The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2025)
14
14th for Sociology
The Complete University Guide (2025)
Why Lancaster?
Develop sought-after skills in analysis, communication, research and teamwork that will open the door to a wide range of satisfying careers
Tailor your degree by choosing from a wide range of modules such as social justice, gender, environment, migration, race, criminology and film
Learn from expert staff who contribute to national and international policy through advisory groups, media appearances, blogs and speeches
Join a team that is committed to making a positive difference in society through activism and research with real-world impact
Design a dissertation on a topic of your choosing, choose an issue that is personally important to you. Previous topics include the relationship between autism and social media, masculinity and food consumption, and efforts to decolonise the curriculum.
Extend your knowledge and experience through field trips, placements, study abroad, film screenings and student societies
Sociology is all about exploring the big issues in today’s world. Why do gender inequalities still exist? How does what we consume affect our sense of identity? What will the sociological impact of the cost-of-living crisis be?
Equipping you for the real world
The social problems that governments and organisations have to tackle don’t come packaged in neat subject boxes. So, we don’t believe you should study like that either. Instead, we’ll encourage you to explore several disciplines so that you’re able to see situations from different angles and grasp the bigger picture.
Alongside building your knowledge, we’ll help you to develop the critical skills you need to carry out independent research. Skills which will equip you for any area of life.
A vibrant culture and community
Focus on your personal and professional development in our Experiencing Sociology Programme. You could take part in a social activity such as a trip to Manchester or a quiz. On the skills side, it could involve how to work towards a first-class degree or make the most of careers support.
Beyond this though, we’re about building an open and supportive culture. We’ll let you have your say in developing or revising modules to reflect your interests. Plus, our friendly student ambassadors are on hand to help if you have any questions.
Wherever you hope to end up, Lancaster has many opportunities to develop work experience and skills.
Careers
Our sociology degree will offer you a wide range of opportunities. It’s exciting to see the many diverse and fulfilling careers our graduates go on to.
Our students say the skills they’ve been equipped with helped them to stand out from the competition in the job market. These include being able to analyse a situation, asking the right questions and seeing the bigger picture. All key skills to work out why trends in society might be happening and to empower you to take positive action.
Just some of the sectors you might work in with a BA (Hons) Sociology degree include:
Charity sector work or community engagement
Social enterprise
The caring professions
The Civil Service
Teaching
Specialist recruitment
Media and creative industries
Human resources and graduate trainee management
And if you decide to follow a research career, those skills will also stand you in good stead.
Whatever route you go down, you can be confident that your degree and the skills it equips you with will open many doors.
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring that you gain a highly reputable degree. We are also dedicated to ensuring that you graduate with relevant life and work-based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award, which offers you the opportunity to complete activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development.
IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.
Other Qualifications
International Baccalaureate 32 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects
BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Merit
We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.
Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
Contextual admissions
Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.
Course structure
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and some which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
What does it mean to ‘think sociologically’? When there are so many academic disciplines and non-academic areas of professional expertise, what is unique and important about starting with the social? This module begins with fundamental questions about the value of sociology in understanding the contemporary world and goes on to explore how the significance of our questions and everyday experiences are transformed when investigating all kinds of contemporary social problems, from inequality to globalisation, sociologically.
This full-year module is organised into different ‘blocks’ that connect themes in sociology – such as the relationship between self and society or between self and power – to both long-standing and newly emerging research. Whether or not you have studied sociology before, this module will introduce you to new areas of sociology, as well as demonstrating how key themes such as consumption, identity, social justice, or culture and media intersect with different sociological questions and sites of enquiry. Lecturers draw upon the ongoing research undertaken at Lancaster, giving you access to current insights that are inspiring change in policy and professional organisations.
The benefit of having multiple topics and themes addressed within one year-long module is that the assessments are carefully designed to slowly build up your research and study skills over your first year of study, whilst still giving you the flexibility to write major essays on the topics that are most interesting to you. The module provides you with a fantastic opportunity to explore new ideas and find new inspiration for understanding how we lead our lives today, and what possibilities there are for change tomorrow.
