Introduction
Economics and Sociology is a perfect partnership to add to your thorough grounding in the global economy and the many factors that influence wealth from a social and financial perspective, with a deeper exploration of what society means and how it shapes us as individuals in all sorts of ways. Top-rated teaching and a culture of dynamic research and excellent transferable skills will ensure you are a sought-after graduate by employers in many sectors.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MA
- Duration
- 48 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time
- Start Month
- September
- UCAS Code
- LL13
- Pathway Programme Available
- Undergraduate Foundation Programme
In Economics, you will explore the microeconomics of business and society, macroeconomics of the world economy and economic problems in political, social and historical contexts, with a strong emphasis on applied learning. You will thrive in the dynamic, international environment of our Business School of 45 nationalities and be taught by experts including leading petroleum economist and government adviser Professor Alex Kemp and our health economists whose work influences Scottish and UK policy decisions on public health.
In Sociology, you will dig deeply into the ‘society’ influences on the economy, studying topics as wide-ranging as work-life balance, sociology of the family, religion and society. You will be taught by academic staff with international reputations for conducting high-quality research in social movements and global political sociology, religion and secularisation, conflict and peace. You will become skilled in the social research methods used to gather the evidence to better understand aspects of society – including observation, interviews, large-scale surveys, or analysing the content of documents and videos.
This subject combination will give you great skills in thinking critically and posing probing questions – skills which have tremendous value to employers across the public, private and third sectors, with career paths including business, management, marketing and advertising, journalism, local and national government, social and market research, teaching, health services, social work, charities and human resources.
What You'll Study
- Year 1
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Compulsory Courses
- Academic Writing for Business (AW1003)
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This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.
- Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)
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This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.
Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
- The Economics of Business and Society (EC1006)
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15 Credit Points
This course is an introductory course in microeconomics where we study the decision making of individual actors (consumers, employees, firms, governments, etc.) in an economy. Actors must make decisions about behaviours because they face scarce resources, but often they find that trading with other actors in markets can increase the wellbeing of all parties. This course models and examines the nature of these interactions, highlighting when they work well and when they fail to increase wellbeing and what might be the solution to these failures.
- Introduction to Sociology I: Self, Identity & Society (SO1007)
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15 Credit Points
Sociology is the study of human social groups. It particularly focuses on modern societies, analysing how they work and how the major social institutions in them (such as religion, the media, government and the economy) operate. The course provides students with a general introduction to the unique manner in which sociologists seek to understand contemporary societies. Students are presented with current and classical approaches to understanding the social processes that underlie self-construction, group formation and social interaction, within urbanizing and globalizing social contexts.
- The Global Economy (EC1506)
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15 Credit Points
This course is an introductory course in macroeconomics where we study the behaviour of the economy as a whole. Whereas microeconomics focuses on individual markets, macroeconomics addresses the “big issues” such as unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and financial crises. Macroeconomics is a lively subject, full of discussion and debate, as economists and policymakers take different views on macroeconomic issues, their causes and appropriate policy responses. Issues such as: Is the economy growing? What causes unemployment and how can we reduce it? How can we avoid recessions? When is inflation a problem? Are banks lending too much?
- Introduction to Sociology II: Systems of Power (SO1509)
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15 Credit Points
This course is an introduction to macro-sociology, which analyses the ways that people’s lives are shaped by large-scale forces, structures, and institutions. Students are introduced to the particular ways in which classical and contemporary sociologists understand social forces in the modern domestic and global environment and learn to think critically about those social forces that impact their everyday lives using the sociological imagination. Substantive topics likely to be covered in this course include the media, politics, religion, surveillance, education, class stratification, international inequalities, and the relationship between humans and other animals.
Optional Courses
Select a further 60 credit points from courses of choice.
- Year 2
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Compulsory Courses
- Intermediate Microeconomics (EC2003)
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30 Credit Points
This course builds on and is a natural extension of EC 1006. By examining in a more rigorous way concepts introduced in EC 1006 students will develop further their analytical skills and they will obtain a better understanding of consumers and producers behaviour, market structure as well as the effectiveness of economic policy. The course is designed to appeal to all students interested in economics. This includes students who may wish not to enter into any further studies of economics, as well as students who may wish to continue studying economics at the honours level.
- Sociology of Everyday Life i: the Embodied Self (SO2006)
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30 Credit Points
This follows on from level-one sociology. It is designed to highlight the ways that sociological theory informs the research endeavour, not only the questions sociologists raise, but also the particular modes through which we go about investigating them. The module examines these points in relation to a range of micro-level topics – the body, food and feeding, health and illness, the emotions, group behaviour, sex and gender, the life course and death and dying – all of which emphasise the nature of human interaction and sociological efforts to understand it.
- Intermediate Macroeconomics (EC2503)
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30 Credit Points
This course focuses on macroeconomic policy in a global economy. The first part builds an open-economy Keynesian model to investigate what determines the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policies, and how exchange rate regimes and capital mobility impact on policy effectiveness. The second part investigates what determines the level of macroeconomic activity and its growth over time. The final part looks at what determines inflation and unemployment. This intermediate level course uses live lectures to develop your analytical skills evaluating economic policy in a rigorous and technical way to equip you with the skills needed for honours level study.
