Sociology BA with Year Abroad

The programme has been carefully designed to advance your skills and knowledge each year: from broad, introductory level modules in the first year to specialist options and a substantial piece of independent research in the final year.

Each year there is a balance between compulsory modules in the ‘core’ parts of the discipline (eg, theory and methods) and the chance for you to develop your own pathway with a range of specialist choices in and outside of Sociology.

In your first year you will be introduced to degree level sociology through Social Worlds and the Sociological Imagination, gain an understanding of stratification through Social Divisions, and learn the basics of research design and methods.

Core modules

• The Sociological Imagination
• Crime and Society
• Social Research Part I
• Social Research Part II
• Introduction to Social Divisions
• Sociology of Everyday Life
• Social Problems and Social Policy: Social Science in Action Part I
• Social Problems and Social Policy: Social Science in Action Part II

The second year builds on these foundations by developing your understanding of Modern Sociological Theory, and introducing debates about the nature of Global Societies.

Core modules

• Modern Sociological Theory
• Social Research II

Optional modules

You must choose 20 credits from one of the following options:

• Gender and Sexuality
• Sociology of Race' and Ethnicity - A Global Perspective
• Poverty, Class and Inequality

Choose your remaining credits from the following:

• Gender and Sexuality
• Self and Society
• Sociology of Race' and Ethnicity - A Global Perspective
• Media and Society
• Global Societies
• Contemporary Issues in Housing Policy
• Comparative Social Policy
• Managing Health and Social Care
• Changing Behaviours: A History
• Terror, Threat and Security
• Punishment in a Global Context
• Education, Policy and Social Justice

Your third year will be spent abroad at a university in the EU or elsewhere in the world. After completing your year abroad, you will return for your fourth and final year to the same BA degree programme. You will be required to choose from a range of modules provided by the host institution and which must be agreed by the exchange tutor.

There are a wide range of countries and universities from which you can choose. As well as a range of European universities, you may also choose from a range of current institutional partners worldwide. These include countries in which a variety of languages are spoken, including universities at which courses are taught in English. In recent years, students in the department have taken their year abroad in Australia, Canada, Denmark and the United States, among others.

The focus of the third year is your independent, supervised dissertation which brings together your research skills on a project defined by you. Our teaching staff, who are active researchers, run options in their own specialist fields including the family, political sociology, celebrity culture, the sociology of technology, religion and society and ethnicity and migration.

Core modules

• Dissertation
• Contemporary Social Theory

You must choose 60 credits from the optional modules below:

• Drugs: Society, Politics and Policy
• Technology and Society
• 'Freedom'?, Control and Critique
• Sociology of Film
• New Migration and Super Diversity
• Your Money and Your Life: From Welfare State to Personal Finance
• Harmful Societies: Crime, Social Harm and Social Justice
• Divided Publics?
• Crime and the City
• Sociology of Health and Illness
• Children as Citizens
• Gender and Education
• Quantitave Analysis I
• Quantitave Analysis II
• Prospects for Social Policy in the UK
• Professional Development Module

Please note: The modules listed on the website for this programme are regularly reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. Unless indicated otherwise, the modules listed for this programme are for students starting in 2020. On rare occasions, we may need to make unexpected changes to compulsory modules; in this event we will contact offer holders as soon as possible to inform or consult them as appropriate.