MSc Sociology MSc Sociology (Research) MSc Sociology (Contemporary Social Thought) MSc Sociology (Economic Sociology)

About the MSc programmes

These programmes offer the following benefits:

• The chance to study sociology at graduate level in the only specialist institution for the social sciences in the UK. The research MSc offers you the opportunity to complete an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recognised research training programme that will qualify you to apply for an ESRC research studentship.
• The opportunity to study with faculty of established national and international reputations in the Department's areas of research expertise. The MSc Sociology programme streams allow students to take a core programme offering a foundation in sociological research together with flexibility in option choices, or to specialise in key areas: advanced social research methods; contemporary social thought; or economic sociology. Option courses reflect the Department's academic strengths, including: classical and contemporary social theory; political sociology; the sociology of economic life; race, ethnicity and postcolonial studies; gender and society; crime and control; cities and urbanism; bio-sciences and society. These courses reflects the Department's commitment to sociology's critical range and contemporary relevance.
• The opportunity to extend your knowledge and understanding in areas of special interest related to sociology. If you have little or no knowledge of the social sciences, our Diploma in Sociology provides a good one-year foundation before proceeding to the master's programme, normally in the following year.
• The chance to progress to a research degree (MPhil/PhD) following completion of your MSc. The MSc dissertation will provide you with the chance of exploring the possibility of writing on a particular subject in some depth.
• Receive knowledge of the ways in which societies work, and skills in critical social understanding, techniques of social enquiry and communication through systematic and lucid argument. The skills that you develop in research techniques and computing will enable you to assemble, interpret and use social statistics.
• Students go into a wide variety of professions, such as teaching, research, politics, public administration, the social and health services, advertising, journalism, other areas of the media, law, publishing, industry, accounting, marketing, personnel and management.

These programmes cover the most significant recent developments in sociology and enable students to specialise in particular areas, developing their critical skills and advancing their knowledge of modern sociology.

You take a total of three course units through a combination of full and/or half units and you complete a dissertation of up to 10,000 words on a subject of interest related to the courses and approved by the Department.

You will be advised on the dissertation topic by your academic adviser, in conjunction with the tutor of your chosen MSc programme. You choose the topic, which can be empirical or theoretical in its approach. The dissertation gives you the opportunity of thinking sociologically and at length on a sociological problem, issue or debate within sociology itself.

Compulsory courses for MSc Sociology

(* half unit) 

• Social Research Methods
• Dissertation 

Compulsory courses for MSc Sociology (Research)

• Social Research Methods
• Introduction to Quantitative Analysis*
• Applied Regression Analysis*
• Dissertation  

Compulsory courses for MSc Sociology (Contemporary Social Thought)

• Contemporary Social Thought
• Dissertation

Compulsory courses for MSc Sociology (Economic Sociology)

• Economic Sociology*
• Dissertation 

Options

(* half unit)

Choose a total of one full course unit (MSc Sociology (Research)) or two full course units (MSc Sociology and MSc Sociology (Contemporary Social Thought)) or two and a half units (MSc Sociology (Economic Sociology)):

• Globalisation: Economy, Politics and Power*  
• Politics and Society 
• Crime and Society: Concepts and Method
• Economic Sociology* 
• Cultural Constructions of the Body* 
• Approaches to Human Rights
• Political Reconciliation*
• Regulation, Risk and Economic Life
• Sociology of Employment Part I: Social Relations at Work* 
• Sociology of Employment Part II: Contemporary Management and Globalisation* 
• Cities by Design*
• Gender and Societies*
• Nationalism
• Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Britain (post 1945)*  
• Classical Social Thought* 
• Modern Social Thought* 
• Families in Contemporary Societies: a Life Course Perspective
• Racial Formations of Modernity*
• Topics in Race, Ethnicity and Post Colonial Studies
• New Media, Development and Globalisation
• Race and Biopolitics*
• Contemporary Social Thought
• International Migration and Migrant Integration*
• Risk and Governance: A Sociological Approach*
• The Sociology of Markets and Economic Life* 

Please note that not every course is necessarily available each year.