By complementing a sociological understanding of the world with programming and analytical skills, students become social scientists that can both understand and shape the big data revolution.
At Essex they investigate what connects people with each other, as well as what divides them. They consider every aspect of daily life, from how people relate to politicians, celebrities and friends, to how they define themselves, their families, and others. Students experience a lively, informal environment with the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics including:
- The role of software in everyday life
- Programming with Python and Java
- Key ethical and social issues in digital societies
- Data visualization
- Theories of social stratification
- Race, class and gender
- Sociological research methods
- Natural language engineering
With research methods rapidly changing in response to the large-scale generation of data within society, sociology needs to ensure it is engaged with new digital methods to both benefit from them, and to shape them. Sociologists with programming skills are highly valued in any organization that must gather and draw inferences from data. By combining a sociological understanding with practical programming skills students learn how to understand and be that change in society.
The BSc Sociology with Data Science is taught by the Department of Sociology in partnership with the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering to provide an interdisciplinary course. The Department of Sociology is top 20 in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014, mainstream universities, THE 2014).
It offers expertise in many areas that complement the study of society and technology, including criminology, social history, visual sociology, anthropology, economic sociology, US and European studies and cultural rights.