- Sociology of Everyday Life II: Global Issues in the 21st Century (SO2509)
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30 Credit Points
This macro-sociology course extends students’ understanding of large-scale social, as well as political and economic, processes and institutions. Particular focus is on the sociological analysis of global issues and socio-political controversies, many of which are subject to topical and, at times, contentious debate at the beginning of the 21st century. The substantive topics include areas of social and political concern such as globalisation; the changing nature of economy, work and leisure; risk and insecurity; multiculturalism; food production and security; social movements; nationalism and identities.
Optional Courses
Select further credit points from courses of choice to gain a total of 120 credits.
- Year 3
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Optional Courses
Select one of the following:
- Thinking Sociologically (SO3066)
- Sociology of Religion (SO3070)
Select one of the following:
- Ten Sociological Studies (SO3568)
- Social Research Methods (SO3524)
Plus select a further 60 credit points from level 3 courses in Economics.
- Thinking Sociologically (SO3066)
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30 Credit Points
Thinking Sociologically is the department's core sociological theory module. The course offers our students an introduction to a range of key sociological thinkers and bodies of thought, both classical and contemporary, that inform sociological analysis of social life and social institutions. As such, this course is intended to provide our honours students with a conceptual 'toolkit', that can be applied to facilitate understanding, insight and informed critique with respect to a broad range of historical and contemporary social, political and economic phenomena.
- Social Research Methods (SO3524)
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30 Credit Points
Sociologists use a range of methods and techniques to explore and test sociological theory. This module introduces many of these methods and techniques. It aims to ground students’ theoretical understanding of society through the practical analysis of a variety of data. It starts by introducing the varying philosophical starting points of research and goes on to provide foundation level critical analysis skills in the key quantitative and qualitative methods that sociologists have deployed to understand and ‘capture’ the social world.
- Sociology of Religion (SO3070)
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30 Credit Points
This course provides students with an introduction to the sociological imagination as applied to the topic of religion. While the focus is on religion, it uses religion as means of thinking about core sociological concepts and key social processes, as well as the challenges to studying the world sociologically. We will discuss the key dimensions of religious belief, practice and institutions, and what we can learn from these that can be adapted and applied to other kinds of beliefs, practices and institutions.
- Ten Sociological Studies (SO3568)
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30 Credit Points
This course bridges the theoretical emphasis of SO3066 and the methodological elements of SO3524. It presents sociology as a social science by having students examine and discuss in detail ten reports of sociological research. The goal of the course is to highlight the different ways sociological research combines theory and methods to examine and explain specific phenomena, events, or experiences of the world. Each of the ten studies will be chosen by one of the Sociology staff and present theoretical and methodological ideas and approaches that staff members use in their own work or believe to be pivotal to sociological research. Students will be required to read all ten of the chosen publications in preparation for the course each week.
- Year 4
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Optional Courses
Select one of the following dissertation options:
- Economics Dissertation (EC4526)
- Research Project (Sociology) (SO4068 and S04568)
Plus further credit points from level 4 course(s) in Economics and Sociology to gain a total of 60 credits in each discipline.
- SO4058 Sociology of Religion & Culture
- SO4065 Animals and Society
- SO4070 Peace, Conflict and Society
- SO4554 Political Sociology
- SO4565 Sex, Death and the Afterlife
- SO4571 Contemporary Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
- Economics Dissertation (EC4526)
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30 Credit Points
The dissertation presents students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge and research skills of Economics to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic which has been chosen by the student and approved by the Dissertation coordinator and Dissertation supervisor. Over the course of the Dissertation, with guidance from the supervisor, the student will study a particular topic, conduct a literature review of relevant material, select appropriate theoretical and/or empirical methods to address the topic and write a final analysis in the form of the Dissertation of up to 10,000 words.
- Research Project Part 1 (SO4068)
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30 Credit Points
This course is the first of two courses that comprise the Dissertation in Sociology. This first course affords students an opportunity to apply their sociological knowledge and research skills to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic selected by the student and ethically approved by their Supervisor. Over the course of SO4068, with guidance from a member of staff, the project student will formulate an appropriate research question(s), conduct a critical literature review of relevant material, select appropriate research methods and prepare appropriate data collection tool(s) in order to commence their (online) research by the end of this course. Students will also get the opportunity to reflect on their presentation skills and prepare a 5-minute Panopto video on their project design for peer review. Particular emphasis will be given to helping students develop time management skills, a key transferable skill.
- Research Project Part 2 (SO4568)
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30 Credit Points
In this course, project students, guided by regular staff supervision, build on the foundations developed in SO4068 to conduct their original research and deliver their conclusions in two formats. All students will present their developing work to peers in a multi-day student conference early in the semester and submit a final report of their work (i.e. project dissertation) at the end of the course.
