The traditional occupation for sociology graduates has been social work or some other form of public sector welfare work such as the probation service. However in practice sociology graduates go into a much wider range of jobs. In industry, for instance, human resource management (or personnel as it used to be called) is one application close to welfare but additionally aspects of marketing draw upon sociological skills. Virtually all sociology courses include methods of social research and these can have an enlightening effect upon market research.

Some of the large retail firms, from Laura Ashley through Marks and Spencer to Tesco, recognise that their chief concern is people and consequently have taken sociology graduates into their management training schemes. In fact the range has tended to broaden in both the public and private sectors. For example, in recent returns graduate entry into the police force is a noticeable addition to the former and journalism to the latter.

Many sociology graduates go into teaching. This embraces school teaching, further education and the option to remain in higher education. Prospective school teachers and teachers in further education go on after graduation to take a postgraduate certificate in education and there are specialist courses for each sector, i.e. primary, secondary, tertiary and also teaching for special needs.

If you plan to study for a PGCE, you will need to ensure that the subjects you study as part of your degree will allow you entry to a PGCE course, as there are some restrictions. Talk to the Admissions Tutor of the course for more advice.

Students who achieve the best results during their undergraduate course may get the chance to go on to postgraduate research for higher degree with the aim of making a career in higher education either as a lecturer combining teaching with research or as a specialist researcher. However, resources for this are scarce and therefore competition is fierce. As an alternative the increasing demand for postgraduate qualifications has been met by an increase in the number of masters programmes that are available.

The MSc in Social Research is now a necessary accompaniment to PhD programmes but the training is also available to graduates going into other types of research. Additionally there is a wide range of masters programmes aimed at those specialisations into which sociology graduates go. The proliferation of undergraduate degree programmes has tended to raise the stakes so to speak and a postgraduate qualification is often made desirable as a result.

Accessed from https://www.britsoc.co.uk/what-is-sociology/sociologist-careers/ < click here for more information. 

Where to study Sociology:

https://www.britsoc.co.uk/what-is-sociology/where-to-study-sociology/

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/sociology

• Police and probation services

• Local and central government

• Social and market research

• Charitable, counselling and voluntary organisations

• Public relations, journalism and communications

• Media and marketing

• Law firms and the criminal justice system

• Teaching and education

The job roles listed above are just a few examples of the opportunities that a degree in Sociology can lead to. The skills you will develop will enable you to successfully transition into a wide range of potential career paths.