Sociology BA (Hons)

Your first year of study provides you with a comprehensive introduction to sociology and will encourage you to ‘think like a sociologist’ by helping you to develop the knowledge and skills needed to foster critical understanding of the social world and our place within it. You will study:

A Sociological Imagination

You will learn about, and how to develop and apply, a sociological imagination, using the influential work of American sociologist, C. Wright Mills. You will also explore what sociology is for and what it can hope to achieve.

Sociological Foundations

Study will then progress to examine the fundamental pillars underpinning sociological knowledge and inquiry: sociological theory and the research methods by which sociologists come to know the social world.

Social Divisions

Attention will then turn to examining some of the major social divisions that are a feature of contemporary society. Here attention will focus on issues of social class, race/ethnicity, and gender, among others. Current issues and social movements, such as Black Lives Matter and Me Too, will provide a way of understanding the corrosive impact of social inequality and the need for social change.

Contemporary Issues

Study will also move to examine a range of current social issues within society central to contemporary sociology. These include a focus on the climate emergency, globalisation, social movements, the social aspects of health and illness, religion, and others besides.

If you are studying Sociology as a Single Honours degree, you will also study:

Applied Social Sciences

Here you will be introduced to a wide variety of issues and approaches from across the Social Sciences.

You will study the following:

Histories

Here you will study the histories of particular, and often marginalised, social groups, including: Liverpool’s history, Black history, women’s histories, queer histories, among others.

Cultural Representations

You will examine the ways in which particular groups and social identities are mis/represented in culture. This includes the processes by which certain social groups are ‘othered’.

‘Isms’...

Here you will explore various ‘isms’ and their applications across the social sciences. These include: Marxism, Feminism, Postcolonialism, and Ableism. 

Deconstructing Scientific Knowledge

This block of learning will cast a critical lens on scientific discourses and the ways in which scientific knowledge has been used to marginalise and oppress a range of minority groups.

In your second year, building upon the first, you will develop an understanding and working knowledge of leading theoretical frameworks in sociology, alongside key approaches to research methods, and the links between them. You will study:

Key Thinkers 

You will begin by exploring key thinkers from within the classical sociological tradition. This part of the course will assess the lasting contribution of thinkers from the classical era to understanding contemporary social issues in the 21st century.

Study will then move to explore social thinkers from within the contemporary era. Here you will develop a deeper understanding of thinkers and ‘Schools’ of thought from within sociology and across the wider social sciences.

Social Research in Action 

This part of the course begins by introducing you to the qualitative tradition of research within sociology, by which sociologists study the social world. Here you will learn about, and get ‘hands-on’ experiences of doing, social research, including ethnography, interviews, and how to process the data you gather.

Attention will then shift to learning how to work with quantitative data. Here you will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to work with, and to think critically about, about large-scale data sets. 

If you are studying Sociology as a Single Honours degree, you will also study:

Gender and Sexuality

In this block, you will develop a deeper understanding of social issues and debates around gender and sexuality, including theoretical developments, issues of inequality and discrimination, and factors that perpetuate exclusion versus those that promote diversity and inclusion.

Class in the 21st Century

In this block you will further your knowledge and understanding of social class as a marker of identity and dis/advantage. You will explore how class is theorised, measured and inhabited as lived experience. Debates around the idea of a ‘classless’ society will be explored, alongside issues about how social class is mis/represented in popular culture.

The Problem of Race

Study continues by exploring ‘race’ within contemporary society. Here you will examine issues and debates surrounding contemporary practices of exclusion, prejudice and discrimination, alongside the long-lasting impact and legacy of racism, imperialism, and colonisation. 

Religion and Society

You will also study the impact of faith and belief in contemporary society. Here you will examine debates around secularisation and the extent to which we are now a ‘post-secular’ society. You will also examine the relationship between religion and public life and some of the social explanations advanced to account for the resurgence of religious fundamentalism.

