The futures of work

Knowledge

You will learn to:

• understand the structural conditions of work, its globalised economic relations and the spatiality of workers’ politics.
• understand how social, political and ecological change affects workers, both in specific applied circumstances and on a more abstract level.
• acknowledge the significance of workers’ own actions and strategies, individually and collectively, within particular institutional contexts and subject to structural constraints.

Skills

You will be encouraged to:

• apply a critical geographical perspective to better understand and explain unevenness, difference and power relations in the world of work.
• assess the relevance and applicability of concepts from human geography and other social sciences to explain workers and workplaces in the global economy facing structural change and multiple crises.
• actively engage in written, oral and conversational discussions on the futures of work through seminar activity.
• demonstrate your knowledge and skills by producing an independent academic text.
• relate analytical concepts on work and employment to your own biography and life situation (reflection note).

General competences

This course will enable you to:

• apply critical thinking to the challenges facing the world of work, as seen from the standpoint of workers.

It is recommended that you have completed the following courses before you take this course:

SGO2200 and/or SGO2400. However, sitting examinations in these courses is not a prerequisite for taking this course.

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course is a part of the master's program in Human Geography. Students with admission to other relevant master’s degree programmes can apply for admission as guest students.

Master specialisation in didactics for social science in the Teacher Education Programme (Lektorprogrammet) - please see the link for information regarding admission.

The teaching is a combination of teacher presentations and student discussions and group exercises and consists of six interactive lectures followed by three seminar workshops. For each of these meetings, students are expected to either prepare an individual reflection note in advance or produce a group reflection note during the session

Compulsory instruction and coursework

• Students must submit a minimum of three individual reflection notes and one group reflection note within the announced deadlines. Reflection notes are to be uploaded in Canvas.

Completed and approved compulsory course work is valid until the course is no longer offered. Students who have failed to complete the compulsory course work cannot take the exam.

Absence from compulsory tuition activities

If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory tuition activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.

• Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory tuition activity

The exam is a 4-hour school exam.

One week before the exam, a predefined topic will be announced. The exam will relate to this topic, which will also be made available as a written attachment to the school exam.

Examiner guidelines

This course will pilot the University of Oslo’s new examination system, WISEflow, in the autumn of 2026. The exam will be conducted as an on-campus, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) exam, where you use your own laptop. You can find more information about BYOD exams and the use of WISEflow here

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.