Sociology

Joint honours pathway

You can study Sociology alongside another subject area in a Joint Honours degree.

Studying sociology as half of your degree and half another subject for the other half provides you with opportunities to integrate and mutually inform your developing knowledge. Links between the two subject areas can be made in independent study and research projects.

• Education and Sociology BA(Hons)
• Media Studies and Sociology BA(Hons)
• Sociology and Social History BA(Hons)
• Sociology and English Literature BA(Hons)

Sociology examines how individual lives fit into their societies, and questions the extent to which individuals control their own behaviour and relationships within pre-existing social patterns. It can help us draw attention to hidden suffering, exploitation and repression, to change the world for the better, and be used to examine topics including social class and mobility, secularisation, law and deviance.

By focusing on the social processes that affect the lives of people today you’ll develop transferable skills in investigation and analysis that you will be able to use in work with people in a social context, or in many other career options.

In Sociology, there is also a strong emphasis on the knowledge and acquisition of a range of research skills and methods for investigating experience and behaviour, and students are supported in developing the ability to conduct research independently.

What will I learn?

Over the first two years, you’ll develop critical understanding in four areas. You’ll explore what it means to think sociologically, the origins and relevance of sociological traditions, what contemporary social theory says about the formation of individuals and how people progress through life from a sociological perspective.

The third year brings opportunities to look at specific topics in depth, such as globalisation, leisure, social movements and human rights. You’ll be able to investigate questions of specific personal interest in research and dissertation modules. Previous topics include suicide and religion, childhood innocence, online identities, and fear and racism.

Throughout the course, you will be guided in your development of transferable skills in personal organisation, team working, communication and presentation. In Hastings, we believe sociology should be a critical science, drawing attention to hidden suffering, exploitation and repression and to change the world for the better.

Placements

During your second year, you will have the opportunity of a placement in an area of specific personal interest, which a member of staff will help you to find.

Who will teach me?

Your lecturers are involved in national and international research, publish the results of their research regularly and are engaged with a number of sociological topics, including social movements, nongovernmental organisations, consumption and lifestyle, the internet, the environment and migration.

Career options

The insights you will develop are particularly useful in jobs dealing with people in a social context. Career areas include drug and alcohol services, youth work, the police and probation, social work, social policy and local government and charity work. You may also be able to apply for postgraduate teacher training or continue your studies.