countries undergoing democratization.

Global Institutions & Economic Restructuring

This course examines the involvement of global institutions in development as a process of establishing intellectual hegemony of influencing individuals and groups; shaping ideas, discourses and debates; and affecting institutional arrangements inside and outside the state. In respect, the study of their effect on development is simultaneously an investigation of the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of bureaucracy and institutions. The course focuses on global institutions which are involved in promoting development in developing societies, including South Africa. These include, in particular, formal institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation. In addition, the course examines the role of new social movements that have emerged in opposition to these institutions. This focus on global institutions is particularly appropriate for the current period in South Africa’s history. The democratic government is formulating and re-formulating its development policy in the context of increased exposure to these global institutions and movements. The course will examine the role of these institutions globally, in different developing countries as well as in South Africa.

Collective Action and Social Movements

This course will explore the histories of state and popular violence in South Africa, and place this in the broader context of changing patterns of violence historically and globally. The focus will be on collective action, violence and contentious politics. The course will consider case studies of social movements that have adopted violent practices, as well as social movements that mobilise against violence.

Development as Ideology and Practice 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".

Feminist Theory

Feminist Theory introduces students to key debates in Women's and Gender Studies, and Feminist Theory and Politics. key concepts interrogated include like Ethics, Politics and Subjectivity.