Department of Sociology

The department is a dynamic and thriving centre for sociological research and education.

It combines theoretical creativity, substantive empirical research and a tradition of engagement with public policy around important social issues.

We are one of the oldest and most well-established Sociology Departments in London and, with over 30 staff, also one of the biggest.

Our students receive a top-class education that is consistently informed by cutting-edge research and delivered by internationally recognised leaders in their fields.

Our range of courses involve a mixture of hands-on and theoretical learning through which students develop the sociological imagination, knowledge and research skills to engage with the key challenges and debates that are shaping policy formation, professional practice and social life in a rapidly changing world.

Our central London location gives students direct access to the learning and cultural resources of a global city.

The Department's academics have particular expertise in:

• criminology and criminal justice
• culture and the creative industries
• quantitative sociology, including survey methods and data analysis
• media and communications
• work, class and gender
• forced migration (especially in relation to Afghan migration)
• sociology of ‘race’ and racism
• social and political theory
• philosophy of the social sciences.

At the end of their studies, our students graduate with a highly marketable degree from an institution with an outstanding track record for student employability.

‘Academic Kindness’ roundtable

With Sarah Burton, Sahra Taylor, Jenny Mbaye, Sally Stares and Gerbrand Tholen, chaired by Ros Gill, (City, University of London),

5 March 2021, 1–2pm

This internal (closed) event follows on from Sarah Burton’s seminar on ‘Academic Kindness in the Neoliberal Academy’. The roundtable will critically engage with discourses of ‘academic kindness’ in relation to the challenges of balancing workload, caring responsibilities, teaching and research, in the context of COVID-19 lockdown and beyond.

‘The Police Response to Domestic Abuse during – and after – COVID-19’

Dr Katrin Hohl (City, University of London) and Kelly Johnson (Durham University), in collaboration with The Gender and Sexualities Research Centre (GSRC)

24 March 2021, 1–2pm

The webinar presents preliminary findings from an on-going ESRC-funded research project on domestic abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic as it comes to police attention, and police officers perspectives on the challenges of responding to domestic abuse during the pandemic.

The presentation has two parts. First, we present findings on the impact of the introduction and lifting of lockdown restrictions on domestic abuse based on large-scale data provided by seven English police forces. Second, we present findings from phone interviews with police officers of various ranks. The interviews capture officer experiences and perspectives on responding to domestic abuse during the first and second national lockdown in England, and how police forces have innovated and changed practice in order to adapt to the Covid-19 context.

About the speaker

Dr Katrin Hohl is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London. She is the Principal Investigator on a ESRC funded project examining the impact of Covid-19 on domestic abuse reported to the police. Her research centres on police and criminal justice responses to domestic and sexual violence.

Dr Kelly Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at Durham University and the Co-Investigator on a ESRC-funded project examining the impact of Covid-19 on domestic abuse reported to the police. Her areas of research expertise include domestic and sexual violence, and policing, and has most recently focused on the policing of domestic abuse and image-based sexual abuse.

Register for the event

‘Reflections on Decolonising the University’

Gurminder K Bhambra, University of Sussex,

26 March, 1–2pm

*This is an internal event.

In recent years, there has been a coalescence of movements and campaigns under the broad term, ‘decolonising the university’. These movements have a new intensity in the light of the global resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movements and the debates around the toppling of statues.

In this talk, I will focus in particular on issues associated with decolonising the social sciences curriculum, which, for me, is about transforming the ‘common-sense’ narratives we have about how the world we share in common was configured.

I will also discuss some of the open access initiatives that I have set up to support the broadening of the curriculum such at the Global Social Theory website and the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project.

About the speaker

Gurminder K Bhambra is Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies at the University of Sussex and a Fellow of the British Academy. She is author of Connected Sociologies (Bloomsbury, 2014), the award-winning Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination (Palgrave, 2007) and co-editor of Decolonising the University (Pluto Press, 2018).

Her latest book, Colonialism and Modern Social Theory is co-authored with John Holmwood and will be available from Polity in summer 2021. She tweets @gkbhambra and her website is gkbhambra.net/

Watch the recordings of our past events:

‘Black Women’s Digital Experiences and Brand "Woke-Washing"’, Dr Francesca Sobande, Cardiff University

‘On The Space for Kindness in the Neoliberal Academy’, Dr Sarah Burton, City, University of London

‘Black History Month Unfiltered’, in support of City’s Network for Racial Justice (NRJ) launch event, with Kelly Foster (public historian), Nathan Richards (digital historian), Dr Jessica Jones Nielsen (City), Dr Louisa Egbunike (Durham) and Dr Jenny Mbaye (City, and Co-Chair City NRJ)

‘Racism and COVID-19’, department flagship event with Matiangay Sirleaf (University of Maryland), Gargi Bhattacharyya (University of East London), Nira Yuval-Davis (University of East London), Sivamohan Valluvan (University of Warwick), Vivian Shaw (Harvard University) and Colin Clark (University of the West of Scotland)

The department offers a range of courses at undergraduate, postgraduate taught and research degree level.