The third year study involves developing an advanced understanding of social processes and issues within contemporary society. You will study:

Advanced Research Courses

Here you will select from a wide variety of courses from across the School of Social Sciences that reflect the specialist academic interests of particular researchers. These include courses from Sociology,  Childhood & Youth, Criminology, Disability Studies,  Social Policy, and Social Work, among others. 

These may include courses in the following areas: social aspects of death and dying, the sociology of stories/story-telling, gender and migration, critiques of contemporary capitalism, learning disabilities, domestic violence, youth and community work, homelessness, corporate power, health inequalities, and many others besides.

While you can choose courses from across the School of Social Sciences, the following are courses offered by the Sociology team:

Mad, Bad and Sad: The Medicalisation of Human Behaviour and Emotion

This course aims to explore the increased pathologisation and psychologisation of human emotion and behaviour.  You will consider the history of emotions and how as a society we have come to conceptualise some emotions and behaviours as excessive, deficient or deviant.  Furthermore, you will examine how we have come to try and regulate such emotions and behaviours through medical surveillance and pharmaceutical intervention.

Gender, Migration and Diaspora

During this course we will explore the gendered dynamics of migration. We will examine a range of approaches to gender, migrations and diasporas and will address the social and political dimensions of migration. Through the lenses of postcolonial studies, transnational feminism and cultural studies, we will focus on analysing power relations and oppression. Focusing on a number of key issues, such as transnational care, generational patterns in migration, we will consider the significance of feminist research in developing the field of migration studies. 

Rationality and Society

Why would an individual vote at an election if the probability of one vote impacting its outcome is almost null? Why do some believe in conspiracy theories or join sects and terrorist groups? Why are social scientists often in disagreement with one another’s theories and analyses? Answers to those seemingly disparate questions presuppose a clarification of how people reason. In this perspective, this course investigates the relationship between rationality, its social determinants, and its social effects. This will be achieved by considering sociological theories of rationality and their application to the study of concrete questions of our time such as those presented above.

Gender, Austerity and the Role of the State

What is austerity? How is it connected to gender? How does it legitimate and re-produce inequality in the UK? This research course will answer these questions, introducing students to the topic of austerity and its gendered impacts. We will explore the different ways in which austerity has been produced, legitimised and made present by the State since 2010. The course will also situate austerity within its historical legacies to demonstrate how austerity builds on a previous history. Then, drawing on research that understands and unpacks lived experience, we will examine the gendered impact of austerity to explore how austerity is lived with, spoken about, navigated through and resisted in multivariant ways.

Death, Dying and Society

Using death and dying to illustrate a range of social issues, this course will highlight how the experiences surrounding death and dying do not exist in a social vacuum but are themselves socially influenced and subject to social variation. Indicative themes include:

• Death and social divisions
• Funeral poverty and social policy
• Bereavement and social work
• Death and disaster
• Complicated grief and its implication
• End of life issues
• Death and culture
• Identity, illness and loss
• Public mourning/dying
• Is death still taboo?

In short, the course will ask how an appreciation of human mortality might promote better self-understanding, greater concern for others, and a more compassionate society.

The Sociology of Stories

Stories are all around us - we regularly tell stories to colleagues, friends and lecturers, yet often such stories are seen as originating in the individual story-teller, often without any consideration for social influences on the stories we tell, even to ourselves. This course examines how stories in society are influenced by wider social norms and values. We will critically engage with contemporary sociological work on the role of stories of self in the negotiations and managing of social identities. Additionally, we will consider how empirical evidence can challenge or disrupt dominant stories of what is acceptable and how stories can make previously sublimated knowledge more visible. You will explore how people tell stories at different times, to different audiences for different effects. You will be encouraged to explore the personal and political nature of stories and narratives in a range of different contexts, and how individual stories can give insight into how social change is experienced and understood in people’s lives.

