Department of Sociology

In our rapidly changing global environment, there has never been a more important time to look at the world through a social lens and engage in theoretically driven research and teaching that makes a difference.

Welcome to the Department of Sociology at Durham

Our Department members, postgraduate researchers, and students collectively develop ‘sociological imagination’ and apply it to contemporary processes and issues. These include social inequality and its implications for social mobility, education and health; violence, abuse, and the role of help-seeking and state responses.

Find out more about us

Joint 18th in the UK in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2023

6th for Sociology - Guardian University Guide 2023

2nd in the UK for Criminology - The Guardian University Guide 2023

A Sociological Community cutting edge, socially conscious research in a friendly community of staff and students

Study with us

Undergraduate study

Find out more about our undergraduate degrees in Sociology, Criminology and Joint Honours in Sociology and Anthropology.
Postgraduate study

Explore our postgraduate study options in Sociology, Criminology, Social Research Methods and Social Work.

Undergraduate study

Find out more about our undergraduate degrees in Sociology, Criminology and Joint Honours in Sociology and Anthropology.

Students reading and discussing a book with their tutor

Postgraduate study

Explore our postgraduate study options in Sociology, Criminology, Social Research Methods and Social Work.

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Our research

We work in collaborative and participative ways with communities, both within and external to the university, locally, nationally and internationally to effect social justice and social change.

Underpinning our work is a concern to understand the similarities and differences arising from people’s intersecting identities, especially of gender, sexuality, ‘race’, social class, faith and age.

Research areas

Two students in conversation during a seminar

Student updates

Find out what our students get up to at Durham University.

Highlights

A day in the life of a Sociology student

Second-year Sociology student, Jess tell us about her day-to-day life at Durham.
Meet my Durham College Family

Combined Honours and Sociology student, Samantha introduces us to life at Hatfield College.