How does the media shape social and cultural life? What is media power and who wields it? How do the creative industries work? How have digital and internet cultures transformed personal and networked interactions? What is the relationship between the media, mass politics and governance? How are consumer cultures changing? Our BA Media, Culture and Society (including Year Abroad) addresses these kinds of pressing contemporary questions and is taught by staff in our Department of Sociology, one of the UK’s leading departments for social science and cultural analysis. There is also an opportunity to spend your third year abroad. In your first year, you take four modules: Introduction to Media, Culture and Society, which offers a critical overview of the emergence and analysis of mass media cultures; Sociology and the Modern World which explores how social scientists have theorised major social changes; Researching Social Life which offers an introduction to different research methods; and Introduction to Film, which provides a grounding in film studies. We teach through large-group lectures and smaller-group seminars and classes. You contribute in many ways, for example, by analysing set readings, giving presentations or completing research tasks. Some modules have their own websites where you can download powerpoints and podcasts, and contribute to online discussions.

A good sociology course, especially one from a recognised centre of excellence like Essex, opens many doors. As one of our graduates, you will leave with the specific skills that many employers now routinely demand. These include the ability to gather, process, analyse and present information from a variety of sources and, moreover, to do this to deadlines and often as part of a team. These skills can be supplemented by the excellent academic and employability training provided by our resource officer, and by taking the volunteering, study abroad and work placement opportunities offered within our Department. Some of our recent graduates have gone on to work in local and central government, NGOs, social work, market research, project management, fundraising, auditing, marketing, case-work, youth and community work, voluntary sector management and lobbying. Others go on to take a further postgraduate qualification in teaching, journalism, law, counselling, health or accountancy. You will also graduate with an invaluable understanding of the broad factors that drive social change in modern life – the factors that, for example, shape the socialisation of young children, that generate new kinds of politics (think Obama!), that create new markets or that influence consumers. Much of this will depend on which of our courses you choose, but answers to these kinds of questions are of major interest to many different kinds of employers.