Core courses in the Major provide students with a firm grounding in social theory and research methodology and introduce them to basic substantive areas. In addition, choosing from a wide range of electives, students can deepen their interests in courses related to three thematic categories: (i) Economy, Technology and Social Change, (ii) Culture, Identity and Social Relations, (iii) Politics, Social Institutions and Collective Behaviour. In this way, students can also develop a holistic and comparative understanding of the interconnections among fundamental spheres of human life.

Students are also encouraged to choose courses from category (iv), which focuses on Contemporary Social Transformations, and category (v), which offers special topics not covered in the other categories. The Graduation Project is the capstone of the Major curriculum, offering students the opportunity to conduct in-depth and independent sociological inquiry.

1. Programme outline: The Curriculum

To graduate, students must complete 2 categories of requirements, totaling 146 Academic Units (AUs) :
General Education Requirement (GER) (57AUs)
Major Requirements (89 AUs)
(a) General Education Requirement (GER) (57 AUs) :

The GER consists of 3 sub-areas :
(i) GER - Core (6 AUs) :

HW101 The Craft of Writing (3 AUs)
HW111 Mastering Communication (3 AUs)

(ii) GER Prescribed Electives (PE) (15 AUs)

Arts Humanities and Social Sciences (3 AUs)
Business & Management (BM) (3 AUs)
Science, Technology and Society (9 AUs)

(iii) GER Unrestricted Electives (UEs) (36 AUs) :

There is no restriction on the selection of courses to make up unrestricted electives. Students may choose any course offered by any School so long as any pre-requisites are satisfied. Students are also encouraged to take up a Minor in another discipline, which they can fulfill using Unrestricted Electives

Major Requirements (89 AUs)

The Major Requirements consists of 3 sub-areas:

Each course (unless stated otherwise) is equivalent to 4 AUs.
(A) Sociology Core – compulsory courses (35 AUs)

and either ONE of the following:

HS101 Person and Society is a prerequisite for all other Sociology courses with the exception of HS102 Singapore Society in Transition and HS103 Social Problems in a Global Context. HS201 Classical Social Theory is a prerequisite for HS301 Contemporary Social Theory. HS202 Doing Social Research is a prerequisite for HS302 Understanding Social Statistics, HS401 Research Practicum I: Qualitative Social Research. HS 302 is a prerequisite for HS402 Research Social Practicum II: Quantitative Social Research.Either HS401 or 402 is a prerequisite for HS499 Graduation Project. (Students have the option of taking up both HS401 and HS402). Prerequisites for enrolling in 300-level courses are as follows: All students must have completed at least two 200-level core courses, i.e. any two of following: HS201, HS202, HS203, HS204, and HS205.

(B) Sociology Prescribed Electives (46 AUs)
Students must choose 12 Sociology Electives from among the following courses.

At least five of the 12 Electives must be 300-level or higher.

Economy, Technology and Social Change

Culture, Identity and Social Relations

Politics, Social Institutions and Collective Behaviour

Contemporary Social Transformations

Selected Topics in Sociology

See course descriptions here

(C) Graduation Project (8 AUs)
The aim of HS499 Graduation Project is to provide training in independent scholarly work. With the guidance of a supervisor, each student will identify a research problem, formulate research questions, develop a theoretical framework and design a methodological approach. By the completion of the project the student will have gained experience in theoretical reasoning, empirical research (especially the collection, interpretation and analysis of data), and the writing and presentation of research findings. Graduation Project documents for downloading:

Files for Students Starting GP in January 2010
GP application form
GP guidelines
GP Proposal Form
GP Title Page
List of Suggested Research Areas for the Sociology Graduation Project

Files for Students Starting GP in August 2009
GP application form
GP guidelines
GP Proposal Form
GP Title Page
List of Suggested Research Areas for the Sociology Graduation Project