The Structure of a Sociology Degree at Leicester Part 2

Continuing on from my last blog which outlined the modules I completed in my first semester of my first year at university this blog will tell you what the course entailed in the second semester. Again all of these modules were compulsory…

1. Society in Transformation: This was my favourite module of first year! It was split into 3 sections. The first focuses on the city where you learn about the development of cities overtime, regeneration, gentrification (my dissertation topic!), wannabe cities and social exclusions in cities. The second is about education where you learn about the changes in education overtime, global talent wars, markets and educational choice, parentocracy and social inequalities in education. Finally, in the crime section you are taught about crime in relation to the city, the family and the underclass, theorising crime for late-modernity and urban riot. We chose two sections to focus on for our exam where we answered a question on each. From the content on the city I focused my revision on how the city has changed from a metropolis to megalopolis on society’s journey from modernity to late modernity and the impact of gated communities. Then on the education section I focused on the development of educational policies over time and gender inequalities in education. There was also a portfolio to complete which involved completing a handout on a specific topic, presenting this to your seminar group and then doing a write up on your performance.
2. Work, Employment and Society. Although I didn’t enjoy this module as much as the others I still learned a lot of interesting a different things from doing it. It is a particularly good module for those with an interest in economics as it focuses on the labour market. You learn how different theories and data can be applied to topics like strikes, globalisation, racism and sexism in employment, effective government policy, and the ‘free market’. I focused my essay on the functions of trade unions and how these have changed over time. I also completed a group presentation on trade unions. For the exam I read about the effectiveness of affirmative action policies, Fordism and the dismantling of the welfare state.
3. Research Methods 1: Whilst learning about various theories on different topics is interesting you cannot become a sociologist without learning how to conduct your own research. This module is the first of two which provide insight into producing you own research by giving you a chance to think of a research question and create your own research proposal which reviews the current literature on your topic and outlines your chosen research design. This module proved to be vital practice for my dissertation as the research proposal represents nearly half of a dissertation so even though I didn’t achieve a hugely good grade in the module, the feedback I was given has been really helpful. We also had an exam which tested our knowledge of research methods and sampling, however I think they’ve now removed the exam from the module.