How to prepare for starting your Sociology or Youth Work course

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Starting a Sociology or Youth Work course soon? A Sociology or Youth Work degree opens up fascinating ways of understanding society, human behaviour, and social change. Here's how you can begin thinking like a sociologist right now!

Read

During your degree you will be introduced to many different sociological theories and concepts, but there’s no need to wait until you start your course to get involved. Some places where you might find some interesting reading for not much money:

  • Your local library – they will likely have a social science or maybe even a sociology section. The library may also be able to request books from other libraries in their network
  • Charity shops – charity shops, particularly charity book shops can be a goldmine for older (but vastly cheaper) academic books. They might not always have the most up to date books or the biggest range, but these spaces can introduce you to topics and areas you had no idea existed.
  • Online – Sites such as Google Scholar or ResearchGate are places where you can often find and download research articles for free. You might find some of them to be quite challenging reads, and during your degree you will get better learning how to read and understand them, but there’s no reason why you can’t start exploring topics that you find interesting now.

Top Tip: You don’t have to limit yourself to topics you’ve already studied - why not look at the research around one of your hobbies? E.g. video game culture, TikTok influencers, the sociology of drill music...

If you’re not sure where to start, a sociological dictionary can also be an excellent tool for looking up academic ideas and concepts when you aren’t sure about.

You can also take a look at some current analysis topics:

Watch and Listen

  • ‘Thinking Allowed’ on Radio 4 is a weekly 30-minute sociology podcast, which typically covers two pieces of research from two different Sociologists. Their archive is excellent.
  • The Sociology Show – a whole host of interviews with leading sociologists about their work. It covers a wide variety of topics!
  • The Sociological Review – a number of different podcasts linked to the academic journal of the same name.
  • ‘TED’ talks – These talks are interdisciplinary, but there are a lot of Sociology related ones if you search the channel.

Documentaries are also a great way of digesting information, and Interesting documentaries can be found everywhere, and on a range of topics of interest to sociologists. Just keep in mind that some documentaries might be based on very biased or shaky evidence. As a starting place we’d highly recommend having a look a Louis Theroux, and many of his shows are available on BBC iPlayer.

Sociology at BCU

Find out more about our Sociology course

Engage

Start developing your sociological imagination by following sociologists on social media platforms and joining online sociology student communities. You can also:

  • Notice patterns in your daily life. Start to reflect on how your experiences impact on how you move through the world e.g. how do gender, class, or race shape interactions you observe?
  • Keep a "sociology journal" documenting social patterns you notice

Remember, sociology is about questioning what we take for granted in society. Start looking at your world through this critical lens, and you'll be well-prepared for your degree.

Youth Work and Communities

For our Youth Work and Communities course, in terms of digital tools it may be worth looking at The Mix, a digital youth charity with some great resources. The National Youth Agency (NYA) have a lot of digital resources about going into practice which could be really handy for placements. Things such as Youth Club in a box are amazing resources. On Facebook there is the Defence Of Youth forum which is also insightful.

What should you do next?

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