Sociology – BA (Hons)

Looking for Sociology courses in Birmingham? Our BA (Hons) Sociology degree allows you to take a year-long placement in industry, gaining invaluable experience before you graduate.

Sociology helps us make sense of the societies in which we live and our place within them.

As one of our longest established courses, you’ll benefit from a programme of study taking an in-depth look at contemporary sociological issues that has been honed over several decades.

What’s covered in the course?

You’ll explore and question social norms and discover the complex issues behind day-to-day routines and social practices.

We explore patterns and processes of inequality, examine the structure and dynamics of social hierarchies and power relations and ask why and how people shape their identities and practice their lives. We encourage you to explore how sociological knowledge can connect individuals and how it can provide you with the skills needed to participate in debates not just about what society is but how it could be.

Through the links we’ve developed with work-place organisations such as local School Academies, Citizens Advice Bureau and Woman’s Aid, we help support you to make professional contacts and to apply your studies to real-world situations when taking part in voluntary work or on placement. We also enjoy close links with the city of Birmingham itself, a diverse community perfect for sociological examination.

Why Choose Us?

• Students are satisfied with this course! We scored 95 per cent for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2017.
• On all of our programmes you will gain a professional focus and real world experience of sociology, ensuring you are equipped to make an immediate impact in your career. You have the opportunity to embark on a year-long sandwich placement as part of your degree course.
• All our programmes have an international focus. This is embedded throughout the curriculum, giving you the opportunity to transform your experience with us into a global one. There are a variety of exciting possibilities open to you, ranging from our successful international travel scholarships scheme, through which you can spend a summer working for a charitable organisation overseas, to one of our many overseas study exchange programmes.
• As a student on one of our undergraduate degrees, you will be able to benefit from our Graduate+ initiative. This three-year award programme enables you to gain award levels for all the extra-curricular activities you undertake so that you can stand out from the crowd on graduation.
• The department is recognised for being at the forefront of sociological research, specialising in areas such as Black Studies, human rights and social identities.
• You will share a common first year with the BA (Hons) Sociology and Criminology degree, allowing you the opportunity to transfer onto this course in your second year if interested.
• Gain an understanding of the contemporary social world by practising a form of sociological inquiry that is informed, knowledge-applied, evidence-based and interdisciplinary.
• You will study in our state-of-the-art City Centre Campus, ideally located for you to take advantage of our links to industry in the UK’s second city.
• Employability is interwoven into every aspect of our course. Areas of employment for Sociology graduates can include: local and central government roles; publishing; market research and marketing; fundraising; youth, community and housing work; and voluntary / not-for-profit sector management.
• Birmingham City University has just launched the UK’s first Centre for Brexit Studies, researching all aspects of the UK’s vote to leave the EU, including the impact it has on cultural identities both in Britain and in Europe.