Admission
Only the successful students of the 4-year BSS (Hons.) program shall be eligible for admission into the MSS degree program.
The Program
The Master’s program in Sociology is a one year degree program, which began in 1960. The program consists of 40 credits and divided into two semesters: semester 1 and semester 2. Each semester shall be of 19 weeks, of which
- 15 weeks will be for class teaching
- 1 week break for reading, and
- 3 weeks for administering the semester final examination.
The program shall include teaching of 10 course units for a total of 1000 marks, which shall be translated into 40 credit hours.
The total credit hours shall be evaluated on the basis of 1000 total marks, of which 900 marks shall be for 9 full unit taught courses, and 50 marks for written comprehensive and 50 for oral examination.
Each full unit course shall be of 100 marks.
The program shall offer two alternatives: Master’s degree by thesis or by course work.
A Master’s thesis can be taken in lieu of one taught course. Thesis will be given up to top 10 percent of students each batch based on Honors final semester academic achievement. Master’s degree by thesis includes teaching of 8 course units for a total of 800 marks, one thesis of 100 marks (in lieu of one course unit) and 50 marks for written comprehensive and 50 marks for oral examination.
Master’s degree by course work includes teaching of 9 course units for a total of 900 marks and 100 marks for comprehensive examination: written 50 marks and oral 50 marks respectively.
Number of lecture classes/contact hours per week shall be determined on the basis of the credit hours assigned to each course.
- For a 4 credit course unit, there shall be two lecture classes of 90 minutes each and one 60 minutes discussion class/tutorial or class/group presentation/class test every week.
- For the 1st Semester, there shall be 5 courses with 100 marks each, resulting in 20 (twenty) earned credits per semester, i.e., there shall be 5 courses with 4 credits assigned to each course.
- For the 2nd Semester, there shall be 4 taught courses for 400 marks (4 credit hours assigned to each course) and 100 marks for written and oral comprehensive examination with 4 credit hours assigned against it; or for the thesis students, 3 taught courses for 300 marks (4 credit hours assigned to each course) and 100 marks for thesis (4 credit hours) and 100 marks for written and oral comprehensive examination with 4 credit hours assigned against it.
The distribution of course units, marks and credit build up for the MSS degree program for 1000 marks for 10 course units, with varying credit hours per course shall be as under:
|
Course Structure for MSS Program |
||||||
|
Semester |
Degree by course work |
Degree by thesis |
||||
|
No of courses |
Total marks |
Earned credit |
No of courses |
Total marks |
Earned credit |
|
|
First |
5 |
500 |
20 |
5 |
500 |
20 |
|
Second
|
4 |
400 |
16 |
3 |
300 |
12 |
|
Comprehensive (written) and viva vocea
|
100
|
4 |
Comprehensive (written) and viva vocea
|
100
|
4 |
|
|
- |
- |
- |
Thesisb 1 |
100 |
4 |
|
|
Total |
10 |
1000 |
40 |
10 |
1000 |
40 |
aComprehensive written = 50 marks, Viva voce = 50 marks, bThesis = 80, viva = 20
11 courses · 44 credit hours across 2 terms
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOC 501 | Post-modernism and Contemporary Sociological Theory | 4 |
Course Objectives: This course deals with the issue of post-modernism in sociology and presents a few most recent trends. It introduces the students to a background of sociology that explores how enlightenment furnishes the major premise of modern society and its underlying philosophy. It then introduces Comte’s positivism indicating how it surfaced as a sequel to natural science development. Establishing a science of society was a major driving force with the classical sociologists. It took a new turn with the arrival of Saussure’s structuralism which is dealt in this course - highlighting the criticism including Nietzsche’s approach to truth along with Derrida’s deconstruction and Foucault’s discourse. The course traces the contribution of Lyotard, Baudrillard and Jameson to sensitize on the wider perspective of post-modernism. It then focuses on some recent developments in sociology in substantive terms particularly introducing neo-liberalism of Harvey, agency of Archer, along with the contributions of Beck and Urry. Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to understand various perspectives of the theorists of postmodernism and use them as tools of critical analysis and assess their relevance to contemporary sociological problems. |
| SOC 502 | Theories of Social Change: From Modernity to Postmodernity | 4 |
Course Objectives: This course will review major theories of social change from the perspectives of modernity, critical modernity and postmodernity. The main goal of this course is to address the questions of why and how social change occurs. The course examines selected social theories related to various aspects of modern life and beyond. Major themes will include: (a) repression- class, sexual and technological, (b) conflict - class and gender, (c) bourgeoisie reification, alienation, individualization and detachment and (d) consequences of modern technology - time-space compression, space of flows, flexible accumulation, plastic sexuality and liquid love. Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, students will be able to compare and contrast different theoretical approaches to the understanding of social change and will develop their ability to think critically about various theories of social change and the factors operating within the wider society. |
| SOC 503 | Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment | 4 |
Course Objectives: The course sociology of development and underdevelopment aims to provide a basic training to the students on recent global dynamics of development and underdevelopment. This course offers particular historical trajectories of development and underdevelopment from 13th centuries to the 21st centuries and from First World to the Third World countries. Besides, this course incorporates major theories of development and underdevelopment, such as modernization, dependency, neo-Marxist, and world system theories, examining the structural causes of development and underdevelopment both in developing and developed countries. Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course students should be able to get a comprehensive idea about the recent trend of urbanization and industrialization and its discontents in society, such as poverty, corruption, tax evasion, money laundering including the policies formulated and implemented by the state and international organizations. |
| SOC 504 | Advanced Research Methods | 4 |
Course Objectives: This course is designed to provide students with the necessary knowledge to undertake higher research in sociology and to acquire the competencies they need to deal with complex data and new analytical tools. The objective of this course is to provide opportunities to learn and apply the skills necessary for social research, particularly to equip graduate students with the appropriate quantitative and qualitative skills for higher education and employment. The course consists of advanced tools and techniques on both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Emphasis will be given on hypothesis testing, multivariate analyses, research design, operationalization of variables, and measurement issues including wide variety of qualitative approaches. Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of the course, students will demonstrate an understanding of advanced quantitative research methodologies and employ appropriate analytical procedures for the examination of data collected in quantitative research. They will also be exposed to a range of qualitative research methodologies, developing in-depth skills for interpretive research design as well as skills in data analysis and reporting. |
| SOC 505 | Social Gerontology | 4 |
Course Objectives: The world’s older population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate presenting a host of challenges to many aspects of life. The number of elderly people is also increasing in Bangladesh which has profound socio-economic, cultural and political implications. This demographic trend represents enormous challenges affecting so many aspects of public life including older people’s families. In this context, this course explores the foundations and developments in the fields of social gerontology and offers students the opportunity to think critically about the study of aging, contemporary policy issues, sociological theories, emerging forms of aging, and the current approaches to the study of aging. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students will become familiar with issues and concepts central to the study of aging, understand the basic social, psychological, and biophysical changes that occur as part of the human aging process. |
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOC 557 | Comprehensive (written) and viva vocea | 4 | |
| SOC 558 | Advanced Research Monograph | 4 | |
| SOC 552 | Issues and Problems of Development in South Asia | 4 | |
| SOC 553 | Population, Politics and Development | 4 | |
| SOC 554 | Sociology of Health and Illness | 4 | |
| SOC 555 | Marxist Sociology | 4 |