Social Science

Social science is the systematic study of human society and social behaviour. Rather than committing you to a single discipline at the outset, a social science degree gives you grounding across multiple fields, typically including sociology, psychology, economics, politics, and sometimes anthropology or criminology, allowing you to draw on different frameworks to understand social phenomena. This interdisciplinary approach is increasingly valued because the problems that matter most in contemporary society, inequality, health, crime, political polarisation, and economic insecurity, do not respect disciplinary boundaries.

Cardiff University's three-year full-time Social Science programme introduces you to the major social scientific disciplines and develops your ability to apply them to questions about how society works and how it might be different. You will engage with sociological theory, psychological approaches to behaviour, economic reasoning, political analysis, and social research methods, including both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The programme asks you to think critically about social structures, to evaluate evidence carefully, and to communicate your findings clearly and persuasively.

Cardiff is a research-intensive university with particular strengths in Welsh and comparative European social science, and the social questions raised by Welsh society and its relationship to broader UK and European contexts are a recurring thread in the curriculum.

A typical entry tariff of 120 points makes the programme accessible to a broad range of students, and you will develop analytical and research skills that translate across a wide range of careers.

Graduates from social science programmes pursue careers in social research, public policy, local government, charities and voluntary organisations, social work and welfare services, healthcare administration, journalism, teaching, human resources, and the civil service. The breadth of the degree is an asset in a labour market where versatility and the ability to understand complex social contexts are valued across many sectors. Postgraduate study in sociology, psychology, public policy, or a more specialised social science is also a well-travelled route.