SA3073 Anthropology of Work

Academic year

2025 to 2026 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 9

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

The module will only be available to students who have passed SA1002, SA2001 and SA2002

Planned timetable

To be arranged

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr A P Gutierrez Garza

Dr A P Gutierrez Garza
This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Ana Gutierrez Garza

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

Most of us spend a huge amount of our lives engaged in work. But what is work? What do we mean by this? Questions around work and what counts as work – as well as how much it is valued- will be explored in this course across time and space. We will see how anthropologists have studied the ways in which every day experiences of work (re)produce economic subjectivities, social hierarchies and social relations in complex ways. Labour markets, particularly under global capitalism, are organised to exploit and profit across various differences such as: gender, racial, nationality, migration status and class. On this course, we will draw on a cross-cultural comparison of ethnographies that explore the organisation and value of work, labour exploitation, and resistance within an intersectional framework that takes into consideration the role of gender, sex, class, and status among other aspects. We will think anthropologically about work and the impact that it has on our personhood.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisites

BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE YOU MUST PASS SA1002 AND PASS SA2001 AND PASS SA2002

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1 x 1-hr Lecture (x11 weeks) and 1 x 1-hr Seminar (x10 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

51

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

241

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Identify and understand anthropological debates about and approaches to labour.
  • Engage critically with the literature and use analytical and research skills to reflect on labour practices and cross-cultural ideas of work.
  • Identify labour trends under present-day capitalism and modes of extraction.
  • Research and critically assess the way that workers have organised cross-culturally and in different economic sectors.