"We experience society every day, we live it, so sociology is just common sense, right? Well, maybe not... That would be like saying that, because we come into contact with humans every day, we know everything about them. If that were the case then there would be no need to study anatomy, medicine, psychology, psychiatry and so on. There is an important point here: all of these sciences have to look beyond the surface to explore their subject matter. Sociology is no different.

You need a broad set of skills to study sociology. Sociologists draw on a wide body of knowledge – it’s not ‘just’ sociology, it’s psychology, anthropology, economics, history, political science, human geography and philosophy combined. Auguste Comte called sociology the ‘Queen’ of the social sciences because it does everything the other social sciences do - and more.

Sociologists tackle some of the most pressing problems confronting humanity. Sociology examines the workings of our everyday world and attempts to make a difference. What could be more important than that? It equips you with a new way of interacting with the world for the rest of your life. Absolutely everything can be looked at from a sociological perspective. You might say everything is sociology. Sociology isn’t always comfortable and it shows us things we’d perhaps like to hide from. But crucially, it gives us rough sketches, not finished maps. It’s for you to shape.

Sociology graduates succeed in many different jobs and careers. Sociology trains you to answer the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about human societies and to think critically, which gives you the edge in the job market."

Careers you can follow with a sociology degree:

• Social worker
• Journalist
• Teacher
• Market researcher
• Public health officer
• Police officer
• Probation worker
• Charity worker
• Government adviser
• Human resources manager
• Welfare rights officer
• Community developer