SU Sociology 362 Globalisation and the South: Development Perspectives

This exam notes guide focuses on Stellenbosch University (SU)—and specifically Sociology 362: Globalisation and the South: Development Perspectives—through a critical sociological lens. It develops the course’s core themes: how global economic and political processes shape development outcomes in the “Global South,” how development is contested, and how different theoretical approaches explain those contests. The guide also connects theory to empirically grounded debates, with emphasis on Southern African realities and the institutions where you are likely to encounter these ideas—particularly South African universities, colleges, and TVETs.

Section 1: Defining “Globalisation” and “the South” in Sociological Development Studies

Globalisation is not simply “more trade” or “more communication.” In a development-studies sociology course like SU Sociology 362, it is typically treated as a structured set of relations—economic, cultural, political, and technological—that reshape power across borders. “The South,” meanwhile, is not a purely geographical term; it is a shorthand for historically produced positions in the world system: those that have often experienced extraction, dependency, unequal exchange, and political constraints imposed through global institutions and markets.

Globalisation as social relations: beyond economics

A sociological approach insists that globalisation is a set of social relations—linking institutions, states, corporations, labour markets, and cultural forms—while shaping everyday life. Key elements include:

Capital mobility and production networks: multinational firms organise supply chains across continents. Workers and communities in the “South” can become embedded in global value chains where the bargaining power is often asymmetric.
Migration and transnational households: remittances, transnational kinship ties, and “brain drain” reshape labour markets and social reproduction.
Cultural flows and symbolic power: global media industries, consumer cultures, and “development narratives” influence what counts as modernity, success, and legitimacy.
Political governance at scale: global rules and conditionalities (formal or informal) shape domestic policy space.

A useful exam move is to emphasise that globalisation is also selective: it intensifies some flows (investment, communication, some forms of migration) while restricting others (unregulated movement of labour into high-income markets, geopolitical constraints on certain regimes). This selectivity produces distinctive development consequences.

“The South” as a relational category

In Sociology 362, “the South” is best approached as a relational category rooted in historical processes—colonialism, uneven industrialisation, and the creation of dependent trade and finance structures. It includes but is not limited to sub-Saharan Africa.

To handle exam questions well, distinguish:

Spatial geography: the Global South is often located in the southern hemisphere (but this is not the defining feature).
Historical position: colonial extraction, later patterns of dependency through trade and finance.
Institutional constraints: influence of international financial institutions, investors, and rule-setting bodies on national policy choices.
Discursive positioning: “developing” becomes a category that sorts countries into hierarchies of knowledge and legitimacy.

A critical implication is that two countries both labelled “Global South” may have very different trajectories due to domestic political settlement, state capacity, social coalitions, and region-specific global links (commodities, manufacturing, finance, services).

Development perspectives: why “development” is contested

In a globalisation-and-development course, “development” is never neutral. It is a project with ideologies, assumptions, and measurable targets—and it is also a site of struggle.

Common ways development becomes contested include:

Economic debates: Is development best achieved through liberalisation and export-led growth, or through protection, industrial policy, and state-led transformation?
Social debates: Does development focus on poverty reduction, human capabilities, inequality, or redistribution?
Political debates: Is development constrained by authoritarianism, weak institutions, or by external coercion?
Epistemic debates: Whose knowledge counts? Are local realities treated as “exceptions” to universal models?

A sociological framing treats development as governance through categories (e.g., “poverty,” “underdevelopment,” “good governance”) that can discipline populations and states. The result is that development policy can function both as material intervention and as a regime of representation.

Key historical foundations: dependency and world-systems thinking

Two influential sociological traditions help structure “Globalisation and the South” debates:

Dependency theory
Suggests that peripheral economies are positioned in ways that reproduce underdevelopment. Development failures are not merely internal; they arise from structural constraints linked to global capitalism. Peripheral economies can export raw materials while importing high-value manufactured goods, limiting industrial upgrading.
World-systems theory
Categorises countries into core, semi-periphery, and periphery, based on their roles in the global division of labour. Movement between categories occurs but is difficult. Semi-peripheries can temporarily grow by shifting production structures, yet they often remain vulnerable to external shocks.

