Core modules
Choose from a range of modules to create a general degree or a degree with a specialism.
You also have the option to add a year of study abroad at a partner University. In your final year, you will be ready to conduct your own independent research on a topic of your choice.
This degree covers topics such as:
- Media
- Gender
- Race
- Identity
- Capitalism
- Research methods
- How society has changed over time
- The relationship between individuals and society
- How techniques, perspectives, and traditions develop
- Ideologies, technologies, and issues that affect society
- Comparing interactions between countries and global societies
The final year includes a choice of optional specialisms:
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Social and Political Thought
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Research Methods
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Gender Studies
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Race and Global Politics
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Social Inequalities and Public Policy
- BA Sociology with Specialism in Technologies and Markets
If you choose to specialise, you will receive a degree certificate with the relevant specialism.
Year One
Sociology of Gender
Through case studies from the gender pay gap to the politics of Christmas, this module will transform how you see gender and its impact on the world. You will explore the origins of gender ideas and analyse their effects on areas of social life including: language; media and popular culture; science; work; family relationships; sexuality; violence; education; politics; and feminist movements.
While gender is the focus of this module, you will also consider how gender connects to other dimensions of social difference and inequality, such as sexuality, race, class or disability.
Read more about the Sociology of Gender moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Researching Society and Culture
What is society and how do you study it? Is human behaviour governed by rules similar to the natural world that you can study objectively? Or do human beings consciously act upon their environment and change the world through creativity and intelligence, driven by their own understanding and motivations? These are some of the questions that this module will explore.
You will be introduced to the core ideas behind sociological research and the practical tools to undertake research yourself. As well as looking at some of the key qualitative methods (for example, interviews, ethnography and discourse analysis), you will also examine the political, ethical and practical issues that social research inevitably entails.
Read more about the Researching Society and Culture moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Sociology of Race
What is 'race' and why does it matter? This module answers these questions by drawing on the wealth of expertise within Warwick Sociology, and is taught by experts who research and write about race and racism from a range of perspectives. Students will learn about both theoretical concepts and real-world examples that will help them to understand how race and racism shape the social world.
Read more about the Sociology of Race moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Class and Capitalism in the Neoliberal World
Protest and anger characterise the contemporary era – young people taking part in militant politics, protest parties gaining more votes, and even NHS doctors taking to the streets.
In this module, we will explore the social consequences of the economic and political transformations associated with neoliberalism that have taken place in recent decades. We will ask why these changes might be responsible for the global rise in urban unrest and dissatisfaction.
Topics will include growing inequality and elite power, militant policing, consumerism, anxiety, debt, the destruction of industrial communities, class identity, the marketisation of education, and the diminishing spaces of public life.
Read more about the Class and Capitalism in the Neoliberal World moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
History of Sociological Thought
What holds societies together? How do societies change? And how is politics in the conventional sense affected by factors such as class, status, ethnicity or religion, or the state of the economy? These are some of the questions with which you will engage with when you consider the history of sociological thought. You will gain skills of research, analysis and debate by considering the extent to which sociology may be considered a science and how the evolution of sociological thought has been shaped by events and the cultural, economic and political problems of the day.
Read more about the History of Sociological ThoughtLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study.
Introduction to Social Analytics in Social Inequalities Research
In the age of ever-increasing data availability which is paired with a growing sophistication of statistical techniques, the opportunities for social science research are vast. This module will give you an understanding of the basic elements of core descriptive statistics which will allow you not only to critically engage with quantitative findings in existing social science research, but also conduct quantitative analysis yourself. The module covers the topics of conceptualisation, operationalisation and measurement, as well as the principles of sampling and the basics of research design. You will be introduced to the process of social science research and quantitative methods in one hour lectures, and then explore these in extended seminars (2h) both through readings, and the statistical software SPSS. We will be working on real data sets, such as the European Social Survey.
Read more about the Introduction to Social Analytics in Social Inequalities Research module, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Year Two
Designing and Conducting Social Research
This module will teach you the core concepts and practical skills to undertake qualitative social research in academic and professional settings. These include research design, ethnography, in-depth interviewing, documents and discourse. As well as practical skills, you will investigate how social research has changed in recent decades, considering:
- ethical questions when researching life online
- how (and whether) you should study Twitter
- effects of social media on social interactions
- how to engage diverse audiences
You will also gain analytical skills to critically evaluate previous research and develop your ability to collect and analyse data using a range of qualitative methods.
Read more about the Designing and Conducting Social Research moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Practice and Interpretation of Quantitative Research
Quantitative methods can help you answer questions such as:
- Is income inequality in the UK growing?
- Does marriage improve health?
- Does growing up in a poor neighbourhood affect your life chances?
Analysing representative, large-scale social surveys is crucial for sociologists to understand social processes. This module will introduce you to quantitative methods and how to analyse large data sets using SPSS Statistics software. It will help you engage with published quantitative sociological research and to undertake your own basic quantitative data analysis.
