Welcome to your first year studying Sociology at University College Cork. Sociology is the study of society – one of the broadest and most popular subjects in Arts – and also a crucial part of the Social Science, Anthropology and Criminology programmes.

Your introductory study of sociology will consider a wide variety of questions: How is society structured and organised? How do ideas and culture shapes how we think? How are individuals formed by their background? How is social power exercised and resisted? Sociology offers not just abstract hypotheses about these questions, but focused research which expands our knowledge. Furthermore, studying sociology means critically examining our assumptions. By studying sociology, you become part of an on-going conversation about modern society, spanning theory, method and research.

There is great variety in the first year Sociology course – later on there is an overview of six distinctive courses; we hope you will enjoy all these courses this year and choose interesting courses in sociology in following years. Equally importantly, there are weekly support tutorials in Sociology, where you can meet other students and discuss the ideas put forward in the lectures.

Attendance at lectures, discussions in tutorials, exchanging views with other students and even visiting the library are essential parts of your undergraduate experience. Of course, the pandemic may still have an impact- keep up-to-date with public-health guidelines and with UCC guidance at https://www.ucc.ie/en/emt/covid19/. In particular, this may mean staying at home if you are symptomatic or test positive. Exemptions and mitigations will be made for Coronavirus just like any other illness.

First year in college can be daunting initially; do not hesitate to get in contact with our first year team if you have any questions – and your tutor is a great source of advice. We live in times of immense challenges, from the housing crisis and cost-of-living crisis to climate change and migration, and sociology will provide perspectives upon these. Indeed, your first year can be a real time for exploration and thinking anew, getting into new perspectives, meeting new people, joining UCC clubs and societies. To make the most of it, I would advise anyone to cut down on social media and screen time, fill your bag with interesting books whether they are on the course or not, and bring a notebook and pen everywhere, not just to take notes on your lectures, but to write down your own thoughts.

We are delighted to have you: Welcome.

Dr Tracey Skillington

Head of the Department of Sociology & Criminology

University College Cork

Mission Statement

Sociology & Criminology at UCC is at the cutting edge of teaching and research on the intersection between society, economy, ecology, politics, crime and culture. Staff pride themselves in being leaders in frontier research on sociological, criminological and anthropological theory, participatory, ethnographic and creative methodologies, political and cultural transformation, social inequalities, gender, sexuality, identity, migration, crime, violence and social justice, climate change, sustainable development, health, cities and societies of the future. Embracing the University’s ethos of ‘independent thinking’, the department offers a unique platform to acquire theoretical and methodological skills applicable to a wide range of research areas.  Placing a strong emphasis on academic freedom in the interest of community service, social justice and societal relevance, the department of Sociology & Criminology strives to maintain its distinctive profile as a centre of research and teaching excellence, enabling our students to understand our contemporary society in the light of social justice, ideals and core values, so that we may think our way through our present challenges and imaginatively reinvent ourselves.