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 department advice on applying to ensure your application has the best chance for success.

Core modules

Gender, Imperialism and International Development

This module fosters comprehensive, critical and advanced knowledge of theoretical approaches to gender and development. The first part of the module locates gender and development within a history of colonialism, imperialism and orientalism, asking how gender relations have shaped and been shaped by colonialism; how contemporary forms of western imperialism invoke ideas about gender; and how far western feminism has been able to resist orientalist ideas about a ‘modern’ west and a ‘backward’ east. It also looks critically at some measures of gendered development today, including the Millennium Development Goals and the replacement Sustainable Development Goals. The second half explores key theories of development - modernisation theory, dependency theory, environmentalism, and post-development thinking - and how they have been gendered. It also considers approaches to gender and development based around the concepts of human rights, capabilities and justice, before returning to the original questions: what constitutes development, and what are the implications of a gendered approach to it.

Gender Analysis and Development Practice

This module explores gender in development practice. It casts light on processes of mobilisation and social change aimed at promoting and achieving greater equity and well-being for people in ‘developing’ parts of the world. Therefore, it considers development policy approaches through which historically excluded groups (located at the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality) are given the tools to claim rights, recognition and cultural, political and economic resources. It enquires to what extent development policies, programmes and projects in the Global South integrate gendered perspectives to identify and then erase disparities in the distribution of resources, opportunities, constraints and power. Does a gender analytical approach, accepted and employed by numerous international development agencies, allow for practice which addresses gender inequalities in an intersectional way.

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, plenary teaching, and other online resources. 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 sociological relevance.

Optional modules

You can take four optional modules, at least one from List (A) and one from List (B). Further modules can be taken from any list but no more than one outside option can normally be taken, from the list of Recommended Outside Options (List D) or, by agreement with the Course Convenor, one module offered by another Department or Centre within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

List A

• Decolonising Ecology: Race, Coloniality and the Climate Crisis
• Feminist and Queer Thinking: Contemporary Challenges
• Feminist Theories and Epistemologies: Debates and Dilemmas
• Indigenous and Global South Feminisms
• Market Life: Wealth and Poverty in Global Capitalism
• Postcolonial Theory and Politics
• Religion and the Planetary Crises
• Reproductive Justice
• Researching Inequality: Race, Class, and Gender in Global Perspective
• Sexualities
• Social Research for Social Change
• Transnational Media Ecologies

List B

• Archival Encounters
• Creative Research Methods
• Qualitative Methods in Social Research
• Quantitative Methods in Social Research
• Understanding Social Science

List C

• Big Data: Hype or Revolution
• Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
• Critical Readings in Social Theory
• Key Problems in Criminal Justice
• Mastering Complex Real-World Data
• Queering Sociology
• Social Data Science
• Sociology of End Times
• State of the Art of Sociology

List D

• Women’s Human Rights and Global Justice

Read more about our core and optional modules on the Sociology website.Link opens in a new window

Teaching

Each of our MA courses has specified core modules which will be studied alongside a range of optional modules. You will be required to choose four optional modules from our departmental list. 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 written assignments. 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 these courses have gone on to work for employers including various national and international Universities, NGOs and the charity sector, or the civil service. They have pursued roles such as: business and financial project management professionals; higher education teaching professionals; IT project and programme managers; legal professionals and research and development managers.

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