Sociology

Overview

The Sociology programme is highly rated for both research and teaching, scoring well in the recent Research Assessment Exercise and Teaching Quality Assessment. We are currently ranked in the top 15 Sociology Departments in the UK in the Complete University Guide.

Our course offers:

• An innovative and imaginative introduction to Sociological thinking and methodologies
• Specialist modules based on research expertise and focusing on student interests: globalisation, families, work, identity, body/health, media cultures, conspiracy, urban space, risk
• Subject-specific transferable skills that can be useful in employment such as research skills, statistical analysis, and IT skills
• Development of personal and interpersonal skills to aid learning such as group work skills, presentation skills and independent research skills
• The opportunity to study aboard at one of our partners worldwide for a semester in the second year

Sociology at Keele takes place in an open and responsive environment where students can explore the rapidly changing social world. We aim to engage students in important debates about contemporary social issues referring to concepts and events at the cutting-edge of the discipline.

At the forefront of our teaching is an understanding that we live in a world characterised by rapid social, political, economic and cultural change. While traditional institutions, such as the family, religion and work, have been forced to adapt to the new realities of global society, people’s lives carry on at a local everyday level. We work, love, raise families and grow old. We speak to each other, learn about the world and think about our own place in society. Sociology at Keele aims to explore the events that shape our personal lives and think about how social institutions impact on our experiences of community.

The central objective of Sociology is to link private problems to public concerns in order to help us to better understand our lives and respond constructively to problems that might seem otherwise impossible to resolve. But Sociology is not just about contemporary life. Even though it seems that our own experience of social change is the most turbulent in human history, reflection on the massive upheavals of the last 200 years can show how current changes relate to a much longer story of social evolution. By tracing the history of social change, it is possible to see how ideas, such as individualism, citizenship and class, began to emerge. In this context, Sociology is an essential form of knowledge for future generations because it offers us the opportunity to think about aspects of our social lives that we would otherwise take for granted.

Sociology has been taught at Keele for over 50 years and we take pride in combining world-class research with lively and accessible teaching. We are strongly committed to providing an intellectually challenging and supportive space for students to learn and grow.

Course Content

Our courses are designed to provide students with a solid foundation in the sociological tradition together with an introduction to contemporary social problems through an innovative range of core and elective modules. Apart from core content that has been specially designed to relate to the modern world, the Sociology programme offers students the chance to critically engage with specialisms followed by academics that reflect the diversity of concerns in Sociology today.

In the first year of the programme we provide an extensive grounding in the key elements of the discipline of Sociology. We begin by looking at the core concerns:

• What is the purpose of Sociology?
• What is society?
• How do societies function?
• What happens when societies break down?
• How are societies divided up and what impact can that have on the people who inhabit them?

In addition, we will discover how Sociology’s pioneers sought to understand the relationship between individuals and society, and question how social context, economy, politics and culture impact on our sense of identity. We will explore how modern societies came into being and how Sociology influenced the world just as it studied it.

In the second year, students will combine core modules on contemporary sociological theory and research methods with electives that focus on specific areas of social life and experience. The second year of the course is traditionally where students begin to identify individual interests and build their course to suit those interests.

In the third year, students have the option of completing a dissertation for which they will work alongside an individual supervisor to complete a report on an area of specialist interest. A number of advanced electives are available in Level 3, exploring research-led specialisms of staff. The final year is the culmination of a student’s grounding in core areas of sociology and allows them to apply this knowledge by developing their interests through independent work.

Year 1

Core modules

Social Inequalities in the Contemporary World considers society as a site of conflict and contestation. The purpose of this course is to investigate the way different inequalities, such as class, race, gender, age and disability, cut across society and hinder the emergence of a fair world. This is an essential area of investigation for contemporary sociologists because it is only by challenging dominant understandings of inequality – that they are somehow natural and will always exist – that we can begin to think about what kind of changes would be required to make society more inclusive.

Classical Sociology introduces the thought of the classical sociologists of the 19th century: Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Apart from considering the central works and key ideas of these foundational sociologists, we also focus on the enormous changes that took place in the historical period we call ‘modernity’. This course also focuses on the value of Sociology to contemporary life and explains why the ideas of Marx, Weber and Durkheim are as relevant to the world today as they were in the 19th century.

Electives include:

– Researching British Society
– Modernity and its Darkside
– Self and Society

Year 2

Core modules

20th-century Social Theory explores a range of social theories associated with the concerns of the modern world. It examines how key thinkers attempted to investigate the relationship between agency and structure, analyses key social institutions such as the family, work and culture, in order to question how society is organised according to power relations.