These theories frequently appear in exam settings because they provide a critique of “single-cause” development explanations. They support arguments that link global market structure, class relations, and state strategies.

Southern African emphasis: why local contexts matter

Even when the course uses general frameworks, the strongest answers show how globalisation is refracted through Southern African realities: commodity dependence, youth labour markets, the politics of land, health systems under strain, and unequal spatial development.

Examples you should be ready to discuss include:

Commodity economies: dependence on minerals or agricultural exports can expose countries to price volatility, affecting fiscal space and employment.
Uneven industrial geography: manufacturing clusters can grow in certain regions while others experience deindustrialisation or informalisation.
Public service pressures: education and health financing can be affected by external debt, exchange rate pressures, and global aid regimes.

In exam writing, avoid treating “South” as a uniform block. Use the idea of uneven development—within and between countries—to show sociological sophistication.

Practice exam-style prompts (how to respond)

You may be asked to define terms or compare perspectives. A typical structured response for a prompt like “Explain how globalisation shapes development outcomes in the Global South” should include:

Definition: globalisation as structured relations (not only trade).
Mechanisms: supply chains, capital flows, policy influence, cultural narratives.
Perspective: dependency/world-systems or alternative approaches.
Example: at least one concrete Southern African case.
Implication: why development is contested and politically consequential.

Keep your answers conceptually anchored while still grounded in empirical realities.

Section 2: Theoretical Lenses on Development Under Globalisation (and Their Critiques)

To do well in Sociology 362, you need to demonstrate that you can move between theoretical lenses—sometimes using one to critique another. The exam usually rewards clarity about what each perspective explains well, what it leaves out, and how it interprets evidence.

1) Modernisation and its critiques: development as linear progress

Modernisation theory, historically influential, frames development as a linear pathway: societies transition from “traditional” to “modern” through industrialisation, education, and institutional reforms. It often assumes that economic growth will expand opportunities and that social change is broadly convergent.

In the Globalisation and the South context, critiques include:

Eurocentrism and teleology: assuming Western historical trajectories as the model.
Underestimating structural constraints: treating underdevelopment as internal delay rather than external dependence.
Neglect of power: modernisation can miss how global inequalities shape national choices.

Modernisation is still useful as a baseline because it helps you show what sociologists reject: the idea that development is mainly a matter of “catch-up.”

2) Structuralist and dependency approaches: uneven power as cause

Dependency theory and structuralist perspectives explain development outcomes through global power relations. They highlight:

Unequal exchange: peripheral producers selling low-value goods while importing higher-value products.
External financing constraints: debt and interest payments can limit social spending.
Political conditionality: global institutions influence reforms, which may benefit certain groups domestically.

A strength of structuralist approaches is their insistence that development must be analysed as political economy, not only as policy technique. However, critiques often argue that dependency frameworks can become too deterministic—downplaying agency, domestic coalitions, and the possibility of industrial upgrading.

3) Neoliberalism and “market-friendly” development: governance through adjustment

Neoliberal policy frameworks typically emphasise market efficiency, trade liberalisation, deregulation, and fiscal austerity. In the development debates of the Global South, neoliberalism is strongly associated with structural adjustment and “Washington Consensus” policy packages (though the exact label and scope can vary across contexts).

Mechanisms often discussed in exam answers:

Trade liberalisation can expand imports and challenge local industries, potentially undermining employment in sectors unable to compete.
Privatisation can improve efficiency in some cases, but may also reduce job security or increase costs for low-income users.
Fiscal austerity can reduce public spending, affecting education, health, and social protection.
Labour market flexibility may increase hiring in some contexts while also weakening worker protections.

