Undergraduate - UnitAZA2719 - Theoretical perspectives in political and social thought

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	South Africa School of Social Sciences
Offered	South Africa First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Fay Hodza

Synopsis

The unit introduces students to political key thinkers and analyses themes in classical and contemporary political and social theory. The contrasting perspectives of the classical thinkers and contemporary theorists are critically analysed and evaluated. Students examine theoretical issues such as structure, power, culture action and modernity. African specific examples are used comparatively to analyse whether African environments offer other ways of conceptualising political and social reality.

Outcomes

Students who study the unit will:

Develop an understanding of several political and social theories (classical and contemporary), learn to appreciate alternative and differing approaches to analysing social relations;
Gain an understanding of how political and sociological knowledge has developed over time;
Learn to critique certain accepted political and social theories and learn how to question dominant ideas and assumptions;
Engage in comparison in order to stimulate and engrain the two above mentioned outcomes;
Develop their oral and written skills in order to analyse theoretical material.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 55%
Exam: 45%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.