SEMESTER 1

SOC111: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY I

The course introduces students to the nature of sociological enquiry and the basic concepts used in sociological analysis. The course examines the link between the individual and society. Key concepts such as culture, norms and values, ethnocentrism, society, socialisation, social interaction, gender and sexuality are introduced. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the sociological perspective. The course provides students with an overview of the historical development of the sociological tradition and examines the works of classical scholars such as Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim and Weber.

SEMESTER II

SOC112:  INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY II

This part of the course will focus on key institutions. Changes in the family, educational system, religion, health and other major social institutions will be examined in detail.

Key institutions to be considered will include the family, education, religion, politics, the economy, health and the law. The role urbanisation and industrialisation have played in the creation and maintenance of modem societies is examined. The course is designed to make and clarify the nature and dynamics of social institutions and social problems.

SEMESTER III

SOC 207: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

This course is designed to introduce and familiarise students with the essential social links and relationship that exist between subjects of sociology and social psychology. This course seeks to enable students to appreciate the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, behaviour and attitudes are influenced by the existence of others in our social interactions as individuals or in groups. Students are expected to relate social psychology concerns to their own personal experiences in the context of their own lives and the society in which they live. The course equips students with interpersonal skills.

SOC 211:  SOCIOLOGY OF RURAL DVELOPMENT

The intention of the course is to introduce students to theories and perspectives on the rural social structure as well as social dynamics of rural communities. In particular, the course introduces students to major development challenges that face agrarian societies such as Eswatini. Development challenges on which the course focuses include poverty, gender inequality, and HIV and AIDS. Furthermore, the course investigates and analyses the agrarian environment within which rural people operate. The course looks at the extent to which land tenure systems in general and the Eswatini land tenure system in particular poses challenges in terms of food security.

SOC 215: COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY

The course will focus on the works of German sociologist Ferdinand Toennies on the concepts of Gemeinschaft  and Gesellschaft in analysing contemporary Swazi society. Students will examine how European and North American societies gradually became rootless and impersonal as people came to associate mostly on the basis of self-interest. Introspections on whether Swazi society’s strong fabric of family and tradition is being undermined by fostering individualism and a business-like emphasis on facts and efficiency will be a component of this course.

SEMESTER IV

SOC204: SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

The course addresses issues to do with class and social position, hierarchical ranking of people, status, power and social position.

SOC212: GLOBALISATION AND SOCIETY

The main objective of the course is to introduce students to Manuel Castell’s Information Age, Technology, Economy, Society and Culture. Emphasis will be on the rise of network society and how rapidly changing information is shaping and impacting lives in modern societies.  Interaction between knowledge sources and the application of technology, linkages between culture and productive forces and the emergence of new forms of social interactions, social control and social change will be part of this course. The power of identities will be also discussed.

SOC214: SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANCE AND CRIME

This course endeavours to expose students to various theories and perspectives on deviance and crime. This course further exposes students to some selected forms of deviance, homosexuality, suicide, rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The course also sensitizes students to concerns and issues relating to HIV and AIDS and mental illness.

SEMESTER V

SOC313: CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

This course is designed to introduce students to the major themes, issues and theoretical approaches that are historically central to the discipline of sociology. The objective of the course is to introduce students to classical perspectives (Comte, Durkheim, and Marx) within sociology and challenge them to apply the original theories in substantive analyses of social events and social behaviour.

SOC 305: PATTERNS OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

This course is designed to familiarize students with the sociology of industrial development, and industrial development policies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The course explores the sociological implications of industrial development through an examination of the historical patterns of industrial development in both the developed and developing countries. Industrial development policies of selected developing countries, including Eswatini, will be covered.

SOC311: QUALITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the specific fact-finding research procedures used by sociologists who employ qualitative approaches to obtain data from the social world. The basic principles and procedures of this methodology will be studied. The course examines the nature and characteristics of qualitative research, its design, data gathering methods, qualitative data analysis, report writing and presentation of findings. The major stages of qualitative research process are examined.

Data collection techniques to be emphasised include observation, in-depth interviews participant observation and content analysis. Ethical issues involved in social research will also be discussed.

SEMESTER VI

SOC304: URBAN SOCIOLOGY

This course is designed to introduce students to the field of urban sociology. It provides an overview of developments in urban theory and the history of urbanisation. It discusses trends within the developed and developing world, with special attention on the impact of globalisation on cities in the developing countries, particularly in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The focus will be on the study of the urban community from neighbourhood to megapolis dealing with the ecology of cities, social pathology, disruptive social forces, demographic analysis, and urban blight. Concepts of urban renewal and restructuring will also be discussed in light of recent developments in population distribution and social stratification. Urbanisation in Eswatini is of particular interest in this course.

