Course summary

Please note that Combined Honours degrees at Liverpool Hope University are split 50/50. This means both subjects will be studied equally. Politics Politics affects all of us. It is central to human life and human affairs. It is fundamental to how we organise and govern ourselves and to how we resolve conflicts. The decisions we make as political communities, who makes them and how, have consequences for how we live, from questions of war and peace, the distribution of wealth, our rights, freedoms, responsibilities, our access to education, transport and health care. In this rapidly changing world, new challenges are constantly arising – from climate change to new technologies, from identity politics to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic – and the study of politics needs to respond. At Liverpool Hope, therefore, we seek to engage with politics and political issues in the real world as they evolve and change over time. In doing so, we actively encourage debate and discussion amongst our students, encouraging a stronger awareness and appreciation of different points of view. On this programme of study, you will explore key ideas, institutions and politics in an international, national and local context. You will be taught by staff who are experts in their field, who will teach you to engage with political research and develop the capacity to be an independent, critically-minded scholar. The course also aims to equip you with transferable skills to take into the world of work. Sociology Contemporary society is becoming ever more complex, dynamic and challenging, and the need to understand it increasingly important. The Sociology degree at Liverpool Hope University will help you to think critically and constructively about the key questions relating to modern society, exploring crucial topics such as: how is society organised, where does power lie, and who are the winners and losers? What are the key challenges associated with class, poverty, gender, sexuality, race, disability, religion, and climate change in the 21st century, and how do we address these? What is the future of work, and how will this impact society? How do we make sense of society? And how do we generate knowledge that might help us to improve the world in which we live? In line with Liverpool Hope University’s commitment to social justice, Sociology will help you to understand and critique the ‘common-sense’ assumptions about the world we inhabit. You will examine a wide range of key issues that characterise and confront the modern world, both nationally and globally, and will study the theories and methods that help to explain and understand them.