Sociology

Course summary

Year 1 - Education - The role and functions of the education system - Achievement of social groups by social class, gender and ethnicity in contemporary society - Relationships and processes within schools, with particular reference to teacher/pupil relationships, pupil identities and subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and the organisation of teaching and learning - Families and Households - Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course - Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society - The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society Year 2 - Beliefs in Society - The relationship between social change and social stability, and religious beliefs, practices and organisations - Religious organisations, including cults, sects, denominations, churches and New Age movements - The significance of religion and religiosity in the contemporary world, including the nature and extent of secularisation in a global context, and globalisation and the spread of religions. - Crime and Deviance - The social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime - Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes - Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies.