Many students find studying a joint honours programme stimulating and rewarding as they are able to observe both similarities and differences between the two subjects. By combining journalism, media and sociology, you will gain a variety of transferable skills and knowledge beneficial for your future.

This degree is delivered in partnership by the School of Social Sciences and the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. It offers an opportunity to explore current debates in sociological concepts and methods, communications and media studies.

Your Sociology modules will help you to make sense of the social and cultural contexts in which journalism is rooted and to which media debates respond – such as the changing nature of media networks, shifts in the nature of work, leisure and family life, transformation in institutions such as the education, welfare, political and legal systems, shifts in the ethnic make-up of Britain, the continuing significance of class and gender inequalities, and debates over increasing globalisation and new forms of technology, media, scientific innovation and medical intervention.

Sociology modules will help you to understand pressing questions raised by studying the media, such as society’s prevailing attitudes to immigration, why certain social groups are fascinated with celebrity, why young people seem to be less interested in politics today and whether it is really the case that we are becoming a more affluent and individualised society.

Your Journalism and Media modules will introduce many of the key themes, concepts, frameworks and skills necessary to begin your critical analysis of the media, your study of journalism and your understanding of mass communications.

They will compare scholarly and professional approaches to understanding the evolving nature of news in light of recent trends and developments and you will learn how to use historical and analytical approaches to think critically about contemporary media culture.

Distinctive features

• Sociology is an excellent subject to pair with journalism because of its close attention to cultural concerns and its ability to contextualise and inform our understanding of the important role of the media in society.
• The opportunity for you to learn in Schools ranked 2nd in the UK for research quality in journalism, 3rd in sociology and 5th in education in the 2014 Research Excellent Framework (REF).
• The involvement of research-active staff in teaching.
• The emphasis on independent learning in a research-led environment.