- European Societies (SO4051)
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30 Credit Points
The course aims to give an overview of European issues and current debates. It provides a deeper insight into how European issues affect our lives and why this matters. It addresses current issues of concern such as Brexit, migration, Coronavirus, family and work in comparative perspective. In doing so it blends together sociological and social policy approaches.
- Politics and Religion (SO4557)
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30 Credit Points
Religion inspires political action, pervades national identities, and shapes political regimes. Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria, Mali, Syria; the conflicts in these countries all involve religious differences. Religion may be in decline in the West but even in Europe there are arguments about the proper place of religion and about religious exemptions from general laws. In the USA religious conservatives use the courts, state legislatures and Congress to fight against abortion and gay rights. Taking a very broad view of politics, this course examines the links between religion and politics.
We will endeavour to make all course options available; however, these may be subject to timetabling and other constraints. Please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- Individual Projects
- Lectures
- Research
- Tutorials
Assessment Methods
Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:
- Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
- Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
- Written examinations at the end of each course.
The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.
Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.
Why Study Economics and Sociology?
Why Economics
- An excellent teaching environment, committed to the needs of industry, which integrates research in to teaching, grows transferable skills and develops intellectual skills on a range of contemporary economic problems.
- A thriving Economics Society, organising annual trips to international economic institutions including the European Union in Brussels, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.
- Enterprise Campus, a new initiative to nurture entrepreneurial skills and support students wanting to progress their own business ideas.
- ACREEF (the Aberdeen Centre for Research in Energy Economics and Finance) headed by leading international petroleum economist and author Professor Alex Kemp, adviser to the Scottish Government.
- Home to CELMR (the Centre for European Labour Market Research) which leads research in education, skills and labour markets so topical today.
- The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library, with brilliant study facilities, state-of-the-art learning technology, and an extensive collection of reference books, journals and other media for economics and business studies.
- A packed campus programme of student, public and business events, and the annual May Festival attracting internationally acclaimed public figures, business leaders, authors and broadcasters to debate critical challenges in the world today.
- Experience the Bloomberg Terminal, a software platform that provides real-time and historical data, market-moving news and analytics to help leading business and financial professional make better informed investment decisions.
Why Sociology
- An international reputation for our sociology research, and recognised by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as a centre for research training and supervision for postgraduate students.
- Teaching with a top rating of ‘Excellent’ in the most recent Teaching Quality Assessment.
- Consistently rated very highly, including by students in the National Student Survey (NSS) from whom we get great feedback.
- Sociology at Aberdeen is ranked 3rd in Scotland in the Complete University Guide 2024.
- The spectacular, award-winning Sir Duncan Rice Library with its top-class study environment, state-of-the-art technology, and extensive collection of sociology publications and resources for your study.
- A packed programme of student and public events, lectures, exhibitions, seminars, invited speakers, plus the annual May Festival, British Science Week and Being Human Festival regularly featuring Aberdeen research in social sciences.
- Participation in the European Social Survey, one of the largest and most reliable sources of data about Europeans’ attitudes, behaviours and experiences, with data from more than 350,000 individuals across 36 countries since 2002.
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.
General Entry Requirements
- 2024 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: AABB
Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBB
Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBB
Minimum: BBC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
PLEASE NOTE: National 5/ Standard Grade/ GCSE (or equivalent) in Mathematics (or Applications of Mathematics) is required in addition to the requirements noted above.
- 2025 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.
Minimum: BBB
Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.
Adjusted: BB
Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Minimum: BCC
Adjusted: CCC
More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.
International Baccalaureate
32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
Irish Leaving Certificate
5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.
PLEASE NOTE: National 5/ Standard Grade/ GCSE (or equivalent) in Mathematics (or Applications of Mathematics) is required in addition to the requirements noted above.
The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.
English Language Requirements
To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:
IELTS Academic:
OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0
TOEFL iBT:
OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21
PTE Academic:
OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59
Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:
OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169
Read more about specific English Language requirements here.
International Applicants
International Applicants who do not meet the Entry Requirements
The University of Aberdeen International Study Centre offers preparation programmes for international students who do not meet the direct entry requirements for undergraduate study. Discover your foundation pathway here.
Fees and Funding
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
| Fee category | Cost |
|---|---|
| RUK | £9,250 |
| Tuition Fees for 2024/25 Academic Year | |
| EU / International students | £20,800 |
| Tuition Fees for 2024/25 Academic Year | |
| Home Students | £1,820 |
| Tuition Fees for 2024/25 Academic Year |
Scholarships and Funding
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.
International Applicants
Further Information about tuition fees and the cost of living in Aberdeen
Additional Fees
- In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
- For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our InfoHub Tuition Fees page.
Our Funding Database
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
Careers
There are many opportunities at the University of Aberdeen to develop your knowledge, gain experience and build a competitive set of skills to enhance your employability. This is essential for your future career success. The Careers and Employability Service can help you to plan your career and support your choices throughout your time with us, from first to final year – and beyond.
- More information on employability at the University of Aberdeen
- More information on the Careers and Employability Service
Our Experts
Information About Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. Staff changes will occur from time to time; please see our InfoHub pages for further information.
Discover Uni
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Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX