Sociology and Social Policy

Sociology and social policy together address one of the central challenges of democratic societies: understanding how they work and thinking clearly about how they might work better. Sociology provides the theoretical and empirical tools to analyse social structures, inequalities, and the ways that institutions shape individual lives. Social policy applies those tools directly to the design, evaluation, and reform of the systems through which welfare is organised, from healthcare and education to housing, income support, and criminal justice.

At Swansea University, this four-year full-time programme explores how societies function and how their futures can be shaped, moving from the local to the global, and from the personal to the structural. You will examine key contemporary challenges, critical debates, and real-life solutions, studying theoretical frameworks from the classical sociological tradition alongside current research on inequality, globalisation, poverty, discrimination, and social change. The social policy strand develops your understanding of welfare states in comparative perspective, how policies are developed and implemented, and how their effects can be evaluated.

Research methods training is central to both disciplines, and you will develop skills in both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

The typical entry tariff is 120 UCAS points. Graduates from sociology and social policy programmes go on to careers in social research, policy analysis, social work, government, local authorities, NGOs, the charity sector, healthcare, education, and community development. The analytical and communication skills the degree develops are highly transferable across the public, private, and voluntary sectors.

Further study options include postgraduate programmes in social policy, social research, social work, criminology, and public administration.