Social Care and Sociology

Social care and sociology together offer a degree that is both analytically grounded and practically oriented. Sociology provides the theoretical frameworks to understand how social inequalities are produced and maintained, examining how class, race, gender, disability, and other axes of difference shape access to resources, opportunities, and wellbeing. Social care examines the systems, services, and professional practices through which society responds to vulnerability and need, from childcare and support for older people to mental health services and community-based interventions.

Studying them together means you can understand both why care needs arise and how services can be designed and delivered in ways that genuinely respond to them.

At Liverpool Hope University, this three-year full-time programme develops your understanding of the root causes of social inequalities that lead to care needs, alongside the professional knowledge and skills to work creatively within evolving social care systems. The programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement, giving you extensive practical and international experience that complements and extends your academic learning. The combination of critical sociological thinking and practical social care knowledge prepares you to be the kind of reflective, creative practitioner that a rapidly changing sector needs.

Graduates are prepared for careers in social care management and practice, community development, policy, voluntary sector organisations, and related fields including health, education, and social work. Many go on to further professional training in social work, qualifying programmes in counselling or community development, or postgraduate study in social policy, health and social care, or sociology. The combination of academic depth and practical orientation gives graduates both the knowledge to understand the systems they will work within and the commitment to improve them.