Optional
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This module challenges you to think about why some private troubles become public concerns or social problems while others do not. It considers how certain issues are constructed as ‘problems’ and the factors that contribute to this. It helps you to understand more about both why we study social problems and the various ways in which we can do so.
Throughout the module we explore broad historical and contemporary responses to social problems. In particular, we will seek to understand how contemporary social problems reflect and reproduce economic and social inequalities and how those inequalities are constructed through different welfare ideologies and approaches.
This full-year module is organised into different ‘blocks’ underpinned by key themes, such as: need, community, citizenship, rights, and equality and social justice. We look, for example, at research and conceptual ideas that can help us understand poverty in contemporary society: we explore different ways of defining and measuring poverty, explanations of why people are poor, how the state attempts to tackle poverty and how it impacts upon the lives of individuals.
This module considers the forms of organisation in which gender is produced and reproduced, the structures of power that have developed as a result, and ways in which communities and movements have resisted marginalisation. We will look at the connections between the ways gender manifests in society and culture and the ways in which gender is studies (and not studied) in academic fields. We will also make connections between academic work, feminist movements and diversity activism more generally.
This module provides an introduction to criminology and criminal justice. You will benefit from a multi-disciplinary approach, which allows you to focus on the social, political, cultural and economic contexts of crime, deviance and criminal justice.
The module has a three-part structure and begins with criminological perspectives. This is your chance to delve into a range of key perspectives in criminology including biological, psychological, sociological and feminist. You’ll also consider the ways in which the media influences representations of crime.
In part two we will move on to contemporary criminological issues such as domestic violence, green criminology, serial killing, revenge porn, drugs, sex offending and hate crime. Part three then provides a critical overview of the key criminal justice agencies in the UK (such as prison, police and probation) – at this point we also explore approaches to punishment.
You will be taught by expert lecturers who will introduce you to cutting-edge research. Due to our unique approach to first year, you will study alongside students from across the University, which brings real diversity to the discussions within our small group teaching and workshops, enriching your learning experience.
You’ll be introduced to some of the key themes in the study of modern politics, and will have the chance to gain critical insight into the nature and use of political power in the contemporary world. You will learn about: the foundations of the modern nation-state, and the ways in which our institutions can reflect or fail to meet the ideals of liberal democracy; the behaviour of individuals and groups in political contexts; the workings of national constitutions and international organisations; the interaction of global events and domestic agendas.
Areas of study typically include:
+ Political Theory: the study of the scope, nature, and justification of state authority, and the history of political thought.
+ British Politics: the study of the theory, and political reality, of British governance in the twenty-first century.
+ Comparative Politics: the study of the various institutions of the nation-state, in a comparative context.
+ Ideologies: the study of political ideologies such as (neo-)liberalism, (neo-)conservatism, socialism, and fascism, their cohesiveness and social/political function.
+ Political Behaviour: the study of the ways in which agents and groups engage with politics in the age of mass and social-media.
+ Politics and Religion: the study of the relevance of religion to politics in contemporary society.
+ Politics in a Global World: the influence of global movements and events on domestic and international politics.
Because of the increasing interdependence of the national and global, domestic politics and international relations can no longer be properly understood in isolation from one another. To ensure the best possible foundation for a degree in Politics, in first year, we strongly recommend you also take International Relations: Theory and Practice.
From mass media to social media, from debates on authenticity and representation in reality-tv to struggles between users and the creative industries on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
This full-year module enables you to critically examine and analyse a range of media and cultural practices, texts, and technologies in a wide variety of contexts. It introduces you to a number of key concepts and theories that deal with media and culture, and it enables you to become a creative, critical, and confident consumer and producer of media in an ever-changing cultural and technological landscape.
This module is divided into a number of blocks, focusing on a variety of important topics such as: Media and Representation, Media and Practice, Media and Participation, Media and Technology, and Media and Reality. These topics will be discussed and explored with help of a range of contemporary examples, cases, and debates in television, digital games, film, advertisement, popular music, and social media.
