Modules

In the first year, you'll take sociology compulsory modules that familiarise you with sociological research methods and with the distinguishing features of the subject. For the politics element, you study key concepts in political theory – including the state, democracy, freedom, rights, power and authority. You also choose from three option modules.

In the second year, you'll look at how to study a society, encompassing issues of agency and structure, class and conflict, political action and social change. The making of the modern world and its sociological context is also considered. Politics modules examine how the subject has become associated with social movements, environmentalism and globalisation, while theoretical debates on the concept of democracy are also studied. You also take a sociology option and a politics option.

In the third year, you'll take a compulsory module in theorising contemporary society and study for a dissertation. You also pick a sociology option and two politics options.

Year 1 (credit level 4) Your first year gets you thinking sociologically and critically, and introduces the ways in which sociological knowledge of societies has been shaped by disputes about theories and methods. Modules address problems that have interested sociologists in their attempts to account for the world we live in. You will start to understand how the meaning derived from sociological investigations operates in cultural processes, and look at the methods that have been developed by sociologists to produce sociological knowledge.

You will take the following compulsory modules – three from the Department of Sociology, and one from the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Modern Knowledge, Modern Power
Researching Society and Culture 1A
Researching Society and Culture 1B
Political Theory and Ideologies

You are then able to choose 30 credits from the following modules.
World Politics
UK and European Comparative Governance and Politics
Colonialism, Power, and Resistance
Introduction to Political Economy
Introduction to Economic Policy

Year 2 (credit level 5) Compulsory modules cover the main approaches to sociological thought, and their implications for understanding contemporary societies. You develop a rich knowledge of the variety of sociological reasoning and research.
Central Issues in Sociological Analysis
The Making of the Modern World
Social Change and Political Action
Modern Political Theory

You will then choose 30 credits of Politics and International Relations modules from the following list.
Making Modern Japan
Chinese Politics: The Revolutionary Era
US Politics and Foreign Policy
Europe Since 1945
Ideologies and Interests: Political Thought in Modern Britain
International Trade
International Monetary Economics
Liberalism and its Critics
Life: A User's Manual
Modern Britain: Politics from 1979 - today
Rough Politics
Political Economy
International Politics of the Middle East
Politics of Vision
The Politics of Popular Music
Armed Politics and Political Violence
Feminist Economics

You will also choose 15 credits from the following list of Sociology modules.
Leisure, Culture and Society
The Body: Social Theory and Social Practice
Social Change and Political Action
Crimes Against Humanity
Migration in Context

Year 3 (credit level 6) supports a strong programme of research in social and political theory, gender studies, and cultural studies of politics and government.
You will take the following compulsory modules.
Confronting the climate crisis
Dissertation

You will then choose 15 credits Sociology options, and 60 credits of Politics and International Relations options.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Assessment methods

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework, examinations, group work and projects.