Sociology and Social Policy with a Foundation Year

Sociology and social policy together address some of the most fundamental questions about how societies are organised and how they can be improved. Sociology provides the theoretical and empirical tools to understand social structures, inequalities, identities and cultural forces, examining how societies shape individuals and how collective arrangements produce patterns of advantage and disadvantage. Social policy examines the institutions, programmes and government decisions through which societies address poverty, inequality, health, housing, education and social care, asking which approaches work, which fail and why, and how the welfare state responds to changing social conditions.

At Swansea University this four-year, full-time programme, which includes a foundation year, explores how societies work and how their futures can be shaped, moving from the local and personal to the global and structural. You will engage with key sociological concepts and theories alongside analysis of welfare systems, housing policy, health policy, social work, education and labour market policy, developing the research skills to investigate social questions empirically and the critical awareness to evaluate policy evidence rigorously. The foundation year provides a structured route into the degree for students who would benefit from additional preparation, and the four-year structure gives you time to develop genuine depth in both disciplines.

Graduates of sociology and social policy programmes enter careers in social work with appropriate further training, housing management, community development, local and national government, the voluntary and charity sectors, social research, policy analysis, probation, public health and education. The analytical and research skills the degree develops are valued across many organisations that work with people, communities and data. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in social work, social policy, public administration, criminology or sociology, building on the undergraduate foundation.