One advantage of this full-year course is that it is carefully designed to help you develop skills at presenting your analysis and ideas in different ways, including in group discussions, essays and exam answers. By the end of the module you will be able to interpret and analyse different contemporary media and cultural phenomena with confidence, and be able to support your views and opinions with plenty of academic sources.
Core
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This module is designed to help you start preparing for your Independent Dissertation Project in Year 3, which is a supervised research project on a topic of your choice.
Through the interactive workshops, you will work towards identifying your topic choice, research questions, theoretical framework and methodology as you develop your dissertation research proposal. Each week, these skills based sessions will focus on a particular aspect of the research proposal (e.g. writing research questions, selecting appropriate methods to investigate these, identifying ethical considerations etc). This module will also feature guest speakers including, for example, some of your future supervisors and current dissertation students who will discuss how they came to research their topic areas, the kinds of dissertations students are completing or have completed in these areas in the past and advice they would like to pass on.
This module is designed around active learning – helping you to develop skills to do your own research.
Lectures address cross-cutting methodological debates as well as established methods (such as interviewing, discourse analysis, ethnography and quantitative surveys). Most of your time, however, is spent in seminars where you will try out methods such as interviewing, analysing media texts, and doing observation on campus.
There are ample opportunities for feedback as you develop ideas for your project-based final assessment, and build diverse skills to support your final year dissertation.
This module introduces the development of social theory from the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century to contemporary debates about the character of knowing. This module will introduce important models developed by classical social theorists (and especially Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Simmel) for analysing modern societies and considers how they have been adapted, updated, or displaced by recent social theories. It explores how these theories have been shaped by social and political change in eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century Europe. Particular stress is placed on relating theories to contemporary social life. You will critically consider different current understandings of the role of social theory as privileged knowledge, tool of social control, ideology, and discourse. You will explore critically the theme of everyday life in modernity.
This module offers the opportunity to learn skills in reading, analysing, comparing, and critically evaluating major social theories of the rise of modern societies.
Optional
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This module explores the question of how information and communications technologies, in their multiple forms, figure in our everyday lives. The aim of the module is to develop an appreciation for the range of experiences affected by digital media, including the progressive expansion of life online, and the increasingly intimate relations between life online and off. We’ll explore global divisions of digital labour; hactivism. The module will consider the new possibilities that the changing social infrastructure of digital technologies afford, while also learning to look at the rhetorics and practices of the virtual with a questioning and critical eye. Throughout the course we’ll be attentive to issues of gender, race and other marks of sameness and difference as they operate among humans, and between humans and machines.
Contemporary women’s and men’s lives are vastly different from previous generations, yet there are certain patterns of inequality, gender difference, and normative sexuality that continue to be reproduced. This course explores and interrogates the workings of gender and sexuality in contemporary society by considering a range of sociological and feminist explanations. The focus is on multiple formations of gender, sexuality, identity and embodiment. The course will analyse power relations among women (differentiated by class, ‘race’, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality) as well as between men and women. The course is taught in workshop format and involves lively debate and lectures and analysis of readings, films, images and news and popular media. In term 2 you complete and present a group project based on independent research.
The course is divided into 4 thematic sections.
Formations of Gender(s) and Sexualities , including emphasis on the social construction of bodies and identities and introducing key debates and the work of feminist and queer theorists.
Intersectionalities 1, is a series of lectures/workshops about how gender and sexuality are performed within and through everyday spaces and materials of difference and inequality, for example technology, childbirth and medicine.
Intersectionalities 2, considers how gender and sexuality intersect with other identity categories, such as class and religious identity.
Citizenship, considering contemporary feminist and queer approaches to, for example, marriage, intimacy practices and the military.
You will have the opportunity to: 1) learn skills in reading, analysing, and critically evaluating theories of gender difference and inequality; 2) to practice formulating your own sociological questions about gender and sexuality; 3) develop your skills in group work and oral presentation.
The media are hugely influential in shaping, reflecting and challenging gendered power relations. Feminist theorists have been attentive to the ways in which our lives are mediated, suggesting that we construct and perform our identities in relation to media representations of gender, sexuality and the body.