However, neoliberal approaches are also defended on grounds such as macroeconomic stability and the potential for private investment to create jobs and expand productivity. This produces a recurring exam-worthy conflict: does market-led growth produce redistribution, or does it reinforce inequality?

4) Capabilities and human development: development as expanding freedoms

In contrast to strictly economic growth models, capabilities approaches define development as expanding people’s real freedoms—health, education, mobility, and agency. This lens is particularly useful for discussing outcomes rather than only policies.

Strengths:

Broader metrics: shifts attention from GDP alone to health and education outcomes.
Relevance to social justice: focuses on unequal life chances.

Critiques:

Risk of depoliticisation: capabilities can be framed as technical investments rather than products of power and inequality.
Insufficient focus on structural constraints: if macroeconomic and political constraints are severe, capabilities cannot expand without confronting underlying power relations.

A balanced answer can show how capabilities thinking corrects growth-only approaches but must still be embedded in political economy.

5) Postcolonial and decolonial perspectives: development as discourse and knowledge power

Postcolonial approaches argue that development is not only a set of interventions; it is also a discursive regime that produces “the Third World” as an object of knowledge. Development becomes a field where experts, institutions, and donors shape what is seen, counted, and treated as legitimate.

Key themes:

Epistemic inequality: whose categories define “poverty,” “good governance,” and “capacity”?
Continuities of colonial power: even when formal colonialism ends, patterns of hierarchy persist.
Cultural politics of modernity: what counts as “progress” may reproduce external standards.

Decolonial critiques go further by calling for changes not only in policy but in the underlying structures of knowledge and domination. In an exam, strong responses show that these perspectives expose the politics of development but also need to show how discourse connects to material outcomes.

Comparative synthesis: what each lens captures

A high-scoring answer often includes a synthesis such as:

Modernisation: highlights institutions and social change but risks linear and Eurocentric assumptions.
Dependency/structuralism: explains structural constraints but can underplay agency.
Neoliberalism: emphasises incentives and macro stability, but can ignore distributional and labour impacts.
Capabilities: focuses on lived freedoms and outcomes, but can underplay structural power.
Postcolonial/decolonial: critiques knowledge and legitimacy, but must specify how to translate critique into policy and institutional change.

Counter-arguments you should be prepared to make

Exams reward not just describing theories, but showing debate competence. Common counter-arguments include:

Against dependency: “If structures determine outcomes, why do some countries within the periphery develop more rapidly than others?”
Against neoliberalism: “If markets are efficient, why do we repeatedly see poverty persistence and precarious work under liberalisation?”
Against decolonial discourse critique: “How do we evaluate policy effectiveness if we only criticise knowledge production?”
Against capabilities alone: “Can individual capabilities expand without transforming labour markets, land relations, and state capacity?”

A good strategy is to answer each counter-argument with a specific adjustment: not “theory A is right,” but “the theory works when supplemented by X.”

Linking to Sociology 362’s central concern: development under globalisation

The course title signals the integration: globalisation is not an external background; it shapes development outcomes and the contestation of development itself. The theoretical lenses become tools for answering:

Why do policies succeed or fail?
Why are some groups consistently disadvantaged?
How do global rule systems shape national policy space?
How do narratives of development justify interventions?
How do everyday experiences reveal structural constraints?

Use this integration to structure exam responses: begin with a general claim about development under globalisation, then select a theoretical lens to explain mechanism and contestation.

Section 3: Global Institutions, Policy Space, and the Political Economy of Development

This section builds the “globalisation mechanics” component of Sociology 362: how global institutions, financial regimes, trade frameworks, and governance norms shape what states can do. It also focuses on how policy space is contested within countries—across classes, parties, social movements, and labour organisations.

Global governance and rule-setting: why policy space is never fully national

Globalisation affects development not only through markets, but through governance structures. Development policy is shaped by:

International financial institutions (e.g., those that influence lending conditions).
Trade and investment regimes that constrain tariffs, local content requirements, and industrial policy tools.
Aid governance and conditionalities, which may shape priorities in education, health, or governance.
Credit rating incentives that indirectly discipline fiscal policy.

