Digital Sociology MSc

**UKs top ranked sociology department**<br/><br/>Our sociology department is the UK’s top-ranked department for sociological research.<br/>The MSc in Digital Sociology directly responds to a growing need for graduates to be able to study and analyse a world that continues to undergo rapid digital transformation. <br/><br/>Digital and computational sociology courses provide a vital theoretical foundation for understanding and analysing how digital technologies and data are shaping our social institutions, social relations, and everyday life. Our courses will enable you to conduct sociological research through new forms of social data, such as social media data and other types of digital trace data that are so central to modern social science data.<br/><br/>This programme is intended for any student who wants to understand, as well as learn to study and critique, digital technologies and the complex ways in which they shape society, social institutions, and culture. While a sociological background is not strictly required, familiarity with the social sciences will be helpful for incoming students.<br/><br/>**What will I learn?**<br/><br/>This programme will provide you with a rigorous introduction to sociological research in the digital age.<br/><br/>The programme combines training in traditional approaches to sociology with new theory and methods for understanding the digital world. We will study, for example, foundational questions in inequality, demography, and labour research with an emphasis on how the digital transformation has shifted our understandings.<br/><br/>On this programme, you may take up the following specialised topics, including (but not limited to):<br/><br/><br/>* work and labour<br/><br/><br/>* inequality<br/><br/><br/>* mobility<br/><br/><br/>* relationships<br/><br/><br/>* government and law<br/><br/><br/>* technology<br/><br/><br/>**Digital Sociology with Social Data Science pathway**<br/><br/>Beginning in the 2025/26 academic year, students wishing to specialise in computational methods for analysing digital society can choose to transition to a dedicated Social Data Science pathway during their first semester. Academic staff will provide guidance on the skills required for pathway courses. Students who complete 60 credits of computational methods courses (computational sociology, computational text analysis, and social network analysis) will receive the MSc in Digital Sociology with Social Data Science. Students joining the pathway are also expected to use these methods in their dissertation.<br/><br/>**How will I learn?**<br/><br/>The degree combines lectures and seminar teaching on specific topics with individual research supervision by leading researchers in the emerging field of digital sociology.<br/><br/>This programme takes a unique approach to methods and methodologies, putting traditional sociological methods such as ethnography, survey work, and interviewing in conversation with science techniques.<br/><br/>**Who is this programme for?**<br/><br/>While this programme will be primarily suitable for those with a background in the social sciences, the MSc in Digital Sociology is intended for anyone who wants to undertake specialised training in sociological approaches for understanding the digital world.<br/><br/>The Digital Sociology with Social Data Science pathway is suitable for students with some prior experience with statistics and/or statistical programming, or a strong motivation to acquire these skills.