Program Overview

Our course combines sociological and psychoanalytical approaches to the study of society, exploring why individuals, groups, and cultures are the way they are, and examining why they might be different, as well as developing your qualitative and quantitative research methods.

You discover the many different social tensions, interactions and networks that make up everyday life, as well as the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung and their social applications. You investigate why individuals, groups, cultures and people are the way they are, questioning the unconscious and conscious factors that shape human behaviour.

You explore topics including:

• The self and social interaction
• Concepts of mental illnesses
• Social history and crime
• Psychoanalytic theory and popular culture
• Psychoanalytic approaches to sex, politics and religion

You also have the opportunity to complete a supervised dissertation on a topic that inspires you, encouraging you to think differently and connect with live issues and debates, and preparing you for your graduate career.

Placement year

Alternatively, on a placement year you gain relevant work experience within an external business, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our placements team.

A Placement-Linked Project module is also available as an alternative to the dissertation module in your third year. You attend shorter placements (a minimum of 150 hours in total), and use your learning on placement to inform a research project; fantastic work experience for your CV.

If you complete a placement year you'll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.