BA Literature and Sociology
University of Essex
Key Information
Campus location
Colchester, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
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Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
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Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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Introduction
BA Literature and Sociology
Travel the world with the turn of a page. Our literary expertise is geographical as well as chronological - here you don't just study English literature, you studyworld literature in English. Alongside the English literary canon, you read some of the most important novels, poems, and plays from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe.
Studying literature alongside sociology means that you can investigate what connects people with each other, as well as what divides them. We consider every aspect of our daily lives, from how we relate to politicians, celebrities and friends, to how we define ourselves, our families, and others. You can study topics ranging from digital media and society, to psychiatry and mental illness, to Japanese culture, to the art, film and personal testimony of war.
Topics from both literature and sociology you can choose from include:
- Modernist cityscapes in literature
- Writing of the US South
- Victorian literary realism
- Culture, identity and subjectivity
- Citizenship, multiculturalism and human rights
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Several scholarship options are available, please visit the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Year 1
- The Humanities Graduate: Future Pathways
- Origins and Transformations in Literature and Drama
- The Sociological Imagination
Year 2
- Power and Agency in a Global World
Final Year
- Rethinking Modernity
- Independent Literature Project
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Sociology and literature students can acquire key skills in communication, time-management, research and analysis, and good standards of presentation.
The number of careers that lead from courses in literature and creative writing is almost as large as the number of graduates. Two particular areas in which graduates have had recent success are publishing and the theatre.
In addition, former students of our Department have become professional writers, or have gone into teaching, journalism, broadcasting, marketing, film and video production, museum and library work, graphics and printing, finance, and the Civil Service.
Recent graduates have been employed as:
- Subtitling for Sky TV
- An assistant director for a music video for an internationally-acclaimed band
- An English teacher
- A media studies teacher
Program delivery
BA Literature and Sociology: 3 years
BA Literature and Sociology (Including Year Abroad): 4 years
BA Literature and Sociology(Including Placement Year): 4 years
- Teaching will mainly take the form of lectures and classes of about 20 students
- Innovative ways of engaging with texts include editing 16th century sonnets and archival research
- Lab sessions to improve technical research skills
- A typical timetable involves a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your modules every week