This module focusses on these issues, exploring some of the key cultural, social and political questions surrounding gender, sexuality and the media. The module draws on key concepts to explore how gender works across a wide range of media platforms. Specific media studied include film, advertising, fashion media and celebrity culture, politics, television genres such as reality television and soap opera, and gaming and digital media.
Family and intimate relationships form a crucial part of everyday social life. We are born into family and intimate relationships. We establish, maintain and dissolve family and intimate bonds over the life course. We navigate our changing relationship with parents, siblings, and relatives. We establish, maintain and re-establish intimate ties with partners and perhaps children.
But what are ‘families’? What makes intimate relationships ‘intimate’? How do people date, marry, separate, divorce, and re-partner? How do people ‘do’ families and intimacy in the everyday vicissitudes of match-making, romance, conflicts, care, money, domestic labour, and power? Why do people practise families and intimacy as they do? How do broader social, economic, political and cultural institutions configure our ‘private’ lives? How do the ways in which we relate to family members and intimate others shape the societies in which we live?
In an increasingly interconnected world, family and intimate relationships — personal and private as they are — are increasingly shaped by social forces operating on a global scale. The changing forms and practices of families and intimacy also help shape social trends as grandeur as globalisation.
In this module, we explore theoretical and empirical issues pertaining to the resilience and transformation of family and intimate relationships in a global context.
Everyday life is often described as bombarding us with images, and contemporary culture is therefore frequently understood as a visual culture.
What do such statements actually mean?
How far is our culture a visual culture?
What role do media play in a visual culture?
How is vision linked to practices – including representation, the gaze and embodiment – of power and inequality?
In what ways might these practices be challenged or resisted? Does vision only involve seeing, or is visual culture multi-sensory?
This module will introduce theories and practices that have addressed these questions. Examples of topics studied include:
The relationship between vision and knowledge
The gaze and power (eg the gaze as gendered and raced)
Media, representation and identity
Technologies of vision
Material practices of vision
Vision as multi-sensory.
On this module you will have the opportunity to gain a critical understanding of recent and ongoing themes in Media and Cultural Studies and Sociology on the topic of vision and visuality, media and culture, develop different reading and writing skills and participate in lively discussions and analytical exercises.
This module focuses on racism and racial formations in the world today in both historical and contemporary perspectives. We will consider how ideas of race are historically constructed and look at how racism takes on different forms. Topics may include: the slave trade, colonialism and imperialism; ‘everyday racism’; structural racism; the social construction of ‘whiteness’; anti-racists politics and movements. The aim of the course is for you to gain an overview of various sociological approaches to explaining ‘race’, but also to gain an understanding of how such theories make a difference in the world today.
In this module we explore the challenges facing young people in the UK today; particularly those raised in conditions of socio-economic disadvantage. Students are encouraged to think critically about the reasons young people are referred to, or seek help from agencies that offer support and safeguarding services.
Topics include contextual social work and trauma informed approaches to working with young people, adolescent mental health, offending behaviour, drug and alcohol use and the exploitation of young people. Central to this course are young people’s perspectives, as well as insights from social workers currently in practice.
This module introduces a range of debates about the social and cultural status and impact of advertising.
From a sociological perspective it explores:
Advertising in the nineteenth century
The practices of contemporary advertising agencies
Advertising controversies
Advertising regulation
Methods of textual analysis for advertisements
Gender and advertising
Challenges to advertising and the subversion of advertisements
Sociological accounts of branding and ‘promotional culture’
Students on this module will gain a critical understanding of sociological and cultural perspectives on advertising, methods of analysing advertising, and the role of advertising and discourses of consumerism in shaping identities.
Television remains one of the most pervasive and prevalent communication mediums. It shapes how we perceive and make sense of the nation, and offers representational frameworks through which a sense of identity and community can be constructed. Television has its critics - who consider it vulgar, mundane, stupefying, 'chewing gum for the eyes' - yet despite consistent predictions of its decline, television appears to have weathered the storm of fragmentation and digitalisation and remains a crucial media site that shapes national values and debate. This module introduces students to the field of television studies, its empirical and theoretical tools and the critical perspectives that help us explore and evaluate the recent history of television and explore its possible futures.
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This module provides an opportunity to bring together knowledge and skills you have developed into an 8,000 word dissertation that you complete in your final year. You will have the opportunity to undertake an independent piece of research (under supervision) and to apply your general understanding of the research process to real world examples that are of particular interest to you. There is the option of conducting your dissertation as part of a placement with an appropriate organisation or group.
You will plan, present and design a dissertation proposal in tutorial groups, with a detailed, step-by-step web-based guide available for extra support. This will help you develop an idea for a research project, work out what is possible, which methods to use, and begin to plan it. You will have opportunities to get feedback from other students and your supervisor during regular meetings. After carrying out your own data collection and analysis, you will then write it up as a dissertation.
Optional
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In the 21st century, environmental crises are being urgently addressed by social sciences as much as they are by the physical sciences. However, these crises are still largely framed as human problems, with human solutions, notably with an emphasis on conservation and biodiversity focusses on the cultural and environmental impacts of extinction for humans. This module introduces students to the idea of “more-than-human” theory that centres animals as agents and subjects in social research - and in society more broadly. Animals have always been a part of society; as companions, workers, food, and entertainment.
This module explores core socio-environmental ideas and analyses the ways in which social thought can be productively extended through the inclusion of animals within it. The module provides a critique of human-animal relations in society and offers students the opportunity to reflect and consider how they might be different, drawing on case studies from across time and geographies. This module showcases core sociological ideas and recasts them through the lens of the animal. In doing so, it encourages students to expand and further their sociological imaginations to understand and critique the relationship between animals, environment, and society. Using more familiar ideas, such as capitalism, power, labour, and decolonisation, this module situates animals as part of a web of relations, not disconnected from human conceptions of society, but embedded within them.
While the social sciences haven’t always recognised animals’ place both as part of society, and in shaping it, there has been a surge of interest across sociology and cognate disciplines in animals. Animals have become important and radical subjects in research, expanding the boundaries of what and who counts in the sociological imagination. Yet, they are less often included in the teaching of sociology. This module will bring novel and innovative ideas from critical animal studies and sociology to part two students with the core learning aim of understanding how animals are not just part of society, but actors that produce social, political, and cultural relations.
Each week, the module then takes a species or animal as its starting point into a sociological idea. Indicative topics include animals and social issues, animals and the environment, and animals and power. The module extends methods teaching with the inclusion of local or campus-based field trips.
What counts as a disaster?
Is it still reasonable to speak of ‘natural’ or human-made’ disasters?
Do disasters have a beginning, middle and end?
Is it possible to make disaster-proof systems?
This module uses case studies of disasters (technical and social) to explore these questions and what sociology can teach us about them.
How do we make sense of the various understanding of being a fan nowadays? How has the experience of being part of a media audience transformed over the decades in different parts of the world? In what ways do fan culture and audience community manifest social transformations in both the local and global scale?
This module aims to provide you with a critical understanding of fandom and audiences in a global and transnational context. You will first be introduced to the contested concepts and typologies of ‘audience’ and ‘fan’ and the cultural hierarchy of knowledge underneath theses definitions. The module will focus on four dimensions – participation, pleasure, performance, and power – by investigating fan culture and audience communities of a wide range of transmedia texts (television, music, film, and other media) in a global perspective. You will analyse the multi-layered dynamics between individual fan, fan community, audience participation, media texts, and the industry through sociological and interdisciplinary lenses, for example, cultural studies, feminist studies, queer studies, and postcolonial studies.
This module investigates gender inequalities within society through a focus on historical and contemporary debates in feminist theory and activism. The module has an `intersectional` focus that means we will consider gender inequalities as bound up with other forms of discrimination and marginalisation, particularly racial and ethnic inequalities, disability and social class.
The module will challenge you to think about `what feminism means today` through a consideration of key aspects of feminist thought and activism from the late 1960s onwards. We will consider the continued relevance of the idea of ‘The Personal is Political’ and ‘consciousness raising’. We will overview feminist approaches to social research and explore feminist interventions in practices of gender inequality, for example inequalities in paid and unpaid work, childcare and women’s health. You will complete an intergenerational interview research project on ‘women, work and social change’ through which you will analyse and reflect upon your experience of the research process.
