BA Literature and Sociology

University of Essex

Bachelor's degree

In Colchester

£ 9,250 + VAT

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Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Colchester

  • Duration

    3 Years

About the course
Travel the world with the turn of a page

Our literary expertise is geographical as well as chronological - here you don’t just study English literature, you study world literature in English

Alongside the English literary canon, you read some of the most important novels, poems, and plays from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe


Studying literature alongside sociology means that you can investigate what connects people with each other, as well as what divides them

We consider every aspect of our daily lives, from how we relate to politicians, celebrities and friends, to how we define ourselves, our families, and others

You can study topics ranging from digital media and society, to psychiatry and mental illness, to Japanese culture, to the art, film and personal testimony of war


Topics from both literature and sociology you can choose from include:
Modernist cityscapes in literature
Writing of the US South
Victorian literary realism
Culture, identity and subjectivity
Citizenship, multiculturalism and human rights
Our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies is ranked Top 20 in the UK (Guardian University Guide 2015), and our Department of Sociology is rated Top 10 in the UK for research quality (REF 2014)


Study abroad
Your education extends beyond the University campus

We support you extending your education by providing the option of an additional year at no extra cost

The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year studying abroad or employed on a placement, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course

Facilities

Location

Start date

Colchester (Essex)
See map
Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ

Start date

On request

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Reviews

Subjects

  • English
  • University
  • Writing
  • Sociology
  • Teaching
  • Media

Course programme

Example structure
Studying at Essex is about discovering yourself, so your course combines compulsory and optional modules to make sure you gain key knowledge in the discipline, while having as much freedom as possible to explore your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are just a selection of those available. The opportunity to take optional modules will depend on the number of core modules within any year of the course. In many instances, the flexibility to take optional modules increases as you progress through the course.
Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current first-year students, including details of all optional modules.
Year 1
Understanding Employability: Preparing for Your Future
Literature: Origins and Transformations
The Sociological Imagination
Media, Culture and Society (optional)
Contemporary Texts and Contexts
Year 2
Continuity and Controversy in Sociology: Sociological Analysis II
Social Psychology (Sociology): Self and Interaction (optional)
Versions of Modernity (optional)
Approaches to Text (optional)
Final year
Current Disputes in Sociology: Sociological Analysis III
Research Project: Sociology (optional)
Post-War(s) United States Fiction (optional)
Understanding and Writing Science Fiction (optional)
Year abroad
On your year abroad, you have the opportunity to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree. Our Programme Specification gives more detail about modules on your year abroad.
Teaching
Teaching will mainly take the form of lectures and classes of about 20 students
Innovative ways of engaging with texts include editing 16th century sonnets and archival research
Lab sessions to improve technical research skills
A typical timetable involves a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your modules every week
Assessment
Your final mark for each module is determined half by coursework and half by examination
A mark for class participation is included in your Literature coursework mark
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Additional information

Our Department has an exchange scheme with universities in Denmark, France, Finland, Greece, Germany, Spain and Italy through the ERASMUS programme This provides our students with the opportunity to view the world, and literature, from another perspective Studying abroad also allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised Placement year When you arrive at Essex, you can decide whether you would like to combine your course with a placement year You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our Employability and Careers Centre You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our Employability and Careers Centre Our expert staff Our world-leading sociology academics have their fingers on the pulse of modern society; whether it’s the battle between Apple and Spotify or the exploitation of female bodybuilders, we embed our innovative and sometimes controversial research into your course As well as publishing bestselling books, our academics have appeared in radio and television broadcasts such as Professor Mike Roper on the BBC World Service broadcast, London: The Psychology of War and Professor Pam Cox in the BBC TWO series Shopgirls: The True Story of Life Behind the Counter and Servants: The True Story of Life Below Stairs Our literature staff specialise in a range of areas including modernism, comparative and world literature, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, travel writing, nature writing, translated literature, cultural geography, Irish and Scottish writing, U S and Caribbean literature, and the history of reading Specialist facilities Links with the Institute of Social and Economic Research, which conducts large-scale survey projects and has its own...

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BA Literature and Sociology

£ 9,250 + VAT

The best Literature courses

See all

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