BA (Hons) Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University

BA (Hons) Sociology at LJMU is a varied degree, which offers a unique opportunity to undertake a contemporary, critical and sector-leading programme of study. The degree will develop your research skills and help you explore alternate ideas and respect points of view that may be contrary to your own, including providing core training in sociological methods and theory.

The Sociology degree provides a balance of core and optional modules, delivering a thorough grounding in theory and method, alongside cutting-edge and emerging theoretical and methodological approaches. The programme endeavours to recognise the history and legacy of sociology while also developing its insights to contemporary and emerging problems.

You can choose to follow your own pathway by selecting modules that contribute to a theme or themes including social divisions and inequality, social policy, culture, and globalisation. At the same time, individual modules contribute to more than one pathway given the intersection of various themes (e.g. the globalisation of culture), and because social variables such as class, age, disability, gender, beliefs and ideologies operate in society at all times with different impacts.

The opportunities to consider societies other than the UK, and to do so in some depth in a variety of modules means that the curriculum is international in focus. It also provides unique opportunities to study in South Asian societies, to participate in study exchanges in other countries in Europe and beyond, or to undertake supervised field visits. Previous field visits have taken place in Brussels and Nepal, for example.

The teaching of well-established and emerging theory is combined with core training in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and balances 'action research' with other forms of social enquiry. In the final year, research method teaching embraces more recent methodological innovations including visual and sensory approaches.

The modules offered on the degree reflect the sociological work undertaken by members of staff, and are inspired by their research and contributions to national and international debates. This ensures that the curriculum is up-to-date, peer reviewed and engaged with contemporary issues and approaches. In the final year, all optional modules are designed to encourage you to make your own enquiries into relevant questions and issues. For example, you could choose to study contemporary issues and work closely with staff in areas such as the sociology of religion, of music or sport, disability, radical social policy, gender studies, emotions and aesthetics, and benefit from the departmental expertise in South East Asian societies. You will also have the opportunity to study a topic of your own choice in depth by choosing to write a dissertation.