About Sociology, BA (Hons) - at Trinity College Dublin
Sociology can be studied through the general faculty entry BESS (TR081) programme. After a common first year students select 6 subjects in second year. At the end of the second year students may opt to take a single honor degree in sociology or to combine sociology with either business studies or political science.
Alternatively sociology can be taken in combination with one other subject within the two-subject modertorship (TSM) programme. TSM is a joint honors programme; both subjects are studied for three years and usually one subject only is studied in the fourth and final year.
What is sociology?Sociology is the systematic study of all aspects of human society. It is particularly interested in understanding social change, new social institutions and ways of life. Sociology at Trinity provides courses on a range of subjects including work and employment, family, gender and ethnicity, food and the environment, development and globalisation, organisations and management, health and healing, language and popular culture.
Is it the right course for me?If you are interested in human society and the social challenges facing Ireland, Europe and the world, then you should study sociology.
Course overviewThe sociology course at Trinity has several important features.
First there is a commitment to provide students with the necessary analytical capacities and practical skills to both understand the social world and find rewarding employment within it. The Junior Freshman (first) year courses introduce students to key ideas and theories in sociology. Second year deepens understanding of how sociologists analyse social issues, while introducing students to a wide range of research skills from social surveys to interviews. Further emphasis on advanced analysis, research and presentation skills is provided in the Sophister (third and fourth) years culminating in the opportunity for students to write a research dissertation on a subject of their choice.
Second the sociology course has a focus on Ireland, Europe and the world beyond. Many courses examine elements of European society, compare developments in Ireland with those elsewhere in Europe, or assess the process of globalisation and its impact in Ireland and elsewhere. The world beyond Europe and North America is also dealt with.
Third the teaching programme draws on the wide-ranging research interests of staff members. These include the growth of environmentalism as a social and political movement, the different ways in which women and men are shaped by and contribute to phenomena such as pop music and TV 'soaps', the different routes to top management in different European countries, transformations in the contemporary family, the small scale interactions of everyday working life, as well as ethnic and national identities in Ireland, North and South.
Overall this range of courses gives students a firm basis of analytical and social research skills of use in later study or working life.
Studying sociology within two-subject moderatorship (TR001) allows you to combine sociology with one from a range of other subjects. The two subjects are taught as separate disciplines, but TSM degrees allow students the opportunity to study human society from a range of different perspectives including geography, history, English, languages or the performing arts, as well as sociology as a social science.
