Sociology

People seem to be increasingly concerned with security. There is a marked perception that insecurity is on the rise, and that the world has become an extremely unsafe place. Security policies like predictive policing, urban surveillance, border control, and antiterrorism have grown in technological sophistication and legitimacy, and are increasingly debated in electoral campaigns, among policy makers, and in the press. And yet, crime statistics show unequivocally that we have never been safer. How do we explain this discrepancy, and how do we analyse critically society’s concern with security and surveillance, as well as the solutions proposed by different actors to solve such concerns? This course explores what security and surveillance teach us about our society, its fears, and the way different categories of people think about and act on (in)security both online and offline. It discusses case studies such as urban insecurity, digital surveillance, border control, and citizen initiatives to increase security, and explore the causes and consequences of such practices in our society. It reflects on whose (in)security matters and why, and assesses whether practices such as predictive policing, CCTV cameras, face recognition technologies really work, for whom, and how. Students think about what it means to live in a Big Brother society – where a lot of what we do is subjected to surveillance – and explore sociological insights on surveillance and security.

This course introduces students to theoretical debates about the complex and multi-dimensional nature of crime, and conceptual frameworks that have been developed to explain and understand it.

This course provides introductory theoretical constructs regarding society, organizations, groups, families, and individuals which enable human service professionals to understand and to interact professionally within the context in which professionals work. The content is anchored around the South African Constitution and uses a human rights approach as the overarching theoretical framework.

This course provides students with a comprehensive, critical analysis of fashion. It provides historical context for the emergence of the fashion industry, examines theories that account for its development and the role it plays in modern societies, and explores critical responses to key issues facing the industry today. The course critically examines the idea that the emergence of fashion both shapes and reflects modern culture and society. From a historical perspective, and in terms of western fashion specifically, this means understanding how fashion has moved from being the preserve of an elite practice to an everyday one, charting its movement from courtly societies in Europe to 20th century spread of fashion to the high street and to subcultural fashions, and from a system of style controlled by a small group of elites (couture designers for example) to street style worn by "influencers." The course also explores the industry from a global perspective, challenging standard of classical narratives about fashion and decolonizing our understandings of the industry, to think about the different ways in which fashion has emerged, developed, and is engaged with and around the world. 

This colloquium prepares students for writing their bachelor’s thesis by guiding them through research design, literature review, theory development, and academic writing. Students learn to formulate strong research questions, identify research gaps, and structure their projects effectively. Through discussions, workshops, and peer feedback, the course builds essential research and analytical skills for successful independent thesis work.

This course introduces the concept of "the family" through both a demographic lens and a sociological perspective. This allows for a macro-micro approach in understanding what structures shape family configurations, processes leading to family formation and dissolution, family practices and transitions during different parts of the life course. Looking first historically at changes to family structures and policies, the course then zooms in onto key debates with the study of families today. Drawing on concepts, theory, and research designs used in population studies and family sociology to study the phenomenon of "the family," students engage in a multi-disciplinary analysis of the various topics introduced through the course.

This course provides critical insights into counterculture, graffiti, street art, underground, punk, hip-hop, political art collectives, etc. Perspectives of anthropology and culture studies are explored. Seminal readings on subcultures, protests, and new social movements are used to discuss the practices of "alternative" urban lives in post-industrial society and certain trends of artistic production. The focus is on the political interpretation of youth subversion and disclosures of power mechanisms. Visuals and field trips to graffiti and other subcultural sites are a part of this course.  

This course introduces and discusses some of the key areas of media sociology. It looks at important figures of the field and their representative work. The point is to get an overview of the complex relationships between media and society. The course pays particular attention to social aspects of journalism and new media.

This course introduces the key insights, concepts, and debates of environmental sociology, with a particular emphasis on climate change, biodiversity, and other major ecological risks at stake in the so-called green transition. In doing so, the course provides the conceptual tools needed to understand, analyze, and critically-constructively engage with key questions of society-wide change towards sustainability: how much of it is currently happening across societal sectors and levels; how has it or is it currently being brought about; what shapes, conditions, or hampers more of it? To frame these questions sociologically, the course starts by reviewing debates on two contrasting diagnoses: the risk society diagnosis of Ulrich Beck and the ecological modernization diagnosis of Arthur Mol, John Dryzek, and others. At stake is the questions of the place of environmental concern, policy, and practice in late-modern social change. From here, the course delves into the main institutional vectors of environmental social change, covering in turn questions of: socio-technical change (green technological innovation, changing infrastructures); political-economic change (shifting modes of governance and politics, new circular market models); activism-driven change (environmental social movements, urban green communities); changing North-South relations (new globalized inequalities, climate justice activism); everyday practice change (emerging consumptions habits, new social distinctions and divisions); cultural value change (continuity and change in moral valuations of ‘nature’ in the Anthropocene). Throughout, focus is on understanding present-day environmental social change in light of historical experience, empirical findings, and key sociological theories (as well as, to some extent, insights from neighboring disciplines). This enables students to take stock of what near-future changes lie ahead. Alongside examining the various substantive dimensions of green transition, the course also discusses adequate methodological strategies affiliated with the different problem complexes and vectors of social change. Throughout, students work on aligning theoretical and empirical insights via their own case analyses.