See which course is right for you:

Undergraduate

• BSc (Hons) Criminology*
• BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychology
• BSc (Hons) Criminology and Sociology*
• BSc (Hons) International Politics and Sociology
• BSc (Hons) Media, Communication and Sociology*
• BSc (Hons) Sociology*
• BSc (Hons) Sociology with Psychology

*All students enrolling on BSc Criminology, BSc Sociology, BSc Criminology and Sociology, BSc Media, Communication and Sociology and BSc Sociology with Psychology will have the option to apply to join a prestigious Quantitative Methods (QM) pathway at the end of their first year of study.

Postgraduate

• MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice
• MA Culture, Policy and Management
• MA Global Creative Industries
• MA International Communications and Development
• MA Media and Communications
• MSc Research Methods

Research degrees

• PhD/MPhil Culture and Creative Industries
• PhD/MPhil Sociology (including Criminology and Media Studies)

Studentships for 2020/21

SeNSS collaborative studentship competition

The Violence and Society Centre – in conjunction with the Department of Sociology at City, University of London – is offering a fully funded PhD studentship.

• Project: Patterns of victim-survivor utilisation of domestic violence support services
• Deadline for application to City: 18^th January
• Deadline for application to SeNSS: 1^st March 2021
• Supervisor: Prof. Sylvia Walby

The studentship provides the opportunity to join a research collaboration between the University and Women’s Aid Federation of England, as well as invaluable experience working at the intersection between policy-relevant academic research and support services in the domestic violence sector.

The research explores patterns of utilisation of services for women experiencing domestic violence and the most effective configuration of domestic violence support services. This studentship would suit someone with an interest in pursuing a career in data analysis concerning violence and society, especially domestic violence and abuse, either in academia or in the third sector.

How to apply

Download the flyer

SeNSS Studentships

The South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS) consortium of 10 leading UK universities offers fully funded doctoral studentships, post-doctoral fellowships and placements.

Find out more and apply for SeNSS Studentships.

SASS Studentships

The School of Arts and Social Sciences at City, University of London, is offering eight full-time, three-year doctoral studentships for 2020/21 entry.

Applications are invited from exceptional UK, EU, and international graduates wishing to pursue cutting-edge research within any of the School's departments.

Our research centres promote cutting-edge research that achieves impact and influence through working to improve: knowledge and understanding; policy and practice; training, standards and service provision; and wider behaviour change.

• Centre for City Criminology
• Centre for Crime and Justice Research (co-directed with City Law School)
• Centre for Culture and the Creative Industries
• Centre for Law, Justice and Journalism (co-directed with City Law School and Department of Journalism)
• European Social Survey (ESS)
• Gender and Sexualities Research Centre
• Jeremy Tunstall Global Media Research Centre
• The Centre for Research on Work and Society
• Violence and Society Centre

International Peer-Reviewed Journals based in the department

• Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal
• International Journal of Digital Television
• Journal of Classical Sociology
• City Culture and Society

The Department of Sociology celebrated an outstanding performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2014.

City is ranked as the 2nd strongest Sociology Department in London for research and our national research ranking rose seven places to joint-16th in the UK. 74% of City Sociology research was graded as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*), a huge increase from 45% in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE).

This increase in the percentage of 4* and 3* research ranks the department as 12th in the UK for Research Power (Guardian analysis).

Sociology at City has an internationally recognised tradition of theoretically informed, empirical research that engages critically with defining societal transformations and policy challenges.

In recent years, we have consolidated and developed our research profile around four cross-cutting themes:

• European Social Research and Analysis
• Media, Communication and Society
• Policy and Governance
• and Structures of Inequality.

Q-Step is a £19.5 million programme designed to promote a step-change in quantitative social science training.

Over a five-year period from 2013, 15 universities across the UK are delivering specialist undergraduate programmes, including new courses, work placements and pathways to postgraduate study.

Expertise and resources will be shared across the higher education sector through an accompanying support programme, which will also forge links with schools and employers.

City Q-Step Centre will be working with the following undergraduate courses in the departments of:

• Sociology and International Politics
• Criminology
• Sociology
• Criminology and Sociology
• Media and Sociology
• Sociology with Psychology
• International Politics
• International Political Economy
• and International Politics and Sociology.

City Q-Step Centre