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First year Sociology at Lancaster

The transition from school to university is exciting but can also be daunting. Our first year courses are designed to support you in developing university-level research and writing skills, with academic support available when you need it.

Interested in how combining sociology with other subjects provides exciting perspectives on our lives? At Lancaster you can explore this by taking multiple subjects in your first year of study.

Here at Lancaster students normally take three main subjects in the first year. Those offered within our Department are year-long modules broken up into a number of shorter ‘blocks’ with topics that can vary slightly each year in response to new issues arising in media or new areas of research expertise amongst our staff.

If you are taking Sociology as a single major degree, then in your first year your modules would normally fit into this pattern:

  • The Sociological Imagination
  • A subject of your choice from the Sociology Department (either Transformations: From Mass Media to Social Media, Gender Studies, or Contemporary Social Problems)
  • A subject of your choice from a wide range offered inside or outside the Department – popular subjects for past students have included criminology, politics and psychology

If you are taking Sociology as a joint major degree, then in your first year your modules would normally fit into this pattern:

  • The Sociological Imagination
  • The first year module(s) for your joint major
  • A subject of your choice from a list of additional options

Whilst you will decide upon your degree or joint degree when applying for university, you don’t have to decide upon any further optional subjects until after you arrive on campus to study. After successfully completing your first year, you can then choose which subjects to continue and which to drop, with some possibilities to change your major at that point.

Find further details on modules.

Your full year module

The Part 1 course for your Sociology degree will be the Sociological Imagination.

Sociology video

Benefits of our flexible first year

First year options within the Department include:

Gender Studies Pathway

By taking Gender Studies you’ll have the option of continuing study in this area. We offer a range of optional modules such as Gender and Media, or Feminism and Social Change, and you can write your dissertation on a related topic. You can choose to study gender-related modules from other departments too, such as English, History, Linguistics, and Law.

Sociology at Lancaster

Sociology courses

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