General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Additional requirements

Read our departmental advice on applying to ensure your application has the best chance for success.

Core modules

Required Core Modules

Feminist and Queer Thinking: Contemporary Challenges

This module engages with challenges for feminist and queer knowledge production that are emerging at present, across various contexts. It considers both challenges within knowledge production itself (e.g., methodological/ethical challenges when conducting research; the challenges to our thinking posed by new feminist and queer theories/turns) and challenges that feminist and queer scholars are facing more broadly (e.g., challenges posed by anti-gender mobilisations, or other social and political developments). As it engages with each challenge, the module connects theory, ethics and praxis, inviting you to reflect on the intellectual context of the challenge, consider the ethical implications of it, and workshop practical strategies to engage with it. This team-taught module draws on the diverse research expertise of academics affiliated with Centre for the Study of Women and Gender.

Feminist Theories and Epistemologies: Debates and Dilemmas

This module introduces debates in feminist theories and epistemologies. It is different from conventional modules on theory and epistemology, which often cover ‘key authors’ or theories chronologically. As we will see, one crucial intervention that feminist scholars have made has been precisely to question this approach to understanding theory. Instead, we will zoom in on debates and dilemmas that have challenged feminist scholarship and we will examine their complexities and contradictions. In this way, we will involve students in the active process of thinking through feminist debates and dilemmas, framing the classroom as a space of collective knowledge production, rather than passive learning of the history of problems already theorised and resolved by others. This team-taught module draws on the diverse research expertise of academics affiliated with Centre for the Study of Women and Gender.

One module on Research Methods

You will take at least one module in research methods. You can choose one (or more) from the following list:

• Qualitative Methods in Social Research
• Quantitative Methods in Social Research
• Understanding Social Science
• Researching Inequality: Race, Class, Gender in Global Perspective

Dissertation (Year One full-time and Year Two part-time)

The dissertation module gives you the opportunity to complete an independent piece of research on a topic of your own choice with the support of your dissertation supervisor. The aim is for you to creatively use the substantive and methodological training acquired in the earlier part of your course to critically analyse a research topic of relevance to gender and sexuality studies.

Optional modules

You will choose three optional modules. Up to two of those modules can be modules offered by other departments at Warwick.

Optional modules vary from year to year. Example optional modules offered within the Department of Sociology include:

You will choose three optional modules:

• Politics and Social Theory
• Capitalism States & Markets
• Postcolonial Theory & Politics
• Indigenous and Global South Feminisms
• Decolonising Ecology: Race, Coloniality and the Climate Crisis
• Key Problems in Criminal Justice
• Gender, Imperialism and International Development
• Gender Analysis and Development Practice
• Market Life: Wealth and Poverty in Global Capitalism
• Social Research for Social Change
• Queering Sociology
• Sexualities
• Reproductive Justice
• Quantitative Methods in Social Research
• Qualitative Methods in Social Research
• Archival Encounters
• Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
• Social Data Science
• Creative Research Methods
• Big Data: Hype or Revolution
• Critical Readings in Social Theory
• Transnational Media Ecologies
• Religion and the Planetary Crises
• Sociology of End Times
• Sociology of Work

Teaching

Each of our MA courses has specified core modules which will be studied alongside a range of optional modules. All our MA courses follow a consistent structure meaning that you will follow a programme of taught modules, followed by a 15,000-word dissertation.

Class sizes

Class sizes can range from 6 to 30 students, dependent on each module.

Typical contact hours

Each module consists of at least 20 hours of teaching. Many modules are taught in 2 hour seminars of 10-15 students. Others follow a 1 hour lecture and 1 hour class format. You will also have a supervisor for your dissertation, who you will meet regularly to support this independent research project.

Assessment

Taught modules are assessed through essays and other types of assignment. You will focus on your 15,000 word dissertation after the end of Spring Term.

Reading lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform.

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from our courses have gone on to work for employers including universities, NGOs and the charity sector, international agencies, arts organisations or the civil service. They have worked in areas such as teaching and lecturing; data analysis and research; campaigns and activism; aid and development; publishing and the media; law; social work; social policy; arts and culture; HR, consultancy and business.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Make Your Mark - Careers with a degree in Sociology
• Working for More than Profit
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
• Your Sociological future: Sociology Alumni Evening
• My Sociological Future- What next? Career planning for undecided Sociology finalists

Sociology at Warwick

We have an international reputation for research excellence, a global and cosmopolitan perspective, and high-quality teaching. Our curriculum offers a comprehensive and up-to-date foundation with a diverse range of specialist options.

What does it mean to understand the world in which you live? What will your contribution be to this changing world? How do your own experiences and life chances compare to those of others?

Sociology – the study of humans in society – attempts to capture the rich variety and complexity of human social life. Indeed, it is difficult to think of any area of social existence that a sociologist wouldn’t be interested in examining, from the most intimate of personal relationships to the worldwide circulation of ideas, beliefs, products and people.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window

Our Postgraduate courses

• Gender and International Development (MA)
• Gender and Sexuality (MA)
• Social and Political Thought (MA)
• Social Inequalities and Research Methods (MSc)
• Sociology (MA)
• Sociology (PhD)
• Women's and Gender Studies (PhD)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2025 opens on 2 October 2024.

Applications will close on 2 August 2025 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course