We will also take the feminist manifesto as a central document which expresses lived experiences of gender inequalities and collective desire for social change. Through some practices of inequalities, such as art, beauty contests, capitalism and patriarchy, we will explore the contemporary resonance of ideas such as black feminisms, art activism, the occupy movement and backlash.
By the end of the module you will have been given the opportunity to become familiar with some of the key debates within feminism today. We aim for you to be able to make connections between feminist theory and forms of feminist practice. The module engages you in debate, original research and feminist activism through analysis of varied media including academic texts, advertising, art, film, news media and social media.
Does food work as a cultural medium, through which we communicate and exchange meaning? What is considered edible in different contexts and at different points in history? What is ‘food poverty’ and how has it been constructed and represented in public and political debate? Why does the idea of the ‘family meal’ have cultural and moral significance? How is fast-food transforming cuisine and culture and our wider social world?
Food is so much more than ‘just’ fuel for the body - it is deeply symbolic, shaped by historical, social and cultural forces, our access to it marked economics and geography, and the ways that we shop for, prepare and eat stamped with our biography, ethnicity, social class and region. Curiosity about food cultures and the social meanings and significance of food have been foundational to cultural studies, sociology, anthropology and across the arts and social sciences. The recent explosion of food media demonstrates how food and eating works as a central medium through which we construct and communicate identity and create connections with others.
In particular the moral significance of food has sharpened in a climate of inequality where some experience food poverty and some pursue gastronomic pleasures as a marker of social mobility, consumer competence and (of course) good taste. We might argue, along with many scholars and researchers working in ‘critical food studies’, that how we prepare and eat food works to both summon memories and fasten us to heritage. We might also consider how food works to organise (in)justice and (in)equality, and the range of activist interventions and projects which seek to re-imagine more equitable and sustainable food systems.
Topics we will explore in this module might include:
Good to eat/good to think with
Foodie Culture
Food Studio
Industrial Food Complex
Food (in)Equalities and Food (in)Justice
Time and Technoscience
Eating Well and Future Food
Fieldtrips may be part of the module, depending on availability of sites and partner guides - these will be guided visits to ‘food sites’ which will illuminate some of the topics we explore in the classroom
Belonging to a nation is widely seen to be as natural as belonging to a family or a home. This module will explore how such assumptions about national belonging come about by introducing students to a range of theoretical approaches and debates.
You will explore how notions of belonging are socially constructed, how the nation is defined, who belongs and who doesn’t. The module addresses these notions by examining what everyday practices, discourses and representations reveal about the ways people think about, and inhabit, the nation. The module also pays particular attention to nation formation in relation to debates about multiculturalism, diversity and migration and asks: What are the impacts of migration and multiculturalism on definitions of the nation? How is multiculturalism defined and perceived?
Although focus will be on the example of Britain, the issues raised will be of interest to all students concerned with the effects of nationalisms and ideas of belonging and entitlement, which many countries of the contemporary world are presently debating in the context of the 'Age of migration' (Castles and Miller 1998).
This module introduces and explores the writings of a number of key twentieth-century social and cultural theorists, and radical thinkers offering perceptive and provocative critiques of some of the many ills of modern western capitalist society, such as alienation, reification and domination; environmental exploitation, pollution and the destruction of nature; media supersaturation, cultural commodification and ideological manipulation; technocracy, instrumentalism and ‘scientism’; violence, genocide and the perpetual threat of nuclear extermination.
This module provides an opportunity for you to engage with perspectives in the social sciences that interrogate our common and comfortable assumptions about the supposedly benign and beneficent character of contemporary capitalism, scientific development, technological innovation, and affluent consumer lifestyles. In so doing, the very concepts of historical enlightenment, progress and civilisation are called into question.
This module considers not only how to interpret the world in various ways, but also how to change it.
