Research is an integral part of the Department and individual members of staff enjoy national as well as international recognition within their fields. The Department is embedded in an active network of research partnerships and collaboration spanning academic institutions, NGOs and government departments across South Africa, Africa and further afield, including in the UK, Holland, France, Uganda, India, Germany and the USA .

A major strength of the Department is its commitment to the integration of thinking and practice around Social Theory and Research Methodology in its postgraduate research training.

Since the mid-1990s the Department has had a strong research focus on: community development, poverty and social security (both national and provincial); the agricultural sector in the Western Cape ; social science research methods; science and technology studies, and urban, youth and gender studies. It has also conducted applied research in the area of local and regional development.

In recent years new research interests and projects have been added to these established fields, including the social aspects of HIV/AIDS, armed forces in society, land reform and the environment, cultural identities, and the sociology of religion. The Department also enjoys an active relationship with CREST (the Centre for Research on Science and Technology), a faculty-based research centre under the directorship of Prof Johann Mouton, a member of the Department.

Research clusters

The following are major focal areas of research among staff and postgraduate students:

  • The sociology/anthropology of development, including community development
  • The sociology of work, including innovation in the wine industry
  • Land, environment and society, including on land restitution and protected areas
  • HIV/AIDS, sexuality and society
  • Gender identity
  • Conflict, security and the military
  • Culture, religion and language
  • Urbanisation, governance and new urban forms
  • Tertiary education and teaching
  • The sociology of science
  • Social science research methodology.

For more information on current research programmes see the research projects (PDF) overview.

Visiting research fellows and post-doctoral students

Arrangements for hosting visiting research fellows and post-doctoral students can be initiated either through individual staff members or the Head of Department and are finalised in discussion with the Department as a whole. The Department welcomes the opportunity to strengthen its current research programmes and networks through such opportunities, subject to the availability of resources.

Departmental Occasional Papers

The Department has been running an Occasional Papers series since 1996. This provides staff, students and associates with an outlet for publishing research reports, summaries of theses and work-in-progress.