Sociology and Japanese

Sociology and Japanese is a combination that challenges you to think about the nature of the social worlds in which we live and about how language and culture build and inform those worlds, doing so through the disciplinary lens of both social science and one of the world's most distinctive languages and cultures. Sociology examines the structures, institutions, inequalities, and cultural practices that shape social life, asking how societies are organised, how they change, and what the consequences of different social arrangements are for the people who live within them. Japanese gives you access to the language and culture of a country with one of the world's most distinctive modern histories, a society that has navigated rapid industrialisation, wartime trauma, post-war reconstruction, cultural transformation, and a range of contemporary challenges from demographic ageing to technological leadership.

At the University of Manchester, this four-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year in industry with work placement and a year abroad, making it one of the most professionally and internationally rich programmes combining these two disciplines. The year abroad, typically including time at a Japanese university, is essential for developing genuine linguistic proficiency and cultural understanding in a language as different from English as Japanese. The sandwich year adds professional experience in a relevant context, whether in Japan-facing business, an NGO working in East Asia, or a sociological research or policy organisation.

Manchester has strong sociology and Japanese departments with excellent research traditions in both.

A typical entry tariff of 152 points reflects the demanding combination at one of the UK's leading research universities. Graduates work in international business with Japan, diplomacy, government, journalism, education, NGOs, research, translation and interpreting, and a wide range of roles where the combination of social scientific understanding and Japanese language proficiency is distinctive. Postgraduate study in Japanese studies, sociology, or Asian studies is a natural further step.