Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In the early 21st century where there's massive changes throughout the world;
we've got the rise of China in the East, the Arab Spring around the Mediterranean area,
we've got a war in Afghanistan which admittedly is beginning to end but we've got massive
uncertainty and difficulties out there, we've got problems with Iran
and America's in huge debt. All of these issues are issues which are central to Sociology;
Sociology's a discipline which is interested in social transformation
and social change and therefore all of these key issues which will affect us
throughout the next twenty/thirty years are critical to us as Sociologists to understand.
First year created a foundation of knowledge which meant that everyone, even if they hadn't studied at A level,
brought up to sort of a standardised level.
Er second year I studied Sociology and Religion, Globalisation and Music which were all great.
In third year, last term I studied
Criminology and Consumerism and this term I'm studying Media and New Capitalism.
Here at Exeter, we do a distinctive variety of Sociology
and that is a form of Sociology that's generally called Cultural Sociology.
We're not so interested in issues of statistics and quantitative
measures of demographic change. What myself and my colleagues are interested in
is particular specialist life worlds; the life worlds in which artists, musicians,
consumers like you or I, soldiers and scientists live.
My favourite part is Criminology. I like to explore
within the subject, why people commit crime and
you know, on the other side why people don't commit crime, um the different
types of crime that people commit, you know why... obviously a very relevant thing now, why people commit
white-collar crime with like the recession, and then on the other scale, why people commit violent crime and
going into the real depth of the subject and the detail behind what people do.
If you took a course on Warfare, on Modern Warfare,
I would explore with you the particular ways in which soldiers and indeed
civilians experience and engage in violent activity in the 21st century which in fact,
although apparently the same, is highly distinctive in comparison with the wars
that we have fought in the 20th century.
Next year I hope to study a Masters in Human Resource Management
which actually inspired me from the course that I'm doing this term
erm New Capitalism in the Workplace.
The majority of people taking a Sociology degree are in exactly the same position as
students taking Humanities or Social Sciences more generally.
They are looking for a non-vocational professional qualification
which will provide them with a credential that will give them access into good
professional careers, and so students I've taught and my colleagues have taught have gone on to
be lawyers, to be teachers, they've gone on into business
er they've gone on into the media to journalism; it is a broad ranging
discipline which opens up the door into a number of professions.
I probably want to go on to do an MPhil or something like that erm
which I know isn't for everyone but I think even if you don't want to go
down the um academic route, once you've graduated Sociology's
just such a diverse subject and educates you to a whole new level, about how
society interacts and how internationally people interact which obviously in a modern day is so
important - you must be able to communicate
with people who aren't culturally like yourselves
so even if you don't want to follow the academic route, Sociology will always reward you as a degree.
Studying here at Exeter is probably the best experience I've had so far
I've absolutely loved everything about it: the friends I've made, my course,
the area, the city and it's the greatest place to study.