Social Policy with Enterprise

You’ll learn to think sociologically about various social issues and problems from the start of Year 1. A set of core modules will equip you with the research skills to study social policy and an understanding of the methods and techniques used in social research, as well as the formation of social policy in Britain over time. At the same time, you’ll develop your leadership skills and gain an understanding of the role of innovation in business, as well as using simulation software to understand the consequences of different types of decisions within a small business.

In the following year you’ll develop your research skills, helping to prepare you for the research you’ll undertake in your final year. Meanwhile, you’ll learn more about the process of planning and starting a business and have the chance to develop a group enterprise proposal. Around this you’ll choose from a set of modules related to major social issues such as drugs and crime, as well as business modules in aspects of social enterprise or entrepreneurship.

The dissertation you complete in your final year allows you to apply your research skills to a topic of your choice, which you’ll examine in depth. At the same time, you’ll work with a supervisor to develop a new enterprise of your own as a live case study, putting your leadership, planning and problem-solving skills into practice. Around these modules, you’ll choose from social policy modules on topics such as citizenship or childhood studies.

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

• Innovation and Creativity in Business 10 credits
• Understanding Social Enterprises 10 credits
• Enterprise in Action 10 credits
• Leadership in Business 10 credits
• Understanding and Researching the City 20 credits
• Understanding and Researching Contemporary Society 20 credits
• Social Policy: Poor Laws to the Present 20 credits

Discovery modules

• You will be required to study 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• New Enterprise Planning 20 credits
• Sociology and Social Policy Research Methods 20 credits
• Key Debates in Social Policy 20 credits

Optional modules

• Entrepreneurship in Theory and Practice 10 credits
• Managing Innovation in Business 10 credits
• Innovating Social Enterprises 10 credits
• Cultural and Creative Enterprise 10 credits
• Crime, Law and Regulation 20 credits
• Disability Studies: An Introduction 20 credits
• Debates in Childhood and Youth 20 credits
• Sociology of Work 20 credits
• Urban Disorders, Social Divisions and Social Control 20 credits
• Social and Public Policy beyond the University 20 credits

Discovery modules

• You will be required to study 20 credits of discovery modules

Year 3

Compulsory modules