A key sociological idea is that policy space becomes bounded—states can choose among constrained options. This can still be significant (states can adopt different strategies), but it changes what is realistically possible.

Finance, debt, and macroeconomic constraints

In many Global South debates, debt and financial instability are used to explain why governments struggle to sustain social programmes. Exam-friendly mechanisms include:

Currency vulnerability: depreciation raises the cost of servicing foreign-currency debt.
Interest rates: global interest rate shifts can tighten domestic financial conditions.
Austerity cycles: debt servicing can crowd out education or health budgets.
Procyclical fiscal policy: during downturns, fiscal tightening can worsen unemployment and poverty.

A strong answer links these finance constraints to social outcomes—especially youth unemployment, underfunded public services, and informalisation of labour.

Trade regimes and industrialisation dilemmas

Trade policy is central to debates about development strategies. A sociological approach highlights that trade liberalisation affects not only prices, but livelihoods and class relations.

Mechanisms:

Exposure of local producers to imported goods can reduce profits in certain sectors.
Employment displacement can rise, especially when labour protections are weak.
Skills and learning constraints: without industrial policy support, firms may not diversify into higher-value production.
Regional unevenness: sectors concentrated in specific provinces or industrial zones can grow while other regions decline.

Critiques of trade-led development argue that it can produce “growth without jobs,” or growth concentrated in sectors with limited labour absorption. Defences argue that integration can expand exports and encourage productivity gains.

Development assistance and governance norms

Development assistance often comes with expectations about governance, transparency, and institutional reform. This affects development trajectories by:

shaping project priorities;
influencing administrative structures;
supporting civil society organisations;
incentivising reforms that may or may not align with local political settlements.

However, scholars also stress that aid can be politically managed: funds can be absorbed in ways that prioritise bureaucratic compliance over long-term social transformation. In exam responses, you should discuss how aid intersects with domestic politics: ruling parties, patronage systems, bureaucratic capacity, and social movements.

Globalisation and labour markets: work, risk, and inequality

A defining feature of many development contexts is that globalisation interacts with labour markets. This can mean:

expansion of precarious work (temporary contracts, informal employment);
wage suppression in labour-intensive export industries;
migration and “labour arbitrage” where employers benefit from the mobility and vulnerability of workers;
gendered impacts where women often experience more insecure work.

A sociological development answer should connect these labour transformations to poverty dynamics and social protection debates: if livelihoods are precarious, development cannot be assessed only by macroeconomic indicators.

Case-based reasoning: development controversies in Southern Africa

To ground theory in Southern Africa, you can use recurring regional themes:

Unemployment and youth employment: development strategies frequently struggle to absorb new labour market entrants into stable work.
Public service pressures: education and health systems face funding, staffing, and infrastructure constraints.
Land and agricultural livelihoods: development debates often hinge on the relationship between land rights, productivity, and social justice.
Inequality and spatial segregation: urban development can reproduce unequal access to services.

The course often values the ability to show how global pressures—trade regimes, finance constraints, policy conditionalities—intersect with local power relations (class, race, gender, and political contestation).

Policy contestation within states

Policy space is not only constrained from outside; it is contested within. Sociological analysis should identify:

Who benefits from particular development strategies?
Who bears the costs (e.g., wage suppression, reduced subsidies, cuts to social spending)?
How social coalitions form in response (labour unions, student movements, community organisations).
How legitimacy is produced: governments must justify trade-offs to citizens.

An exam-ready argument: under globalisation, development policies may become more technocratic and less politically negotiable, but this does not eliminate politics—it changes where and how politics appears (e.g., in budget debates, procurement rules, labour law, and “reform” implementation).

