Sociology

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Sociology of Health and Illness

  How do we view health and illness in society today? In this module, you’ll dig into key debates on health and illness, focusing on theoretical perspectives and real-life experiences. You’ll gain key analytical skills as you engage with ethical debates around decision making in health and illness.

  As you investigate health and illness, you’ll use both lay perspectives and medical knowledge to inform your understanding. You’ll also consider:

  • concepts of lifestyle and risk
  • the centrality of the body in modern debates
  • the medicalisation of everyday life, death and dying. 

  You’ll learn how our understanding of health and illness is affected by:

  • circumstances
  • gendered experiences
  • social class
  • culture
  • race
  • age.

• Theorising Power & Society

  In this module, you’ll dive into key ideas within social and political theory. You’ll explore the key debates on themes such as: 

  • the State
  • gender
  • freedom
  • equality
  • power.

  
  By exploring texts, including Hobbes’ Leviathan and Rousseau's The Social Contract, as well as evaluating topics such as capitalism, progress and “the end of history”, you will develop your interpretation and analysis skills.

• UK Politics

  In this module you will explore the history and detail of British politics, covering the major events and themes of contemporary British politics. 
  
  Examine the complex institutions that make up the British political system and how these have changed over time, including the evolution of political parties and how policy is made by the executive and implemented by the civil service. 
  
  You’ll look at political and economic factors side-by-side in how the British state is constituted and how decisions are made. You’ll also cover topics like;

  • the changing nature of the British political system
  • conceptual approaches to British politics
  • the post-war consensus and its end electoral politics
  • declinism
  • Britain’s foreign relations and its relationship with Europe.

  Equip yourself with the knowledge and critical analytical skills to understand contemporary British politics.

• Social Research Methods

  You’ll gain crucial skills for employment, as you develop your knowledge of social research. You’ll build on your understanding from the module ‘Researching the Social World’ and develop skills in:

  • designing and delivering questionnaires and interviews
  • sample recruitment
  • data entry
  • analysis and interpretation
  • presenting research findings.

  This will give you fantastic competitive skills for the workplace.

   

• Gender and Society

  In this module, you’ll look at gender and its central role in society. You’ll explore the social processes that affect the lives and roles of people in society. We’ll consider the centrality of gender in everyday life, and how society reflects and reproduces gender relations.

• 'Race', Ethnicity and Inequality

  Why do we exclude some ethnic groups from society? In this module, we’ll explore race, ethnicity and racism through:

  • employment
  • education
  • housing
  • migration
  • policing
  • the impact of anti-discrimination legislation.

  You’ll engage with pressing debates on race, ethnicity and racism. You’ll explore the experiences of minority ethnic groups and you’ll explore the factors which exclude them from mainstream society. We’ll focus on the UK, but also consider ethnic minorities in other cultures. We’ll highlight the complexities of social constructions of race and other social inequalities.

• Global Sociology

  In this module, you’ll explore worldwide social change and what causes it. You’ll consider the consequences of global social change in different nations in terms of politics, economics and culture. You will also engage with competing explanations of global change and debate its impact and significance.

• Work, Employment and Society

  In this module, you’ll dive into the key issues of work, and its relationship with society. You’ll explore theories for understanding work, employment and the labour market and gain valuable critical skills as you consider how to define work, and its activities. You’ll explore:

  • production, technologies and skills in the workplace
  • power and conflict in the labour market
  • the changing face of work and employment 
  • social inequality, such as gender, ethnicity and social class. 

  You also examine different types of work, and how they impact the lives of individuals. 

   

Optional modules

• Ritual and Society

  What are rituals, and why do we perform them? In this module, you’ll explore the key role of rituals in society. You’ll look at various human communities as you consider the origins of ritual, and its different definitions. You’ll gain valuable critical skills as you explore key anthropological concepts, including:

  • rites of passage
  • liminality
  • anti-structure
  • communities.

  We often stereotype ritual as exotic, and about religion. However, you’ll enrich your perspective as you explore ritual in non-religious contexts. You’ll look at ritual within:

  • politics and power relations
  • social identities
  • social traditions.

