Sociology and Criminology

Sociology and criminology share a concern with understanding how societies produce particular outcomes, including the inequalities, injustices, and forms of harm that prompt the most urgent questions. Sociology provides the theoretical tools for analysing social structures, institutions, and cultural processes, while criminology focuses those tools on crime, deviance, policing, punishment, and the criminal justice system. Together they encourage you to think critically about why certain behaviours are defined as criminal, who bears the costs of crime, and how social factors such as class, race, and gender shape both offending and the system's response to it.

At Birmingham City University, this full-time, three-year programme includes a sandwich year and work placement opportunities, connecting your academic studies to professional settings where this kind of analysis is directly applied. You will develop theoretical and methodological skills, learning to work with both qualitative and quantitative evidence, and to approach complex social questions with the seriousness they deserve. The programme addresses topics ranging from racial inequalities in the criminal justice system to the social consequences of global economic arrangements, and you will learn to construct well-reasoned arguments from evidence rather than assumption.

The current course description notes that you will also engage with emerging questions about technology and social relationships, situating these within broader analytical frameworks. The typical entry tariff is 104 UCAS points.

Graduates of sociology and criminology pursue careers in a wide range of fields. The criminal justice system, including probation, the prison service, police forces, and youth justice, is a natural destination, as are the social work, community development, and voluntary sector roles where sociological insight is applied directly. Others move into policy research, public health, education, journalism, and communications.

The research and analytical skills developed during the degree are also valued in business and government contexts. Many graduates choose to continue their studies at postgraduate level, in sociology, criminology, social policy, or law.