BSc Sociology and Social Policy

This is a three-year, full-time course consisting of 120 credits a year. The final degree classification that you are awarded is based on the grades you achieve in the modules that you take in years two and three.

In year one you will lay the foundations for later specialist study, taking a number of core modules and following a study skills programme designed to help you make the transition to higher education. In years two and three, you will be encouraged to study and learn more independently, giving you the opportunity to read more widely and to develop your own interests. The final year also includes a compulsory 40-credit dissertation.

Year One

You will take six compulsory 20-credit modules in Year One. These are designed to introduce you to the key ideas and research in Sociology and Social Policy and to teach you the skills needed to succeed at university.

In the first year, you will meet your personal tutor who will help you to make the transition to higher education and support you throughout your time with us.

Core Modules for Year One

• Social and Public Policy: in Principle and Practice
• Introduction to Social Science Research
• Key Ideas in Social Science
• Introduction to Social and Public Policy
• Introduction to Sociology
• Becoming a Social Scientist

Year Two

You will take five core 20-credit modules which will deepen your understanding of Criminology and Social Policy. You will also select one 20-credit optional module from across the social science disciplines taught in the School.

In this year you will also have the opportunity to consider transferring onto a four-year programme, spending your third year on a professional work placement or studying abroad, returning to Cardiff to complete your studies in the fourth year.

Core Modules for Year Two

• Social Research Methods
• Social Theory
• Poverty and Social Security in the UK
• Social Policy Analysis

Optional Modules for Year Two

• Children and Childhood
• Responses to Crime
• Contemporary Inequalities
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Evaluating Social Practice, Policy and Innovation
• Focus Groups and Interviews
• Knowing the Social World - Online and Offline Surveys
• Gender Relations and Society
• Migration, 'Race' and Ethnic Relations
• Ethnography and Everyday Life
• Cymdeithas Gyfoes yng Nghymru / Contemporary Society in Wales
• Digital Social Research: Theory and Methods

Year Three

Your final year will consolidate your knowledge and allow you to continue to explore topics that best suit your future career aspirations. Of the 120 credits available, you will take 40 credits from the Sociology portfolio and 40 credits from the Social Policy portfolio. You will also undertake a 40-credit dissertation project, designing, conducting and writing up a small-scale research project under the supervision of a member of the academic staff.

Optional Modules for Year Two

• Cyfiawnder Byd-eating
• Dissertation
• Analysing Social Change
• Sociology of Disaster
• Radical Education
• Work and Skills in the 21st Century: An International Perspective
• International and Comparative Social and Public Policy
• Equality and Social Justice in a Globalised World
• Power, Politics and Policy
• Sociology on the Move
• The Sociology of Stigma
• Ethnomethodology
• CRUSH
• Reflections on Education: Theory into Practice
• Live Theory
• Decolonising the Social Sciences
• Comedy, Modernity & Social Theory
• Monsters and Mysteries

How Will I Be Assessed?

All modules are assessed by at least two different assessment tasks. Typical assessment formats include individual and group assignments, coursework, presentations and exams. We take care to ensure that all degree schemes include a range of different assessment types and that deadlines are spread throughout the academic year.

Feedback is provided on assessments and other learning in order to provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their current or recent level of attainment. It can be provided individually or to groups. It can take many forms. It is responsive to the developmental expectations of our programmes and disciplines.

The range of feedback includes one-to-one individual feedback; generic feedback; peer feedback; informal feedback; and self-evaluation to submit along with the assessment.

Academic staff and peers can use a variety of methods to deliver these types of feedback: written feedback; annotation of a text; oral feedback; and seminar discussion.

What are the Learning Outcomes of this Course/Programme?

The Learning outcomes for this Programme describe what you will be able to do as a result of your study at Cardiff University. They will help you to understand what is expected of you and academic staff will focus on precisely what they want you to achieve within each Module.

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme can be found below:

Knowledge & Understanding

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• An understanding of the key ideas, theories and concepts used in sociology and social policy and their relationship to themes, theories and findings from cognate disciplines
• An understanding of the main research methods used within the social sciences and the philosophical issues that inform their application and use in research settings
• A critical and in-depth understanding of research and theory in selected sub-fields of sociology and social policy and the relevance of this work to contemporary social debates, issues or problems
• An understanding of the role empirical evidence plays in the creation and constraint of theory, and how theory guides the collection and interpretation of empirical data

Intellectual Skills

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Critically evaluate existing knowledge, scholarship and research in sociology and social policy and use this knowledge to reach a balanced judgement about the merits and relevance of competing claims and theoretical perspectives
• Critically evaluate the use of evidence in social science disciplines and policy debates, drawing on both broad methods of training and subject-specific knowledge
• Utilise knowledge and skills to understand and explain social phenomena of interest to sociology and social policy and apply this understanding to new or novel questions

Professional Practical Skills

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Design and use a range of data collection instruments needed to explore and understand the social world
• Critically evaluate, synthesise and interpret primary and secondary data generated using different methods, using specialist software where necessary
• Work both collaboratively and individually on theoretically informed and empirically grounded projects that draw on appropriate and relevant research evidence

Transferable/Key Skills

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• The capacity for problem-solving and originality in thinking by using knowledge and skills to tackle familiar and unfamiliar problems
• Academic and personal skills such as critical thinking, writing, oral presentations, problem solving, group work, time management, and the use of information technology
• The ability to communicate complex information in a variety of formats including reports, oral presentations, posters and dissertations

We encourage our students to think about life beyond university from day one, offering support to give you a competitive advantage on graduating. Turning theory into practical application and providing experience of the working world are important aspects of all our degree schemes and help prepare our graduates for life after higher education.