Indicative themes:

• Stories of people who grew up in care
• Stories of family and acceptability
• Stories in social movements
• Structure and agency
• Identity negotiation
• Reflexivity
• Social change
• Researching stories

Dissertation

Utilising the knowledge and skills you have developed in the first and second years of study, you will conduct independent research on a sociological topic of your own choosing. You will do this under the supervision and direction of a member of staff from within the Sociology team.

Advanced Studies in Sociology

Alongside your independent research project, you will learn from the experiences of established researchers on how to do social research.  Here you will be supported in your independent research by learning how to develop an idea for a project, how to conduct a literature review, navigate practical and ethical issues, analyse data, ‘write-up’ your research, and get your dissertation ‘over the line’.

You will also deepen your knowledge and understanding by learning about current issues - and the role of sociology - within contemporary society. These may vary from year to year depending upon the research interests of staff within the sociology team.

If you are studying Sociology as a Single Honours degree, you will study a range of themes related to real-world issues in the 21st century. These might vary according to the specialist research interests of staff within the sociology team but may include a focus of global social issues (such as human trafficking) and the impact of neoliberalism on individual lives and the communities of which they are a part.

You may also select to extend your undergraduate degree by doing a fourth year of study.  By selecting this option (for which student loan funding is available) you will graduate with a masters level qualification - a Masters of Social Science (MSocSci) instead of a BA in Sociology. You will study:

Professional Strand Options

Here will choose from professionally oriented options in the following areas:

Digital Literacy

This is aimed at supporting you to develop clear and effective communication skills for workplace environments, where professional activities are increasingly organised around digital technologies. 

In particular, graduate level occupations usually require advanced competency in identifying key trends across diverse information and data sources, and in communicating outcomes to inform organisational strategies, resource allocations, professional practices, and stakeholder relationships. 

Learning will focus on five areas: key principles of digital communication theory; professional writing for cross-platform media; mobile technologies and professional social media communication; data analysis and communication; and report writing and presentation skills.

Strategic Leadership

Here you will develop a critical understanding of strategic leadership and its practical application for personal and organisational effectiveness. The theoretical frameworks presented will be critically analysed against real world problems and contexts across a range of sectors. 

Learning will cover a range of theoretical frameworks, from early leadership theory to current thinking. This includes the following: trait theory; style theory; situational/contingency theory; transactional/ transformational leadership; emotional intelligence; dialogical and distributed leadership. Alongside this you will explore integrated developments in, and current models of, leadership in the public, private and third sectors.

Managing  Community Funding Bids

Here you will develop the skills needed for community and voluntary sector management focused on bid writing. You will learn about the central aspects of successfully applying for funding for community-based organisations.

You will learn how to identify the specific needs within particular communities and how to formulate focused aims and objectives in relation to developing community projects. Learning will also focus on further elements of using data to support project application and processes of evaluation to demonstrate achievement of outcomes and impact.

You will also examine theoretical frameworks and concepts and utilise practical examples to support your application of theory in practice. Contemporary management of Youth and Community Development will be investigated, reflecting current shifts and trends in practice.

Choices from MA Options

You will also get to pick options offered by the School of Social Sciences from across our existing M-Level provision.

These include modules from Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work, Criminology, Disability Studies, and Youth and Community Development. You can choose to study any of these options without necessarily having any prior subject specific knowledge of these areas.

Work-based Placement

A key element to the MSocSci is the professional placement, which is compulsory as part of the 4th year of study. These placements will help you to recognise the breadth of your potential and highlight future career opportunities. Placements can take place in a variety of areas and disciplines including the following:

• Welfare organisations, social care initiatives, educational establishments and not-for-profit organisations
• Political parties, charities, NGOs, campaign groups, government bodies and political and international organisations

Placements will normally take place when you do not have any timetabled face-to-face sessions. You will be expected to complete a set number of days on your placement. You will be prepared for and supported during your placement by the School’s Placement Coordinator. You will undertake a reflective portfolio that will link directly to your placement activities. In most circumstances, placements will be arranged by the University. However, you can work with the School’s Placement Coordinator to create your own placement opportunity.