Sociology BA

at University of Warwick

Core modules

Choose from a range of modules to create a general degree or a degree with a specialism.

You also have the option to add a year of study abroad at a partner University. In your final year, you will be ready to conduct your own independent research on a topic of your choice.

This degree covers topics such as:

• Media
• Gender
• Race
• Identity
• Capitalism
• Research methods
• How society has changed over time
• The relationship between individuals and society
• How techniques, perspectives, and traditions develop
• Ideologies, technologies, and issues that affect society
• Comparing interactions between countries and global societies

The final year includes a choice of optional specialisms:

1. BA Sociology with Specialism in Social and Political Thought
2. BA Sociology with Specialism in Research Methods
3. BA Sociology with Specialism in Gender Studies
4. BA Sociology with Specialism in Race and Global Politics
5. BA Sociology with Specialism in Social Inequalities and Public Policy
6. BA Sociology with Specialism in Technologies and Markets

If you choose to specialise, you will receive a degree certificate with the relevant specialism.

Year One
Sociology of Gender
Through case studies from the gender pay gap to the politics of Christmas, this module will transform how you see gender and its impact on the world. You will explore the origins of gender ideas and analyse their effects on areas of social life including: language; media and popular culture; science; work; family relationships; sexuality; violence; education; politics; and feminist movements.

While gender is the focus of this module, you will also consider how gender connects to other dimensions of social difference and inequality, such as sexuality, race, class or disability.

 

Researching Society and Culture
What is society and how do you study it? Is human behaviour governed by rules similar to the natural world that you can study objectively? Or do human beings consciously act upon their environment and change the world through creativity and intelligence, driven by their own understanding and motivations? These are some of the questions that this module will explore.

You will be introduced to the core ideas behind sociological research and the practical tools to undertake research yourself. As well as looking at some of the key qualitative methods (for example, interviews, ethnography and discourse analysis), you will also examine the political, ethical and practical issues that social research inevitably entails.

 

Sociology of Race
What is 'race' and why does it matter? This module answers these questions by drawing on the wealth of expertise within Warwick Sociology, and is taught by experts who research and write about race and racism from a range of perspectives. Students will learn about both theoretical concepts and real-world examples that will help them to understand how race and racism shape the social world.

 

Class and Capitalism in the Neoliberal World
Protest and anger characterise the contemporary era – young people taking part in militant politics, protest parties gaining more votes, and even NHS doctors taking to the streets.

In this module, we will explore the social consequences of the economic and political transformations associated with neoliberalism that have taken place in recent decades. We will ask why these changes might be responsible for the global rise in urban unrest and dissatisfaction.

Topics will include growing inequality and elite power, militant policing, consumerism, anxiety, debt, the destruction of industrial communities, class identity, the marketisation of education, and the diminishing spaces of public life.

 

History of Sociological Thought
What holds societies together? How do societies change? And how is politics in the conventional sense affected by factors such as class, status, ethnicity or religion, or the state of the economy? These are some of the questions with which you will engage with when you consider the history of sociological thought. You will gain skills of research, analysis and debate by considering the extent to which sociology may be considered a science and how the evolution of sociological thought has been shaped by events and the cultural, economic and political problems of the day.

 

Introduction to Social Analytics in Social Inequalities Research
In the age of ever-increasing data availability which is paired with a growing sophistication of statistical techniques, the opportunities for social science research are vast. This module will give you an understanding of the basic elements of core descriptive statistics which will allow you not only to critically engage with quantitative findings in existing social science research, but also conduct quantitative analysis yourself. The module covers the topics of conceptualisation, operationalisation and measurement, as well as the principles of sampling and the basics of research design. You will be introduced to the process of social science research and quantitative methods in one hour lectures, and then explore these in extended seminars (2h) both through readings, and the statistical software SPSS. We will be working on real data sets, such as the European Social Survey.

 

Year Two
|
Designing and Conducting Social Research
This module will teach you the core concepts and practical skills to undertake qualitative social research in academic and professional settings. These include research design, ethnography, in-depth interviewing, documents and discourse. As well as practical skills, you will investigate how social research has changed in recent decades, considering:

• ethical questions when researching life online
• how (and whether) you should study Twitter
• effects of social media on social interactions
• how to engage diverse audiences

You will also gain analytical skills to critically evaluate previous research and develop your ability to collect and analyse data using a range of qualitative methods.

 

Practice and Interpretation of Quantitative Research
Quantitative methods can help you answer questions such as:

• Is income inequality in the UK growing?
• Does marriage improve health?
• Does growing up in a poor neighbourhood affect your life chances?

Analysing representative, large-scale social surveys is crucial for sociologists to understand social processes. This module will introduce you to quantitative methods and how to analyse large data sets using SPSS Statistics software. It will help you engage with published quantitative sociological research and to undertake your own basic quantitative data analysis.

 

Modern Social Theory
This module will introduce you to the main thinkers and movements in critical social theory. Topics include Marxism, post-structuralism, class and culture. The changing conceptualisation of power and class is a focus throughout the module. This helps you to see how the different theoretical approaches relate to each other, and to historical and political events.