• Cities: Geographies of the Urban Experience

  In this module, you’ll examine the human relationships and layouts of the world’s great cities - from the nineteenth century to today. You’ll gain valuable critical skills as you analyse the trends likely to shape such cities in the future and consider people and place as inseparable, exploring the relationship between human societies and the physical cities they live in.

• Public Criminology

  In this module, you’ll dive into real world problems of crime and criminal justice. You’ll apply your criminology knowledge to:

  • find solutions to key questions of crime and justice
  • find solutions to problems in current practice
  • explore how these solutions can inform future research.

  You’ll examine case studies from current policy and practice. You’ll apply the insights of:

  • practitioners
  • policy-makers
  • politicians.

  currently working in criminal justice. You’ll gain a strong understanding of how criminology works in real life and explore why there is a disconnect between the classroom, and criminology in practice.

• State and Society: Europe and the United States

  How do nations and states come about? In this module, you’ll explore European societies, and their foundations - social and political. You’ll examine the processes of nation and state-building and get to grips with the relationship between state, market and society. 

  You’ll explore European approaches to citizenship and capitalism. You’ll consider the future of Europe and use a historical, comparative perspective to evaluate how Europe might respond to current social and political challenges.

   

• The Social World of Childhood

  Do you remember how you felt as a child? In this module, we’ll explore the world of children, and how our ideas about childhood have changed through time. You’ll consider the impact of different models of socialisation on children and explore the factors - cultural, structural and experimental - which develop a child’s identity.  We’ll make strong use of life and history material.

• Work Based Learning in Sociology

  In this module, you’ll have the chance to carry out a work placement closely linked to your Sociology course.

  You’ll have help from your module leader to find a placement that meets your needs, and which will support your learning. With a carefully chosen placement, you’ll build on the skills and knowledge you’ve already gained in Year 1, and you’ll also gain vital skills for the workplace, like time management, communication and team-working.

  During and after your placement, you’ll:

  • create a placement portfolio, including a learning journal
  • craft a CV showing your experience
  • produce a policy brief or policy analysis paper.

Optional Year Abroad

Optional modules

• Year Abroad

  This module offers the opportunity to study abroad, experience a new culture, and apply your skills in different contexts to enhance your employability. It will help you develop self-management, cross-cultural communication, and interpersonal skills.
  
  You’ll receive support to secure a place at a partner institution abroad, where you can choose modules related to your degree or explore new areas that complement your studies.
  
  Studying at an international university will help you enhance your interpersonal skills through cross-cultural communication with students and tutors, allowing you to build lasting relationships. You'll also improve your study skills by focusing on your chosen areas of interest, gaining valuable international experience that will strengthen your CV.

  This year abroad module lasts for one academic year and is taken after the conclusion of your second year of study, once you’ve completed all your level 5 studies. Your year abroad is not credit-bearing.
   

Final Year

Compulsory modules

• Sociology Dissertation

  This module gives you the chance to do independent research on a topic that fascinates you. You’ll have the support of expert tutors. We encourage you to make use of the research skills you’ve gained from your research method modules, but it’s not a formal requirement for you to carry out primary data collection.

Optional modules

• Freedom, Justice and Liberation

  In this module, you’ll explore understandings of freedom, justice and liberation in contemporary social and political thought. We’ll focus on a range of theoretical approaches, including:

  • decolonial theory 
  • feminist and queer theory 
  • post-structuralism 
  • crip theory
  • the black radical tradition.

  
  These will be put in dialogue with classical theoretical discussions on freedom, justice and liberation. We will discuss questions like: 

  • Is it possible, and desirable, to make claims for justice and liberation based on group identity? 
  • Can past wrongs be addressed through reparations? 
  • Can justice be delivered via the criminal justice system? 

  
  As such, the module provides students with the theoretical tools to understand and navigate discussions on the meanings of justice, freedom and liberation in contemporary society, and to develop their own positions in relation to them.
   

• Sex that offends

  This module introduces you to case studies, concepts, and debates, with a focus on sexual offences and other serious crimes. You will explore themes of consent and harm, drawing on critical criminology, feminist theory and socio-legal studies. 
  
  You will look at how the criminal law and cultural norms have constructed certain behaviours and identities as deviant. 
  
