Study for honours and postgraduates
Sociology Honours
The Honours Year in Sociology offers students the opportunity to gain greater depth in their understanding of core aspects of Sociology, and to undertake a first independent piece of sociological research. It provides intensive training in sociological theory and research methods and their application. Honours is the primary route to post-graduate study in Sociology, but it also provides significant advantages in the job market for students not intending to proceed to further study.
An Honours degree certifies to employers that a job applicant has research training and capacities, and conceptual skills well beyond those to be expected from an applicant with only a 3 year ‘pass’ degree. This is why Honours graduates are generally more likely to find jobs and to have higher starting salaries than ‘pass’ graduates.
Although the Honours year is intensive and demanding, most students also find it very rewarding. Students choose their own honours thesis topic, with the help of a supervisor, guided primarily by their own interests. The opportunity to pursue an area of research interest using the skills accumulated over three years of undergraduate training is always an exciting new challenge, and many students discover in themselves capabilities and pleasures in research of which they were not aware previously.
Entry to the Honours year is based on academic merit. It requires that students have completed at least 30 units of second and/or third level topics at CR level or better (not necessarily in Sociology), including at least 6 units (one topic) at DN level or better in Sociology.
The Honours Year consists of three Honours topics (18 units) and an Honours thesis (18 units). It may be taken full-time, or part-time over two years (the coursework in the first year and the thesis in the second year).
More information about the Honours Year may be obtained from the Honours Convener, Dr Brad West
For application forms or the full Honours Handbook please contact: Sociology Office
The honours program can also be your first step to a higher
degree
masters degree or PhD in sociology.
Postgraduate studies
Masters
by coursework
Masters by
research
PhD
The Department of Sociology at Flinders University offers MA and PhD degrees by research. The Department has an excellent research record, and an enviable record of MA and PhD completions. It currently has an active, enthusiastic group of post-graduates, and is interested in attracting new research post-graduate students of high calibre.
The Department offers qualified research students a range of supervision options to match the varying needs and aspirations of students. For students who wish to pursue their own research topics independently, the Department is able to provide high quality supervision in most major areas of Sociology. An alternative supervision model is available to students interested in extending or developing particular aspects of larger research projects already underway in the department. Students accepted to work on these projects will work in a small research team and receive training through their direct involvement in the research team, as well as through the formal supervision relationship. Supervisory arrangements combining elements of these two models can be arranged to cater to the individual needs of students.
Current major projects
Discourses of race and the social construction of whiteness
Islamic elites in comparative perspective
Changing career patterns amongst professionals and managers in large Australian firms
Emergence of Chinese diaspora capitalism, its activities in the region and in China and its relationship with Japanese capitalism
Issues of nationality and ethnicity in Eastern Europe
For further information, contact Dr Brad West , Graduate Convener