Course summary
This is a Connected Degree Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course. Overview Understand how and why society is changing on this BSc (Hons) Sociology degree course. Step into critical debates on social issues and inequalities as they vary around the world, including gender and sexuality, race and racism, nationalism and human emotions. Make sense of what’s going on, why it’s happening, and what we can do about it. On this BSc (Hons) Sociology degree, you’ll learn classical sociological theories and how to apply them to the topics that most inspire you. You'll be taught and supported by the same expert staff and active researchers who introduce you to ideas and concepts in lectures, and encouraged to discuss these with them in more depth alongside other students. As you work towards your choice of final research project, you'll pick subjects you want to explore further from a wide range of specialist subjects, such as social justice, wellbeing and happiness, and the sociology of education. You'll graduate with transferable skills sought after by employers across many sectors, as well as the confidence, knowledge and methods to enact positive change within a broad range of careers. Course highlights
- Tailor your studies to topics that matter most to you – from gender, sexuality, race, and social class, to happiness, the body, and social power and dissent - and be taught by experts in those fields
- Discover ways to apply classical sociological theories, such as developing policies and actions to produce social change and solutions to issues affecting the world right now
- Learn from leading sociologists about their impactful research on key social issues, such as the Researching Migrant Homelessness project
- Hear from industry specialists on topics such as racism, asylum and gender-based violence – recent guest speakers have come from Friends Without Borders and Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Services (PARCS)
- Build skills that support you to carry out your own research and analysis of issues you're passionate about – previous student dissertations were on the Black Lives Matter movement, online dating, musical taste and K-Pop, happiness and social media, becoming vegan and racism in sport
- Follow an optional media studies pathway, where you could explore topics such as digital cultures and media fandom
- Have the opportunity to do a work placement year after your second or third year on this Connected Degree - we're the only UK university to offer flexible sandwich placements for undergraduates
- Choose to learn a foreign language for free as part of your degree, from a selection of Arabic, British Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin or Spanish
- teaching and lecturing (with additional training or further study)
- research and policy
- health and social care
- advertising, marketing and media
- local government
- careers advice, human resources and recruitment
- charity work and community development
- fundraising and project manager
- hr adviser
- housing strategy and policy officer
- social worker
- evidence and evaluation manager
- peer support and young person's service manager
- recruitment consultant
- senior research executive
- marketing manager
- data analyst
Subject options
This course offers the following subject options:
- Sociology with Media Studies
Modules
Year 1 Core modules in this year include:
- Developing your Sociological Imagination (40 credits)
- Observing Society (20 credits)
- Research Design and Analysis (20 credits)
- Social Inequalities (20 credits)
- Theorising Social Life (20 credits)
- Doing Sociological Research (20 credits)
- Modernity and Globalisation (20 credits)
- Risk and Society (20 credits)
- Work, Employment and Society (20 credits)
- Consumer Society: Critical Themes and Issues (L5) (20 credits)
- Digital Cultures: Exploring the Digital in the Humanities and Social Sciences (20 credits)
- Emotions and Social Life (20 credits)
- Empire and Its Afterlives in Britain, Europe, and Africa (20 credits)
- Engaged Citizenship in Humanities and Social Sciences (20 credits)
- Equality Or Liberation? Theorising Social Justice (20 credits)
- Family, Career and Generation (L5) (20 credits)
- Gender and Sexuality (20 credits)
- Global Security (20 credits)
- Health, Wellbeing, and Happiness (L5) (20 credits)
- Intercultural Perspectives On Communication (20 credits)
- Marketing & Communication (20 credits)
- Media Networks: Exploring Digital Culture (20 credits)
- Media, Culture and National Identity (20 credits)
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday (L5) (20 credits)
- News, Discourse, and Media (20 credits)
- Principles of Economic Crime Investigation (20 credits)
- Professional Experience L5 (20 credits)
- Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature (20 credits)
- Race and Racism (L5) (20 credits)
- Screen Media (20 credits)
- Social Power, Elites and Dissent (L5) (20 credits)
- Sociology of Culture: Taste, Value and Celebrity (L5) (20 credits)
- The Sociology of Education (20 credits)
- Transitional Justice & Human Rights (20 credits)
- Understanding Personal Life (L5) (20 credits)
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response (20 credits)
- Celebrity and Society (20 credits)
- Consumer Society:Critical Themes and Issues (L6) (20 credits)
- Dissertation (Sociology) (40 credits)
- Emotions and Social Life (L6) (20 credits)
- Equality Or Liberation? Theorising Social Justice (20 credits)
- Family, Career and Generation (L6) (20 credits)
- Gender and Sexuality (20 credits)
- Health, Wellbeing and Happiness (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Major Project (40 credits)
- Media Fan Cultures (20 credits)
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday (20 credits)
- News, War and Peace (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Development: Recruiters and Candidates (20 credits)
- Professional Experience L6 (20 credits)
- Race and Racism (L6) (20 credits)
- Social Power, Elites and Dissent (L6) (20 credits)
- Sociology of Culture: Taste, Value and Celebrity (L6) (20 credits)
- The Sociology of Education (L6) (20 credits)
- Understanding Personal Life (L6) (20 credits)
Assessment method
You will be assessed throughout this course via a wide range of assessment methods including:
- written essays and tests
- both group and individual projects
- seminar participation
- examinations
- a 10,000-word dissertation in year 3
How to apply
This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application codes
Please select a course option – you will then see the application code you need to use to apply for the course.
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Year 1
- Year 2
- Year 3
Entry requirements for advanced entry (i.e. into Year 2 and beyond)
We welcome applications for advanced entry. If you’d like to apply for advanced entry, you need to select the required year when you complete your UCAS application.
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - 104 - 112 points
A level - BBC - BCC
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) - DMM
Access to HE Diploma
Scottish Higher
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme - 25 points
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (last awarded Summer 2024)
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017) - H3, H3, H3, H4, H4 - H3, H3, H3, H3, H4
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
GCSE/National 4/National 5
T Level - M
English language requirements
Test | Grade | Additional details |
---|---|---|
IELTS (Academic) | 6 | English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5. |
Cambridge English Advanced | Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) (taken after January 2015). An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162. | |
Cambridge English Proficiency | Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) (taken after January 2015). An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162. | |
PTE Academic | 62 | An overall score of 62 with a minimum of 59 in each skill. |
TOEFL (iBT) | 79 | 79 with a minimum of 18 in Reading, 17 in Listening, 20 in Speaking and 17 in Writing. |
Trinity ISE | Pass | Trinity College Integrated Skills in English (ISE) Level III with a Pass in all 4 components. |
Student Outcomes
The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
EU | £9535 | Year 1 |
England | £9535 | Year 1 |
Northern Ireland | £9535 | Year 1 |
Scotland | £9535 | Year 1 |
Wales | £9535 | Year 1 |
Channel Islands | £9535 | Year 1 |
Republic of Ireland | £9535 | Year 1 |
International | £17200 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
Provider information
University of Portsmouth
University House
Winston Churchill Avenue
Portsmouth
PO1 2UP