Summary points for exams

When answering any question about global institutions and policy space, ensure you include:

Mechanism (how constraints operate: finance, trade, aid norms, governance).
Distribution (who gains/loses).
Political contestation (how internal actors respond).
Development outcomes (employment, inequality, public service access).

Section 4: Development Strategies, Social Policy, and Inequality—What Works, for Whom, and at What Cost?

This section focuses on development perspectives as they play out in strategies and social policies. It treats development as both an economic project and a social justice project. It also emphasises that “success” depends on distributional outcomes, not only aggregate growth.

Growth, jobs, and inequality: the central triad

A frequent exam question is to discuss whether development strategies deliver inclusive outcomes. A good sociological approach treats development performance through three interlinked variables:

Growth (economic expansion; GDP or sectoral growth);
Employment quality (jobs vs insecure work; wages and working conditions);
Inequality (income distribution, spatial inequality, gendered and racialised disparities).

Under globalisation, the relationship between growth and employment can weaken. For instance, export growth may be concentrated in capital-intensive sectors or may rely on precarious labour. Inequality can persist or intensify even where poverty rates decline.

Social policy and welfare regimes: beyond charity

Development under globalisation often includes social policy measures: cash transfers, unemployment support, education financing, and health interventions. Sociologically, social policy matters because it mediates the relationship between labour markets and livelihoods.

Key analytical themes:

Decommodification: how far social support reduces dependence on market wages.
Targeting vs universality: targeted programmes may improve efficiency but can create stigma or exclusion errors; universal approaches can be more politically stable but costlier.
State capacity and administrative effectiveness: the ability to register beneficiaries, prevent corruption, and deliver services.
Political legitimacy: citizens’ perceptions of fairness influence compliance and institutional stability.

In exam answers, avoid treating social policy as purely administrative. Link it to social struggles over redistribution and recognition.

Education as development: skills, inequality, and transformation

Education is a common focus in development debates. A sociological lens asks: does education translate into employment and social mobility? Under globalisation:

global labour markets increase demand for certain credentials and digital skills;
inequality in schooling quality can reproduce class and racial disparities;
skills mismatch can occur if the economy does not create enough formal jobs.

So, education policy success depends on how labour markets are structured and whether economic diversification creates pathways from schooling to decent work.

Health, capability, and rights: development as lived security

Health interventions—maternal health, HIV-related support, primary care strengthening—are often used to evaluate development’s human impacts. Sociologically, you should connect health outcomes to:

public financing capacity and debt constraints;
inequality in access between urban and rural or between income groups;
work-related health in insecure labour contexts;
the gendered burden of care and vulnerability.

In exams, capability approaches fit well here, but you should also emphasise political economy: without stable funding and labour protections, capability-building can be undermined.

Development and the informal economy: livelihoods under uncertainty

A major development issue in the Global South is the prominence of informal work. Globalisation can expand the informal sector through:

informal subcontracting networks;
reduced formal job creation;
competition and cost pressures that encourage informal survival strategies.

Sociological analysis should address:

informality as survival (not choice);
the heterogeneity of informality (street trading vs informal manufacturing vs services);
the risks of treating informality purely as a “problem to eradicate,” rather than recognising its economic and social functions.

A strong answer includes the idea that development interventions must manage livelihoods without criminalising survival.

Counterpoint: critique of “one-size-fits-all” development

Development strategies often travel between contexts through policy diffusion. Yet local outcomes vary due to:

differences in political settlements and elite incentives;
variations in state capacity;
cultural and social institutions shaping participation;
differences in global commodity exposure and external shocks.

In exam writing, demonstrate that “what works” is contingent. Avoid universal claims unless you specify the conditions where they hold.

A Southern African illustration: social protection and labour market pressures

In many Southern African contexts, social protection measures are increasingly important due to unemployment and precarious work. Cash transfers and child support grants, for example, can stabilise household consumption and reduce extreme poverty. But sociologically, you must discuss:

whether transfers are sufficient to secure long-term welfare;
how transfers interact with labour market demand;
whether social protection undermines or strengthens incentives for formal employment;
administrative coverage and inclusion/exclusion errors.