SOC312: QUANTITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS

Emphasis of this course will be on the role of quantitative methods in social research and the application of quantitative techniques and procedures to social data, statistical inference and data processing. Students will be offered the opportunity to experience and practice different sociological techniques in mini-research exercises. Students will be introduced to SPSS and other packages used for data analysis.

SOC314: CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

This course familiarises students with major theoretical ideas with regards to recent sociological scholarship, and explores contemporary controversies over both the interpretation and application of specific theories. This course is, therefore, not only about sociological theory, but also about how to theorise about society and everyday life.

SEMESTER VII

SOC415: SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE

Sociologists study all manner of cultural phenomena, including such varied topics as musical tastes, fashion trends, artistic judgments, consumption of goods and services of all sorts, producers of cultural objects, mass media presentation of cultural phenomena, the intersections of cultural and economic forces, and the political uses of cultural meanings. 

The distinctiveness of a sociological treatment of culture lies in the ability of sociology to reveal hidden links between well-known cultural facts and the social structures that surround them.  The uses and meanings of cultural objects, from ideas to things, are deeply connected to matters of social power and submission to authority, and related inequalities, to the structure of economic markets, to the maintenance of persisting and emergent social identities, to historical repertoires of symbolic meaning, and to the political strategies of widespread social actors.  This course unravels this complexity, using both historical and current examples.

 SOC417:  SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND ORGANIZATIONS

The course is designed to sensitise and enable students to build and maintain good and essential interpersonal skills that they will need as they interact with others in the unpredictable multi-dimensional world of work. It is hoped that through case studies, the student will be able to apply some of the concepts and use their personal experiences and, in the process, begin to develop and internalise essential interpersonal skills. The sociology of organisations is a useful concept in that it sensitises us to the importance of interpersonal human relations at the individual, the family, community, national and international levels at which our daily lives revolve.

SOC423: SOCIAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

This course is designed to provide a framework for the theoretical and empirical debates around development. It will examine the core perspectives and debates in development thinking since the 1950s; analyse the evolution of development theory and attempts to conceptualise it historically, while examining development theory and practice more closely during the current period of globalisation. Massive industrialization has been accompanied by enormous growth of numerous slums appearing around cities, high population density etc. It will also explain the fundamentals of social change and illustrate the importance of civic responsibility and service in bringing about social change. It is hoped that students will develop a critical awareness of everyday events in the contemporary developing world.

SOC499:  RESEARCH PROJECT

This course is a continuation of the first semester 499. Having chosen a topic for research, and having their proposals approved by the ethics committee, students continue working with their supervisors to refine their research paper, including collecting and analysing data.

SEMESTER VIII

SOC414: SOCIOLOGY OF SCIENCE

This course offers a critical sociological examination of science as a social institution and knowledge-producing activity. It explores how social, political, and cultural factors—rather than pure objectivity—shape the processes, findings, and application of scientific research. The course critically analyzes core themes, including the social construction of scientific knowledge, the operation of the scientific community (e.g., funding, peer review, careers), and the role of power and inequality in determining what counts as legitimate science. Specific topics include the relationship between science and the military, controversies in public science (e.g., climate change, medicine), gender and race in scientific professions, and the impact of technological development on society. The course emphasizes classic and contemporary theories from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS).

SOC418: SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS

This course introduces students to the significance of social factors in understanding health and illness. The main focus of the course will be on the analysis of the effects of social factors such as age, sex and social class on health and illness. The course examines differential access to health care in Eswatini. In addition to the lectures, observational visits and interviews with health personnel and patients in a variety of health settings is part of the course.

SOC426: GENDER MAINSTREAMING

This course is an introduction to scholarly debates on the role of gender in the development process particularly in the developing world. Students will learn about gender inequalities in the developing world from diverse theoretical perspectives and empirical contexts. Issues to be examined include: gender inequalities which hinder women’s progress in developing countries; women’s experiences as both agents and beneficiaries of development; feminist arguments for a fundamental change in gender relations and social institutions; and the efforts made by the world community to improve the conditions of women’s lives.

SOC499: RESEARCH PROJECT

Each student will choose a topic for research and write a draft research proposal.  This proposal will include: a clear statement of the research problem; the objectives of the study; assumptions of the study; a preliminary literature review; and a section on the methodology to be employed in data collection. For the practical component of the course, students will start working with their supervisors to refine the proposal and work on data collection instruments. The research proposal must be approved by the supervisor before the end of the semester.