Sociology BA (Hons)

This module provides you with a deeper appreciation of 'classical' social theory whilst exploring a set of more contemporary theoretical perspectives – including postcolonial theory, critical race theory, and queer theory – which shed new light on how our societies operate.

Compulsory

The aim of this module is to develop your understanding of the rationale for, and methodological issues associated with research. This module helps you prepare for your final year dissertation while developing core employability skills such as research design, fieldwork and presentation of research.

Compulsory

This module explores life in the 21st century and how people navigate meaning, purpose, happiness, and belonging within an ever-shifting local, national, and global set of circumstances. It outlines and interrogates some of the main theories relating to individual purpose and happiness as well as exploring the perspectives of different cultural groups across the world. 

Compulsory

This module develops your understanding of how self, body and society are connected, along with the impact of social change on the self. You will examine how selfhood is understood in sociological theories and how identity is debated and understood from multiple perspectives.  

Compulsory

This module will further your understanding of social movements by examining how they are developed, are sustained, and how they (sometimes) decline. Our study of social movements will move back and forth between abstract concepts and particular case studies.

Compulsory

This module explores sociological understandings of relationships and families in context with ideologies and social change. You will critically examine topics such as childhood, transnational families and the third shift.

Compulsory

This module² provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon and gain experience for an approved placement undertaken during your programme. A placement should usually be at least 26 weeks or equivalent; however, each placement will be considered on its own merits, having regard to the ability to achieve the learning outcomes. 

Optional

This module² provides you with an opportunity to reflect upon and gain experience for an approved international study/work placement undertaken during your programme. A work/study placement should usually be at least 26 weeks or equivalent; however, each placement will be considered on its own merits, having regard to the ability to achieve the learning outcomes. 

Optional

This module encourages you to employ your sociological skills in the gathering, synthesis and interpretation of information and knowledge. Using this knowledge, you will pursue an in-depth analysis of a subject of your own choosing within the context of your programme of study. This can take the form of an extended piece of writing, or a new media project such as a documentary film.

Compulsory

This module examines the Midlands-based Lunar Society, an 18th-century group of artists, industrialists, inventors, and scientists. The legacy of these key members of the English Enlightenment will be considered in the culture, politics and industry of the Midlands as we ask: is it possible to define a philosophy of the Midlands?

Compulsory

This module will introduce you to the theoretical and practical importance of race and racism in the historical and contemporary construction of modern societies. Topics will focus on the ways race and racism are socially constructed phenomena with very real implications for people’s lives.   

Optional

This module explores and interrogates the impact of gender from both real-world and theoretical perspectives. It critically assesses some of the main theories of gender, illuminates how gender underpins and influences social institutions across the world, and explores the everyday settings in which people encounter and experience gendered ideas. 

Optional

This module will explore the construction of disability as identity, and the experience of being disabled, through a critical disability studies approach. The module will give you a grounding in disability theory and its application, while challenging you to critically consider the role ableism plays in your own lived experience. 

Optional

This module examines the shifting attitudes towards sexuality and critically evaluates the role discourse has played in these changes. You will reflect upon the relationship between sex, sexuality and political and moral definitions of crime and deviance. This module examines a range of issues from the viewpoint of both victim and perpetrator.

Optional

This module offers a critical exploration of various digital sites and social media spaces. You will focus on how cultures, identities and social divisions play out within these spaces. The module begins by tracing the early history of the social web before progressing onto the contemporary and mainstream landscape.

Optional

This module explores histories of punishment, considering both custodial and non-custodial sanctions in the context of penal theories, policy and practice. The focus of the module will be on penal systems in the UK with reference to the global context of the development of modern forms of punishment. 

Optional