Criminology and Sociology

Criminology and sociology are disciplines that naturally belong together. Criminology examines crime: its causes, its patterns, its victims and the systems that respond to it. Sociology provides the broader framework, examining how social structures, institutions, inequalities and cultural forces shape the conditions in which crime emerges and is defined.

Criminal justice cannot be understood in isolation from the social world that produces it, and sociology cannot avoid engaging with crime and deviance as central features of social life. Studying both together gives you a far richer understanding of each.

At the University of the West of England in Bristol, this part-time programme includes a sandwich year and a work placement, giving you structured professional experience alongside your academic study. The part-time mode gives you flexibility to study while managing other commitments, and the placement connects your learning to real professional contexts in criminal justice, social care, community development, research or policy. You will engage with real-world issues relating to crime, deviance and justice, developing the analytical tools and personal insight needed to think seriously about how to improve people's lives.

You will study criminological theory, the sociology of crime and deviance, criminal justice institutions, victimology, social inequality, research methods and the intersections of race, gender, class and age with both crime and justice. Quantitative and qualitative research skills are developed alongside analytical writing and the critical capacity to evaluate evidence from different sources.

Graduates go on to careers in probation, criminal justice, social care, community development, research, policy, the civil service, education, journalism and charitable organisations. The broad analytical skills developed through the combination are valued across many public and voluntary sector roles. Some go on to postgraduate study in criminology, social policy, sociology or social work.