Read more about the Practice and Interpretation of Quantitative Research module,Link opens in a new window including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Modern Social Theory
This module will introduce you to the main thinkers and movements in critical social theory. Topics include Marxism, post-structuralism, class and culture. The changing conceptualisation of power and class is a focus throughout the module. This helps you to see how the different theoretical approaches relate to each other, and to historical and political events.
Read more about the Modern Social Theory moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Year Three
Dissertation
Dissertations are the result of independent research on a sociological topic of your choice, with some guidance from your supervisor. Instead of writing an essay on a pre-determined topic or doing an exam, you get the opportunity to:
- Choose the topic
- Work out how to study it
- Collect and assess relevant information
- Analyse and criticise the information
- Write an account of how it was all done in 10,000 words
Your dissertation aims to use a selection of concepts, theoretical ideas, observations, statistical findings and your own faculties of criticism and imagination in order to reach convincing defensible conclusions about a topic which interests, challenges or puzzles you.
All Single Honours Sociology students must do a dissertation in their final year. Joint Honours degree students may opt to do a dissertation.
Read more about the Dissertation moduleLink opens in a new window, including the methods of teaching and assessment (content applies to 2024/25 year of study).
Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:
Year One
- Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
- Sociology of Education
- Crime and Society
- Criminology: Theories and Concepts
- International Perspectives on Gender
Year Two
- Commercial Cultures in Global Capitalism
- Educational Inequalities
- Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
- Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
- Media, Audiences and Social Change
- Political Sociology
- Gender and Violence
- Surveillance and Society: Race, Gender, Class
- Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Social Data
- Advanced Theory in Criminology and Social Justice
- Beyond the Binary: Trans-forming Gender
- War, Memory and Society
- Social Theory of Law
- Policing and Society
- Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
- Environmental Sociology
- Youth, Crime and Criminal Justice
Year Three
- Social Movements and Political Action
- Racism and Xenophobia
- Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
- Transnational Media Ecologies
- Race, Resistance and Modernity
- Sociology of Knowledge, Science and Intellectuals
- Punishment, Justice and Control
- Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
- Postcolonial Theory and Politics
- Queering Sociology
- State Crime, Human Rights and Global Wrongs
- Applying Quantitative Methods to Social Research
- Experiments in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Sociology of End Times
- Global South and Indigenous Feminisms
- Social Data Science
- Sociology of Green Transformations
- Sociology of Film, Film as Sociology
- Drugs, Crime and Society
- The Social Life of Things
- Religion and the Planetary Crisis
Explore our modules in more detail.
Optional specialisms
In your third year, you can pursue a 'Sociology with Specialism' degree. This allows you to follow a particular interest or career path that interests you.
BA Sociology with Specialism in Technologies and MarketsLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
- Media, Audiences and Social Change
- Commercial Cultures in Global Capitalism
- Capitalism and Religion
- Economic Sociology
- Sociology of Knowledge
- Science and Intellectuals
- Transnational Media Ecologies
- Environmental Sociology
- The Sociology of Green Transformations
BA Sociology with Specialism in Race and Global PoliticsLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- War, Memory and Society
- Surveillance and Security: Race, Gender, Class
- Racism and Xenophobia
- Race, Resistance and Modernity
- Transnational Media Ecologies
- Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
- Postcolonial Theory and Politics
- State Crime, Human Rights and Global Wrongs
- Religion and the Planetary Crisis
- Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
BA Sociology with Specialism in Social Inequalities and Public PolicyLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- Sociology of Education
- Educational Inequalities
- Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
- Disability, Inequality and the Life Course
- Social Movements and Political Action
- Economic Sociology
- Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Data
- Punishment, Justice and Control
- Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
- Policing and Society
- The Sociology of Green Transformations
- Environmental Sociology
BA Sociology with Specialism in Social and Political ThoughtLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
- Political Sociology
- Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
- Racism and Xenophobia
- Religion and the Planetary Crisis
- Economic Sociology
- Race, Resistance and Modernity
- Sociology of Knowledge, Science and Intellectuals
- Transnational Media Ecologies
- Postcolonial Theory and Politics
- Queering Sociology
- Sociology of End Times
- Criminology: Theories and Concepts
- Advanced Theory in Criminology and Social Justice
- Powerful Feelings: Emotion as Social and Political
BA Sociology with Specialism in Gender StudiesLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- Becoming Yourself: The Construction of the Self in Contemporary Western Societies
- Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
- Beyond the Binary: Trans-forming Gender
- Gender and Violence
- Transnational Media Ecologies
- Feminist Pedagogy/Feminist Activism
- Queering Sociology
- Gender, Race and Sexualities in the Criminal Justice System: Policy and Practice
- International Perspectives on Gender
- Gender, Crime and Justice
BA Sociology with Specialism in Research MethodsLink opens in a new window
- Dissertation - specific to specialism
- Media, Audiences and Social Change
- Life of Media: Past, Present and Future
- Relationship and Family Change: Demographic and Sociological Perspectives
- Ethnography and the Anthropological Tradition
- Multivariate Secondary Analysis of Social Data
- Applying Quantitative Methods to Social Research
- Experiments in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Social Data Science
