Program Description

This course combines political analysis with policy studies, to powerful effect. Students will study modules in the Department of Politics and the Department of Sociology.

The politics part of the course introduces students to political theory and the big issues in contemporary politics. Students learn how to analyse political ideas, institutions and practices.

In sociology, students will study modern industrial societies: patterns of social change, social interaction and the detail of everyday life.

The first year features Introduction to Political Analysis, The Politics of Globalisation, Introduction to Sociology, and Social Divisions in Contemporary Society. Optional sociology modules might include Understanding Inequality, Globalisation and World Cultures, and Science, Technology and Society.

In the third year, students will research and write a 12,000-word dissertation. They might choose a Work-Based Dissertation, which means they collaborate on a research project with an external partner - like a local government department or a charity - and write about that.