 

Year Three

Dissertation

 

Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

Year One

• Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
• Sociology of Education
• Crime and Society
• Criminology: Theories and Concepts
• International Perspectives on Gender

Year Two

• Commercial Cultures in Global Capitalism
• Educational Inequalities
• Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
• Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
• Media, Audiences and Social Change
• Political Sociology
• Gender and Violence
• Surveillance and Society: Race, Gender, Class
• Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Social Data
• Advanced Theory in Criminology and Social Justice
• Beyond the Binary: Trans-forming Gender
• War, Memory and Society
• Social Theory of Law
• Policing and Society
• Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice

Year Three

• Social Movements and Political Action
• Racism and Xenophobia
• Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• Race, Resistance and Modernity
• Sociology of Knowledge, Science and Intellectuals
• Punishment, Justice and Control
• Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
• Postcolonial Theory and Politics
• Queering Sociology
• State Crime, Human Rights and Global Wrongs
• Applying Quantitative Methods to Social Research
• Experiments in the Social Sciences and Humanities
• Sociology of End Times
• Global South and Indigenous Feminisms
• Social Data Science
• Sociology of Green Transformations

Optional specialisms

In your third year, you can pursue a 'Sociology with Specialism' degree. This allows you to follow a particular interest or career path that interests you.

BA Sociology with Specialism in Technologies and Markets

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
• Media, Audiences and Social Change
• Commercial Cultures in Global Capitalism
• Capitalism and Religion
• Economic Sociology
• Sociology of Knowledge
• Science and Intellectuals
• Beastly Sociology
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• How Sociology Can Save the Environment

BA Sociology with Specialism in Race and Global Politics

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• War, Memory and Society
• Surveillance and Security: Race, Gender, Class
• Racism and Xenophobia
• Capitalism and Religion
• Race, Resistance and Modernity
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
• Postcolonial Theory and Politics
• State Crime, Human Rights and Global Wrongs

BA Sociology with Specialism in Social Inequalities and Public Policy

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• Sociology of Education
• Educational Inequalities
• Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
• Disability, Inequality and the Life Course
• Social Movements and Political Action
• Economic Sociology
• Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Data
• Punishment, Justice and Control
• The Sociology of Urban Life

BA Sociology with Specialism in Social and Political Thought

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
• Political Sociology
• Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
• Racism and Xenophobia
• Capitalism and Religion
• Economic Sociology
• Race, Resistance and Modernity
• Sociology of Knowledge, Science and Intellectuals
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• Postcolonial Theory and Politics
• Queering Sociology
• Sociology of End Times

BA Sociology with Specialism in Gender

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
• Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
• Beyond the Binary: Trans-forming Gender
• Gender and Violence
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
• Queering Sociology

BA Sociology with Specialism in Research Methods

• Dissertation - specific to specialism
• Media, Audiences and Social Change
• Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
• Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
• Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Social Data
• Applying Quantitative Methods to Social Research
• Experiments in the Social Sciences and Humanities
• Social Data Science

 

All applicants, regardless of their visa requirements, are required to show that their ability to understand and express themselves in both written and spoken English is sufficiently high for them to derive full benefit from their degree course. The level of competence required depends on what type of degree you wish to study. Many applicants can demonstrate this through a satisfactory level of achievement in, for example, GCSE English Language or the English courses within the International Baccalaureate.

Applicants whose academic qualifications meet the University’s admissions requirements, but whose English language qualifications are not accepted as equivalent, may be offered a place at Warwick conditional on an acceptable English language qualification being achieved before they join the University. A number of English language tests are accepted; some of the most frequently offered ones are detailed below.

Please note that certain English tests (including IELTS and PTE) must be taken within two years and one month prior to the start of your course at Warwick. Applicants whose tests fall outside this timescale will need to retake a suitable English language test.

Applicants who require a visa to study in the UK may, depending on the circumstances, be asked to provide evidence of a secure English language test (e.g. IELTS for UKVI (Academic)), rather than an examination (such as International Baccalaureate English) due to the visa requirements set by the UK government.

If you are an overseas or EU student enrolling in 2022, your annual tuition fees will be as follows:

• Band 1 – £22,280 per year (classroom-based courses, including Humanities and most Social Science courses)
• Band 2 – £28,410 per year (laboratory-based courses, plus Theatre and Performance Studies, Economics, and courses provided by Warwick Business School, with exceptions)

Fees for 2023 entry have not been set. We will publish updated information here as soon as it becomes available, so please check back for updates about 2023 fee rates before you apply.

Warwick Undergraduate Global Excellence Scholarship 2022

We believe there should be no barrier to talent. That's why we are committed to offering a scholarship that makes it easier for gifted, ambitious international learners to pursue their academic interests at one of the UK's most prestigious universities. This new scheme will offer international fee-paying students 250 tuition fee discounts ranging from full fees to awards of £13,000 to £2,000 for the full duration of your Undergraduate degree course.

Where a Sociology or Sociology and Criminology degree can take you:

• Professional roles in various national and international NGOs, civil society and charity organisations
• Civil service careers
• Researchers and research analysts for state and independent bodies
• Media and communication industry
• Advertising and Marketing
• Accounting and Finance careers
• Academic careers and doctoral scholarships for further study
• Teaching Careers
• Social Work
• Careers and Employability Assistants
• Customer Representatives and HR Graduates
• Directorate Administrators
• Event Administrators
• Resident Tutors
• Management Trainees
• Marketing and Development Coordinators
• Senior Sales Consultants