Politics and Sociology

Politics and sociology are disciplines that illuminate each other powerfully. Politics examines how power is distributed and exercised through institutions, parties, governments and international organisations, while sociology asks how societies are structured, how inequalities are reproduced, and how cultural norms and social identities shape the lives individuals lead. Studying them together gives you both a macro-level understanding of political systems and a fine-grained appreciation of the social forces that animate and complicate those systems.

At the University of Aberdeen this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, deepening your international perspective on the subjects you study and giving you direct experience of political and social life in a different national context. Aberdeen's description of the combination captures the appeal well: you gain solid grounding in politics and political systems across the world alongside deeper study of the societies we are part of and how they shape political decisions. The four-year structure typical of Scottish degrees gives you time to engage with both disciplines properly, building expertise rather than surveying surfaces.

You will study political theory, comparative politics, international relations and policy analysis alongside sociological theory, research methods, the sociology of inequality, race and ethnicity, gender, and the sociology of organisations and institutions. Empirical research methods are central to both disciplines, and you will learn to collect, analyse and interpret social and political data using both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Graduates move into careers in the civil service, local government, political parties, think tanks, journalism, NGOs, international organisations, public policy research, social research and the third sector. The combination of political and sociological knowledge is also well suited to roles in advocacy, community development and equalities work. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study in politics, sociology, public policy, international relations or social research methods, finding that the undergraduate degree provides an excellent base for more specialist work.