An exam-grade insight: social protection can reduce poverty but may not transform structural unemployment without accompanying labour market and industrial strategies.

Development costs: environmental and social externalities

Globalisation and development strategies can generate externalities:

pollution and health risks from extractive industries;
land degradation impacting agricultural livelihoods;
displacement and “development-induced” dispossession.

Sociologically, environmental justice becomes a development issue. You should consider:

who bears the environmental costs;
how compensation is negotiated;
whether communities have voice in decision-making;
how corporate power intersects with state regulation capacity.

This angle distinguishes strong answers from those that focus only on macro indicators.

Exam-ready structure for “evaluate” questions

When asked to evaluate a development strategy, structure your response as:

Describe the strategy (what it aims to do).
Explain mechanisms (how it is supposed to work).
Analyse distribution (who benefits, who loses).
Discuss evidence/cases (Southern African or comparative examples).
Critique limitations and propose conditions for success.

Section 5: Researching Globalisation and the South—Methods, Measurement, and Exam Application (Including South African Educational Pathways)

The final section treats Sociology 362 as both a theoretical and an empirical course. Globalisation and development claims must be researched with appropriate methods and evaluated with careful attention to measurement. It also connects the course’s concerns to the broader South African educational ecosystem—South African universities, colleges, and TVETs—because development perspectives shape and are shaped by how education systems train researchers and practitioners.

Methods for studying globalisation and development

Globalisation research requires multi-level analysis. Common approaches include:

Qualitative methods: interviews with workers, students, community leaders; ethnography of workplace and welfare institutions; focus groups exploring perceptions of development.
Quantitative methods: labour force surveys, poverty and inequality measures, education outcomes, trade and investment data.
Mixed-methods designs: using statistical patterns to identify cases and then using qualitative work to explain mechanism.

In exam writing, the strongest answers explain not only what methods are, but why they fit the sociological problem: globalisation operates through institutions and everyday life, so combining scales is often necessary.

Sampling and access: studying power

Studying development under globalisation raises ethical and practical issues:

elites may control access to data (official reports, corporate records);
marginalised groups may be harder to reach, yet they are crucial for understanding lived impacts;
researchers must navigate language barriers, safety concerns, and community trust.

Sociological method is political: who is interviewed and how influences what is learned.

Measurement problems: when indicators mislead

Development is often assessed through indicators—GDP growth, poverty rates, education attainment, health outcomes. Sociology 362 encourages you to interrogate:

What indicators omit: informal work quality, unpaid care labour, environmental degradation.
Measurement gaps: underreporting, missing data, definitional differences.
Time lags: effects of policy can take years to appear.
Attribution problems: many forces act simultaneously (global shocks, domestic politics, external debt cycles).

A well-structured exam answer should include at least one measurement critique. For example: poverty reduction claims may hide distributional changes; unemployment statistics may not reflect underemployment or informal livelihoods.

Intersectionality: class, gender, race, and age as analytic tools

Development under globalisation affects groups differently. Sociological analysis often uses intersectional reasoning:

Gendered impacts: women may experience more precarious work and carry care burdens; policy designs may assume households with stable incomes.
Racialised and spatial inequality: unequal access to services and labour markets can reproduce stratified outcomes.
Youth and transitions: education-to-work transitions may be blocked by limited job creation.

In exam answers, include one or two intersectional points rather than trying to cover everything superficially.

Linking research to institutional contexts: South African education and training

Because this guide is situated within Stellenbosch University (SU) Sociology & Social Anthropology, it is also useful to connect course themes to South African institutional training pathways—particularly the role of universities, colleges, and TVETs in producing skills and knowledge for development work.

Universities: sociological training and critical research capacity

South African universities train students in research methods, policy analysis, and social theory. In the context of globalisation and development:

students may engage in coursework and research projects analysing labour markets, inequality, education systems, or governance reforms;
supervisors and research groups shape how students conceptualise evidence and critique dominant development narratives.

