Sociology with Psychology BSc (Hons)

Chloe: I think I wanted to study sociology because it's got so many different components that you can't find it not interesting.

Dr Joseph Burridge: We offer three courses: Sociology, Sociology with Psychology and Sociology with Criminology.

Dr Rusten Menard: On our sociology courses, we offer a broad range of topics.

Joseph: Social inequalities and injustices, gender and sexuality, about race and racism, about nationalism, about the emotions, about food. It's a very versatile course.

Abby: At uni, it's interesting because everybody comes from a range of different places. You kind of learn about things that can relate to your life and people in your classes lives.

Rusten: It makes me feel amazing that students can connect their everyday experiences to these much larger topics that we're all dealing with on an everyday basis, even though we don't know that we are.

Joseph: There's a range of reasons that students will study the course, but I think that the most important one is that they're interested in understanding society and also wanting to change it.

Chloe: We’ll be sat in the seminar and everyone from different corners of the room is bringing in their own opinion.

Rusten: There are so many different kinds of jobs that our students go into, such as HR, marketing, the 

Abby: charities sector, non-government organisations, 

Asan: a higher education lecturer, a social researcher.

Chloe: I went and did a month out in Tanzania and I was working in a school there and I got picked to do that because I did sociology.

I chose to study at the University of Portsmouth because I just love the city as a whole.

Asan: It's a beautiful city. There’s lots to do here. There's always somewhere I could go.

Chloe: It's great that you can have that city environment with the kind of fast pace of life but you can walk 15 minutes up the road and be on a beach, relaxing, having an ice cream.

Asan: All the lecturers, the staff, they're very knowledgeable. You can go to them for anything. You can tell when your lecturer is really excited about the topic and that makes you feel more excited about the topic too.

Joseph: The thing I enjoy most, I think is the student journey. Meeting them on that very first day, they're fresh to the institution and then seeing them develop over the three or four years that they're here and ultimately seeing them graduate and, you know, having them come back and tell us how they're getting on and what they're doing. That's one of the most rewarding parts of it.

Dr Jacqueline Priego: Students who take a degree that combines a social science with psychology are typically interested in both societal and behavioural approaches to the human condition. They are interested in what triggers our thinking, our emotions, our behaviours and how we see that we can shape our ideas, values and practices so that we can make this world a better place. 

Dr Alexander Bradley: I think the nice aspect of studying a with psychology course is it both opens up both psychology, but also sociology or criminology, child and youth studies. So it gives you two job markets to aim for. 

Jonathan: What made me want to do a course with psychology is, it gives me a bigger variety and dig deeper into each subject. Doing a degree with combined honours allows me to pick and choose from whichever career choice I choose to make. 

Eleonora: Because I'm currently studying criminology with psychology, it really gives you the opportunity to study many different topics at once. Like, I'm studying state crime at the same time I did psychological science. You have two different types of knowledge. You have the criminological one and the psychological ones - you can merge them together to actually do what you want to do. 

Joshua: I went for a course with psychology because I wanted to have something extra as well, and I think that's shown definitely while being at the university because it gave an extra layer to the degree which I wasn't expecting. 

Jonathan: If you're not sure, if you just want to do psychology or just want to do sociology, choose this degree. It will give you the best of both and you get to focus on whatever you find most fascinating and interesting. 

Joshua: The career I'm looking into is to join the Royal Navy first and then afterwards teaching. But I still think this course does help me with that because there was one point of like stages of group development and that was part of the psychology course. So I can use that when running a team within the Royal Navy and then after that, hopefully the course as a whole will help me in my teaching. 

Jonathan: Why someone should choose University of Portsmouth? It gives extremely good facilities. 

Dr Jacqueline Priego: In relation to our courses, all of our students have access to the latest research through the university library. That gives you the potential for a great student experience. 

Dr Alexander Bradley: The city is a lovely place to be: it's friendly, it's warm, you have the sea. We do a lot and put a lot of effort into our students to help them make not only a good time and to make the most of their time at university, but also beyond university as well. 

Eleonora: You have career support for many years after you graduate. Thanks to the University of Portsmouth, I was able to work in some research with my lecturers as well, which is something that other students are not able to do. It's a great opportunity to make me stand out. 

Dr Alexander Bradley: I think one of the really nice features about my role is when I do see students that make that transition and are happy in the world of work, in the places they've ended up and are making a contribution to society, that's really good. In fact, sometimes when I get those emails that come back, it just makes my day.