BA Sociology and Japanese

Residence abroad support

We offer dedicated financial support packages of up to £2,000 for residence abroad students, based on household income.

You will be automatically assessed for this, based on your Student Finance financial assessment - you just need to make sure you apply for a financial assessment in the academic year in which your residence abroad will take place.

RWS Brode Scholarship

You may be eligible for this scholarship if you fulfill the following conditions:

• your qualifications were achieved at a state-funded school in the UK;
• your total household income does not exceed £60,000 (as verified by the Student Loan Company);
• you achieve high marks in your A-levels (or equivalent qualifications), usually AAB or above;
• you apply to (and remain on) either a single honours Language course, or a dual-language course.

Awards will be made according to a sliding scale, benefitting those who have achieved the highest marks relative to backgrounds.

You will be automatically assessed for this after you have registered on your degree.

You simply need to make sure you allow the University access to your records when applying for your student lLoan (we cannot otherwise assess your eligibility).

This unit is an introduction to the theory, methods and procedures of social network analysis. We examine both complete and ego networks and we will consider the nature of network data and the idea of structural sociology. After introducing some basic terminology using UCINET and Netdraw we shall cover descriptive measures of cohesion and centrality together with techniques for uncovering hidden cohesive subgroups. We shall look at how the applications of these concepts have been used in the development of social network theories such as small worlds, strength of weak ties and structural holes. Examples will be drawn from a variety of contexts such as corporate elites, social movements and friendship networks.

We are all connected through networks. We have networks of friends, work colleagues, family ties and many other connections. The term social network and social networking are now part of our popular culture and everyone is familiar with the websites that enable us to more easily communicate using networks. The study of social networks is one of the fastest growing areas in sociology but has been around for decades, dating back to the work of Moreno in the 1930s. The aim of this unit is to give you the tools to map and analyze the patterns of relations that link individuals or groups. Taking this perspective allows us to develop theoretical concepts and methods which enable us to uncover and understand how the patterns in the social relations that bind us together influences our behaviour, attitudes and beliefs.

On completion of this unit successful students will be able to:

- Map and visualize social networks using standard tools
- Analyze network structures using descriptive measures
- Relate and apply key social network theories in different contexts
- Evaluate and critique social network studies

Weekly three hour lecture / workshop
Each week will be a one hour lecture followed by a two hour computer workshops. The first hour will be devoted to a demonstration and during the second hour students will undertake supervised computer worksheets.

Non-assessed mid-term written coursework network visualization 300 words .

ASSESSED - Written computer based network analysis (2000 words,100%)

All sociology courses include both formative feedback – which lets you know how you’re getting on and what you could do to improve – and summative feedback – which gives you a mark for your assessed work.

Scott, J (2000) Social Network Analysis: A Handbook
Knoke D and S Yang (2008) Social Network Analysis
Hanneman, R A. and M Riddle. (2005). Introduction to social network methods.