History and Social Policy

A joint honours degree allows you to study the same core topics as students on each single honours course, but you’ll take fewer optional and discovery modules so you can fit in both subjects. You’ll also undertake a major research project in either subject in your final year.

History

In your first year you’ll study core modules that introduce you to concepts such as historiography, and develop historical skills like working with primary sources. In the following year, you’ll choose from a wide range of optional modules, keeping a balance between earlier and later periods. You could study the Crusades, Imperial Germany or Mao Zedong and China since 1949. In your final year, you’ll focus on a specific theme or topic in your special subject and develop your research and critical skills.

Social Policy

Core modules in your first year will give you an understanding of the social, political, economic and cultural influences that have shaped the welfare state since the 1940s, as well as some of the key debates surrounding welfare today. In the following year, you’ll continue to study some of the major issues in social policy, as well as choosing from optional modules on topics such as urban disorders, crime and the law. In your final year you’ll also shape your studies to suit your interests through a wider range of optional modules.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Historiography and Historical Skills 20 credits
• Primary Sources for the Historian: An Introduction to Documentary study 20 credits
• Studying in a Digital Age (Arts) 5 credits
• Identities, Inequalities and Policy in Contemporary Society 20 credits
• Social Policy: Poor Laws to the Present 20 credits

Optional modules

• Understanding and Researching the City 20 credits
• Understanding and Researching Contemporary Society 20 credits

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Key Debates in Social Policy 20 credits

Optional modules

• The Crusades and Medieval Christendom 20 credits
• Victorian England: Old England and Industrial Society 1837-1865 20 credits
• Britain and the Atlantic World 20 credits
• Crime, Law and Regulation 20 credits
• Sociology of Work 20 credits
• Urban Disorders, Social Divisions and Social Control 20 credits

Year 3

Optional modules

• The Cultural History of Venice, 1509-1797 40 credits
• The Soviet Sixties: Politics and Society in the USSR, 1953-1968 40 credits
• The Troubles: The Northern Ireland Conflict, 1968-Present 40 credits
• Discipline and Punish 20 credits
• Sociology of Consumerism 20 credits

For more information on typical modules, read History and Social Policy BA in the course catalogue

Broadening your academic horizons

At Leeds we want you to benefit from the depth and breadth of the University's expertise, to prepare you for success in an ever-changing and challenging world. This course gives you the opportunity to broaden your learning by studying discovery modules. Find out more on the Broadening webpages.

Learning and teaching

Our tutors are experts in their fields, and their teaching is informed by their own cutting-edge research.

We use a range of teaching methods to help you benefit from their expertise, including lectures, seminars, tutorials or occasionally workshops. However, independent study is also central to this degree, since it allows you to develop your skills in research and analysis. You will be able to apply your skills and knowledge in a Final Year Research Project on a topic of your own choice.

Assessment .

We also use different types of assessment. Usually we use a mixture of exams and essays, but you may also be assessed on oral presentations or group work in some modules