This module will provide a critical survey of the literature on the far right and its main theories and debates, as well as discussing how major sociological theories and concepts can apply to the topic such as; an overview of movement types and sub-types; an overview of the main concepts (far-right, fascism, populism, racism, white supremacy); and a historical and comparative analysis of the far right in different contexts in Europe, North America and the Global South.
Specific topics and issues which the module will cover include: far right electoral parties and policy; the concept of the lone actor digital/online far right activism and radicalisation; the relationship between the far right and the mainstream; populism and the white working class left behind media representation and platforming; far-right street protest; far right subcultures and ecosystems; the role of historical racism and fascism on our understanding of the far right; the relationship between systemic racism and right-wing extremism; terrorism and racist violence; and counter-extremism, counter-terrorism and criminal justice approaches to dealing with the far right. The module will also examine anti-racist, anti-fascist, decolonial and intersectional approaches to understanding and opposing the far right, and how they differ from and challenge conventional state security and prevention approaches.
This module will explore how the politically powerful and the politically radical use the internet to consolidate and revolutionise the distribution of power around the globe.
Like many communication platforms before it, the internet is mobilised by the politically and economically powerful as well as those seeking radical change. However, unlike other platforms, it has created an almost universally accessible platform for public dialogue. Pro-democracy revolutionaries, freedom hackers, feminist mediasmiths, anti-capitalists, data leakers, and others use the internet to organise their social movements. Conversely, those opposed to the liberal project, such as authoritarians and extremist groups, also use the affordances of the internet to distribute their message and rally their supporters.
This module examines these issues and investigates the implications of “big data” control by governments and corporations. The module looks also at the understanding social networkers and other content uploaders have of this “big data” control along with the consequences that it comes with.
This module addresses contemporary debates in sociology and cinema by focusing on a single film each week. Its overall aim is to employ cinema for the purpose of social diagnosis.
The module engages with cinema as a social fact, before linking together cinema (producing images of the social) and sociality (socialisation of the image) for analysis.
This module analyses the relationship between society and terror, taking point of departure in the discussion of 9/11 and the political responses it has provoked. The module focuses on how different forms of terror are related to the changing nature of society and how terror can be theorized from a sociological point of view. It also explores how the study of terror can contribute to the discipline of sociology. An example of concepts covered are: terror, the war against terrorism, dispositif, nihilism, flow, consumerism, post-politics, politics of security.
This is a course about social welfare in Britain, its past, present and futures. At a time when the machinery of the welfare state is being reformed in very profound ways, and the future of key elements of the welfare state (such as elder care and the NHS) hang in the balance, the questions of what welfare is, what it is for, who it is for, and how it should be funded and delivered have never been more urgent.
This course will examine the social and political debates which shaped the birth of the British welfare state and trace its subsequent development over more than sixty years. We will explore how the British welfare state was imagined by its original architects as a cradle to grave safety-net for citizens - a welfare commons of shared risks which would ameliorate the excesses of economic and social hardship in the post-war period. We will consider how the welfare state was funded and whether it created a new kind of social contract between citizens and government, and also consider the ways in which the welfare state was a moral and disciplinary project, grounded in distinctions between deserving and underserving people.
Fees and funding
Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12-month session, starting in the October of your year of study.
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2025, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
Study abroad courses
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
Placement and industry year courses
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
Home fees are subject to annual review, and may be liable to rise each year in line with UK government policy. International fees (including EU) are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
We will charge tuition fees to Home undergraduate students on full-year study abroad/work placements in line with the maximum amounts permitted by the Department for Education. The current maximum levels are:
Students studying abroad for a year: 15% of the standard tuition fee
Students taking a work placement for a year: 20% of the standard tuition fee
International students on full-year study abroad/work placements will be charged the same percentages as the standard International fee.
Please note that the maximum levels chargeable in future years may be subject to changes in Government policy.
Scholarships and bursaries
You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status:
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.
Undergraduate open days 2024
Our summer and autumn open days will give you Lancaster University in a day. Visit campus and put yourself in the picture.
Our historic city is student-friendly and home to a diverse and welcoming community. Beyond the city you'll find a stunning coastline and the picturesque Lake District.