Exam relevance: when asked to evaluate theories or methods, students trained in sociological research practices often demonstrate the ability to connect abstract concepts to empirical strategies.

TVET colleges: applied development learning and labour market relevance

TVETs are particularly relevant to the “development under globalisation” theme because they sit closer to vocational training and employability debates.

Sociological connections include:

skills development linked to labour market demand and the structure of employment;
how economic integration shapes which trades are valued (e.g., construction, services, maintenance);
the tension between training for formal jobs and the reality of informal and precarious employment.

A nuanced exam answer can argue that vocational education is not automatically “the solution” to unemployment; it must align with job creation strategies and social protection.

Bridging institutions and social mobilisation

Development perspectives in South Africa also depend on community organisations, NGOs, and labour structures. Even if Sociology 362 is an academic course, exam answers benefit from awareness that development research informs advocacy and program design.

Applying theory to an exam case: a model answer framework

To demonstrate practical mastery, here is a framework you can use in timed exam writing:

Define the concept (globalisation; “the South”; development).
Identify the core mechanism (trade, finance, policy constraints, cultural narratives).
Choose a theoretical lens (dependency, neoliberalism, capabilities, postcolonial).
Link to outcomes (employment quality, inequality, public services, rights).
Critique the lens (what it misses; counter-arguments).
Propose conditions or policy implications (what would make outcomes different).

This framework helps you avoid vague “essay talk” and instead write logically cumulative arguments.

Example question types and what markers look for

Even without exact past papers, Sociology 362 style questions typically fall into categories:

“Explain” questions

Markers want:

a clear definition;
key concepts and mechanisms;
at least one supporting theoretical point.

“Compare” questions

Markers want:

two theories/approaches with differences and similarities;
a clear statement of what each explains better.

“Evaluate” questions

Markers want:

balanced analysis;
mechanisms plus evidence or plausible case reasoning;
limitations and alternative perspectives.

“Discuss” questions

Markers want:

breadth with coherence;
ability to integrate globalisation and Southern development;
at least one critique of mainstream development assumptions.

Strengthening your writing: sociological specificity

To score high, write with specificity. Avoid:

generic statements like “globalisation affects development negatively/positively” without specifying how;
over-reliance on definitions without mechanisms;
theory listings with no engagement.

Instead include:

at least one mechanism (e.g., labour market precarity via export supply chains);
at least one social outcome (e.g., inequality, service access, youth unemployment);
at least one critique (e.g., measurement limits or under-theorised power).

A final integrative take: development as power-laden transformation

The course title—Globalisation and the South: Development Perspectives—invites a final synthesis: development is transformation, but it is rarely neutral. Globalisation shapes the possibilities of transformation through rules, markets, institutions, and discourses. Southern experiences—marked by inequality, contested governance, labour precarity, and social struggles—show that development outcomes depend on how power is organised across scales.

In exam terms, the best concluding claim is not that “globalisation is bad” or “development fails,” but that development under globalisation is a contested political project where theories compete and policies produce uneven and classed outcomes.

Consolidated Exam Checklist (Quick Use)

Definitions: globalisation as social relations; “the South” as relational/historical position.
Theories: modernisation, neoliberalism, dependency/world-systems, capabilities, postcolonial/decolonial.
Global governance: finance, trade regimes, aid conditionality, and bounded policy space.
Outcomes: growth–jobs–inequality; labour precarity; social policy and welfare legitimacy.
Methods: multi-level qualitative/quantitative/mixed approaches; measurement limitations.
South African relevance: connect to education pathways (universities/TVETs), labour markets, inequality, and public service pressures.

If you would like, I can also generate practice exam questions (with model answers) specifically aligned to SU-style Sociology 362 assessment prompts, and a one-page “formula sheet” for definitions and comparative theory contrasts.