  From a criminological perspective, you will go beyond the headlines to examine the role of:

  • labelling
  • moral panics 
  • changing social attitudes towards sex.

  
  This will help you to develop your critical thinking skills.
  
   

• Racialised Identities in Super-Diverse Societies

  What shapes our racial identities? How do they play out in everyday life, alongside gender, class and age?

  In this module, you’ll gain a strong understanding of identities and differences in current western societies. You’ll explore postcolonial theories of Self and Otherness and you’ll gain key analytical skills, as you investigate the relevance of these theories to diverse societies today.

   

• Youth and the Transition to Adulthood

  In this module, you’ll explore the sociology of youth and young adulthood. You’ll learn about how young people’s experiences of youth are affected by social and economic factors, like housing or austerity measures. You’ll understand theoretical perspectives that will help you develop a critical understanding of youth and young adulthood. You’ll look at topics like: sexual and romantic relationships in young adulthood work, changing employment opportunities and insecure future passages to adulthood: ethnic and racial diversity in the transition to adulthood Youth im/mobilities: ‘waithood’, delayed adulthood and migration youth activism. 

• Migration Studies

  Why do people move across the world? In this module, you’ll use real examples to examine migration, and its key concepts. You’ll explore political and economic issues, as well as climate change, to understand why millions of people move across nations. You’ll analyse the consequences of migration on migrants’ countries of origin, and the places they move to.

  You’ll focus mainly on migrants who move countries for work. You’ll look at the role of states in regulating labour migration, and other factors in the movement of people. You’ll gain critical knowledge of land-based and sea-based migrants, and the factors that drive migration and you’ll understand international migration in terms of development, economic and cultural factors. You’ll also look at the rights of migrants in migration policy.

   

• Technology and Social Media

  You'll start with an investigation of the classic texts from Critical Theory and Science and Technology Studies. You'll then consider the wider cultural and political implications of new digital technologies. You'll engage with classical and contemporary sociological analyses of technology. You'll look at the new technologies that influence our daily lives and behaviours. You'll explore how these new technologies impact us as social beings. 

   

• The Prison and Imprisonment

  Should we punish prisoners, or support them to re-enter society? In this module, you’ll dive into the key issues of prisons. You’ll consider modern prisons, globally and historically and you’ll examine prisons through:

  • prisoners
  • prison staff
  • wider society. 

  You'll trace the evolution of the prison - from the rehabilitative ideal of the post-war period, to the greater focus on punishment today. You’ll look at how political parties use prison policies to win votes, rather than reduce crime. 
  
  You’ll dive into the inner workings of prisons, from governance to administration. You’ll look at the routines of prison life, and how prisoners cope with, and give meaning to them. You’ll consider sentence progression for different types of prisoners and you’ll explore how well prisons prepare inmates for life after release.
   

• Gendering Intimate Relationships

  In this module, we’ll investigate intimacy today. We’ll explore:

  • gender
  • identities
  • relationships
  • family lives.

  Social changes have transformed our intimate relationships and arrangements in the home. However, tensions and contradictions still affect gender roles, and what we see as ‘appropriate’. In this module, you’ll gain key knowledge of the complexity and diversity of intimacy today. 

   

• Development and Humanitarianism

  In this module, you’ll explore the changing relationship between anthropology, and international development (the idea that different countries have different levels of development). You’ll gain a strong grounding in international development. You’ll gain key analytical skills as you dive into debates on the relationship between anthropology and development. You’ll explore key issues for anthropologists working in international development, including:

  • gender relations
  • environmental issues
  • health
  • youth
  • religion.

  You’ll compare ideas and practices in international development. You’ll look at approaches to social policy, inequality and well-being in the UK and you disrupt the lines we draw between North and South, developed and underdeveloped, or advanced and emerging economies and societies.

• Independent Study

  This module gives you a great chance to do self-directed study on a topic in Sociology that fascinates you. You’ll have guidance from a tutor, but the direction you take is up to you. Your study could involve fieldwork investigations, or analysis of fieldwork investigations. If you’d like to gain work experience linked to the topic you’re interested in, you could try a work placement. Or you could carry out independent, library-based research.

  Whatever kind of study you choose, you’ll gain excellent project management skills from planning and setting goals to working independently and managing your time.