Sociology

Social Research Methods

This module builds on the knowledge students acquired in the module 'Researching the Social World'. It aims to help students develop practical skills in social research, including the design and administration of questionnaires and interviews, sample recruitment, data entry, analysis and interpretation and the presentation of research findings.

Gender and Society

This module provides an opportunity to put gender at the centre of social analysis. An understanding of the social processes that shape women’s and men’s lives in contemporary societies will be developed by exploring a range of theoretical approaches. The centrality of gender in everyday life will be highlighted, as will the ways in which gender relations are reflected and reproduced in social institutions. Gender relations are also analysed in the context of ‘globalisation’.

'Race', Ethnicity and Inequality

This module explores the concepts of ‘race’, ethnicity, and racism, by integrating a theoretical analysis with issues such as education, employment, housing, migration, policing, and the impact of anti-discrimination legislation. It introduces students to contemporary debates on ‘race’, ethnicity and racism, and examines the position and experience of different minority ethnic groups. This includes some of the processes that lead to the exclusion of some minority ethnic groups from mainstream social life. Although the focus is on the UK context, a cross-cultural comparative perspective will be employed in order to highlight the complexities of the social constructions of ‘race’ and ethnicity, and the related social inequalities.

Global Sociology

This module explores the origins, nature and consequences of global social change. The tensions between the global and the local will be examined as they relate to economic, political and cultural processes in contemporary societies. Competing explanations of the impact and significance of global change will be explored.

Sociology of Work

This module equips students with a sound understanding and knowledge of a range of investigative strategies and associated methodological issues in social research and how the social world is researched. Its major components include an introduction to research design, ethics in social research, strength and limitations of different research approaches and methodological issues in data collection, analysis and dissemination. This will enable students to critically engage with and assess published research - a key dimension in much academic and related work - and to understand the principles of primary data collection.

Culture and Everyday Life

This module explores different aspects of culture by integrating theoretical and empirical analysis of specific issues, including: matters of taste, cultural classification, media, the fashion system, subcultures, bodily culture, and food practices. It aims to demonstrate the significance of these cultural issues in various sociological processes, including: globalisation, group formation, resistance and exclusion. The module addresses contemporary case studies, using examples from British popular culture, to discuss the usefulness of the theories and concepts covered in the lectures.

Anthropology of India

Anthropology of Ritual

Cities: Geographies of the Urban Experience

State and Society: Europe and the United States

This module offers an exploration into the social and political foundations of European states and societies. It looks at the processes of nation and state-building, and the relationship between the state, market and society, consolidation of European models of capitalism and the construction of European approaches to citizenship. The future of European states and societies and their ability to respond to contemporary social and political challenges is evaluated through a historical and comparative perspective.

The Social World of Childhood and Youth

An introduction to the social world of childhood through the study of changing conceptions of childhood. This is extended to consider the implications of different models of socialisation and to review structural, cultural and experiential factors in the development of child identity. A strong feature of this module is its use of life and history material.

Sociology Dissertation

This module provides the opportunity for independent research under supervision. Although students are encouraged to employ the research skills they acquire from the research methods modules, it is not a formal requirement that students have to conduct primary data collection for their dissertations.

Democratic Challenges in Russia and the EU

Ethics, Power and World Politics

Racialised Identities in Super-Diverse Societies

This module aims to provide an in depth understanding of identities and difference in contemporary western societies. Students will explore postcolonial theories of the Self and Otherness by assessing their relevance for understanding the complexity of difference in multicultural and super-diverse societies. It explores how racial identities are shaped and experienced at the everyday level in combination with other markers of social difference (gender, class and age).

Sociology of Health and Illness

Theorising Society

Exploring central problems of social theorising, this module introduces and analyses key perspectives, concepts and debates in both classical and contemporary sociological theory. It aims to locate the central concepts and theories intellectually and socially and consider their relevance for, and relationship to, everyday life.

The Sociology of Migration

This module explores the social, economic and cultural processes involved in international migration. It looks at global patterns of migration, whilst considering the different ways in which migration has been studied and theorised. Students are introduced to a number of key concepts and debates in contemporary migration research, as well as a range of empirical examples. They are encouraged to develop an understanding of different kinds of migration, whilst appreciating the limits and problems of some established categories, including “undocumented migration”, and the distinction between “economic” and “forced” migration.

The Sociology of Emotions

This module aims to introduce students to a sociological perspective on emotions. This is different from the assumption that feelings are 'natural', 'inwardly located' and mostly 'private' experiences, and presents how social researchers think of them as socially constructed and/or socially constituting. It examines why sociologists have largely neglected emotions and what a sociological approach can bring to our understanding of them. This will enable students to explore how the sociology of emotions can challenge some of sociology's key premises and to critically analyse debates about the changing role of emotions in social life.

Gendering Intimate Relationships

This module explores the sociology of contemporary intimate life, with a particular focus on gender, identities, relationships, family lives and shifting intimate/household arrangements. Societal transformations have changed possibilities in relation to how individual and family lives are lived and understood in the intimate sphere. However, tensions and apparent contradictions also configure the ways in which ‘appropriate’ and gendered behaviours are (discursively) regarded. This module will take a life-course approach; enabling students to understand, analyse and theorise the interplay of these topical, complex and diverse aspects of the contemporary intimate sphere.