MSc Labour, Social Movements and Development (2019 Entry)

Overview:

Who is this programme for?

The programme is for students who wish to understand how labour and collective agency impacts on core processes of development. Our students acquire skill sets that combine theory and practice of labour, social movements and how they interplay with key developmental themes and interventions.

The programme is relevant to students with a strong background in the social sciences in their first degree as well as practitioners and activists from a wide spectrum of organisations and approaches.

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MSc Labour, Social Movement and Development

Find out more in our upcoming free Webinar: MSc Labour, Social Movements and Development - 20 March 2019, 3pm What the programme does for you?

Students are encouraged to examine critically the relationship between labour, capitalism, development and poverty. We investigate labour in the contemporary social and economic development of the Global South as well as established and emerging social movements of labour in local, national and international spaces. You will learn to identify and evaluate the relationship between collective agency, policy and vice-versa.

A virtual or physical placement in an organisation promoting collective and progressive social change will enable you to develop an understanding of how a social movement or a union deal with such issues in practice.

We work in a seminar/tutorial formats that encourage critical thinking and participation via an emphasis on the relationship between theory and practice. Programme lecturers are not just research active. We are also activists and have experience of participation in labour and social movements across the world - Latin America, Africa and Asia and Europe and have on-going contacts with such movements as well as with NGOs and international organisations. We are well-placed to work with you on applying a deep understanding of collective movements to the challenge of working in development, development-related organisations and beyond into education and corporate social responsibility at various levels and scales.

Students can draw on SOAS's unique experience to specialise further in particular regions and topics. Regional expertise at SOAS allows students of MSc in Labour, Social Movements and Development to specialise in some of the most dynamic parts of the developing world. Students also benefit from the wide range of modules on offer, both within the department and across the School, allowing them to create individualised interdisciplinary programmes.

The programme's emphasis on transferable analytical skills will be of great benefit to graduates who return to, or take up, professional careers in international organisations, government agencies and non-governmental organisations and movements.

The department has a Labour, Movements and Development research cluster which carries out research activities linked to labour, social movements and development.

Highlights include:

• A placement with an active labour or social movement organisation
• Labour process and organisations: development trajectories and divisions in the south
• A comparative history of labour and social movements in countries such as china, korea, india, south africa, brazil and the middle east
• Corporate social responsibility initiatives, codes of conduct and anti-sweatshop campaigning
• The impact of neoliberalism and globalisation on workers in the south
• Informalisation of labour, casualization and precarious work and the rise of the gig economy
• Feminisation of labour
• The worst forms of exploitation: forced labour, child labour and modern slavery
• Rural labour, migrant labour and labour in export processing zones
• Household and reproductive labour
• The international labour organisation, international labour standards and decent work
• Practices and theories of local, national and international labour campaigns
• An assessed group project that allows students to apply acquired knowledge to 'virtual' practice

Overview duration: One calendar year (full-time) Two (part-time, daytime only) We recommend that part-time students have between two and a half and three days free in the week to pursue their course of study.

Fees 2019/20:

• UK/EU fees:

Interested Students.

Structure:

Students must take 180 credits per year comprised of 120 taught credits (including core, compulsory and optional modules) and a 60 credit dissertation.

Core modules: A core module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken and passed before you move on to the next year of your programme. Compulsory modules: A compulsory module is required for the degree programme, so must always be taken, and if necessary can be passed by re-taking it alongside the next year of your programme. Optional modules: These are designed to help students design their own intellectual journey while maintaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.

Our mission is to inspire the next generation to develop ideas for a fairer and more sustainable world. We welcome the brightest minds from over 130 different countries, creating a community that is diverse, vibrant and multinational. From day one at our central London campus, our students are encouraged to challenge conventional views and think globally – and that’s one of the reasons why they develop careers that make a real difference. A SOAS student is typically passionate about their subject, opts to learn a second language, loves to learn, to travel, to be surprised; and is interested and engaged with the world around them.