Research Methods provides grounding in the main approaches to understanding and finding evidence about society and teaches methods for collecting data that enable students to conduct their own social research.

Electives include:

– Globalisation and its Discontents
– City, Culture, Society
– Witchcraft, Zombies and Social Anxiety
– Cultures of Consumption
- Families and Households: Diversity and Change

Year 3

In the third year, students will deepen their knowledge of selected sociological topics by choosing from a list of research-led modules taught by the specialist in that field.

Apart from the diverse range of elective modules, a key feature of the Sociology programme is the final year dissertation  that takes the form of a report on research designed and executed by students. Each student who elects to complete a dissertation in the subject works with a supervisor who oversees the planning and completion of the project.

Electives include:

– The Sociology of Parenting and Early Childhood
– Gender and Consumption
– The Virtual Revolution: New Technologies, Culture and Society
– Home: belonging, locality and material culture
– Medical Sociology
– Sex, Death and Desire: Psychoanalysis in Social Context
- Streets, Skyscrapers and Slums: The City in Social, Cultural and Historical Context

Codes and Combinations

Students are candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) (BA Hons) if their two Principal courses are in humanities and/or social science subjects.

All students who study a science subject are candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Science (with Honours) (BSc Hons).

Dual Honours course can be combined with: 

Single Honours, Major and Foundation course available: 

Teaching and Assessment

At Keele, teaching is closely tied to research interests. This means students will be taught by enthusiastic staff who are closely involved in charting contemporary society and changing sociological debate. We employ a variety of teaching and learning methods designed to encourage active participation and endeavour to ensure that all students feel able to contribute to class activities.

The programme assesses students by a variety of methods including examinations, essays, tutorial performance, portfolios, posters, reports, research methods exercises and a final year dissertation.

Programme specifications (new window)

Skills and Careers

Throughout the course we are keen to ensure that students reach their full potential by helping them to develop a range of communication skills that will be of benefit when they enter the employment market. We encourage both individual performance and team work and show our students how to develop personal communication and presentation skills.

After graduation, our students embark on a variety of careers, frequently entering the public sector, education, welfare and the legal professions. Others enter industry, commerce, charity and development work and the culture industries. Some students continue their education through completion of higher degrees and further research training.

Sociology destinations for those who graduated in 2011

Of those who responded:

Want to work in?

Many students are excited by careers that utilise the academic knowledge and skills developed on their degree:

• Social Researcher
• Social Worker
• Community Development Worker
• Probation Officer
• Youth Worker
• Advice Worker

What else?

• Marketing Executive
• Market Researcher
• Solicitor
• Mental Health Nurse
• FE Lecturer
• Journalist

Visit our Careers pages (new window)

Sociology and Criminology

Crime, deviance and social order are some of the most taxing issues our society faces. Sociology and Criminology complement each other well in enabling students to understand broad issues revolving around social structure and social change, as well as the ways in which institutions, power systems, identity, culture and economics impact on crime and disorder.

Sociology supports Criminology students by offering depth and background understanding. In many respects the history of Criminology is rooted in Sociology. As such, many of the ideas Criminologists use are sociological terms. For this reason, Sociology can help Criminology students to better understand concepts, analytical techniques, and social history. On the other hand, Criminology supports Sociology by offering a specific field for the application of sociological insights.

Many students who study this combination find their degree useful for careers in probation, social work, socio-legal work, and policing.

Sociology and Psychology

This combination is ideal for students who want to work in a wide variety of ‘people’ professions or desire an in-depth knowledge of society and its prescribed rules for behaviour. Sociology offers a good understanding of the relationship between self and society, enables us to think about how society works, provides the tools to enable us to analyse social development, and helps us to grasp major events that have impacted on society and our view of the self.

Studying Sociology alongside Psychology allows students to work through psychological analyses by applying them to different social contexts and different social behaviours. For example, students may want to understand the meaning of the different roles offered to us by society. What does it mean to be a man or a woman in contemporary society? How have gender roles changed over the last fifty years? In this way Sociology can help us to examine the changing status of different values, help us to think about how these values are internalised by people, and suggest reasons why people look for norms to follow in the first place.

Many students who study this combination find their degree useful for starting up careers in the public sector and in health affiliated work.

UK/EU Admissions
Tel: (01782) 734005
Email: admissions.ukeu@keele.ac.uk

International Admissions
Tel: +44(0) 1782 733274
Email: international@keele.ac.uk

Course Information
Tel: 01782 734231
Email: d.tagg@keele.ac.uk