Criminology and Sociology, MA

Criminology and Sociology, MA

Introduction

This new interdisciplinary programme combines dedicated Criminology modules with modules from Sociology, Psychology and Law, to provide a broadly based and comprehensive Criminology and Sociology joint honours undergraduate degree.

Study Information

At a Glance

Learning Mode
On Campus Learning
Degree Qualification
MA
Duration
48 months
Study Mode
Full Time
Start Month
September
Location of Study
Aberdeen
UCAS Code
MLC5

Criminology is the study of crime, law, and criminal justice. On this programme, you will investigate questions including:

  • How crime and criminality are defined and understood.
  • How crime and punishment relate to a broad range of social and psychological factors.
  • How key aspects of the legal system develop and are applied.
  • How technological advances are affecting crime and its detection.
  • How social arrangements contribute to social order and disorder.
  • How key aspects of social relations and organisation have developed over time.

This exciting new programme addresses a diverse range of topics such as: social interaction, the construction of self, social inequalities, surveillance, face recognition, social control, biological and forensic psychology, policing, criminal justice, social harm and social justice.

This programme is delivered by staff with expertise in criminology, law, psychology and sociology to provide you with a critically informed understanding of crime, including the causes of crime, the impact of crime, and the effectiveness of crime prevention measures, including law, policing and prisons.

Our multidisciplinary approach provides you with a broad knowledge base and range of skills to inform your understanding of individuals, social relations and organisation, as well as the psychosocial conditions that contribute to disorder, instability and crime. You will also gain insight into the evolution and operation of the criminal justice system, including policing, prisons, probation and policy.

Finally, this programme also explores public, media and legal perspectives on crime and society, addressing the way in which these relate to different groups based on social class, age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, mental health and citizenship status.

What You'll Study

Courses

Year 1

Compulsory Courses

Academic Writing for Social Sciences (AW1006)

This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.

Getting Started at the University of Aberdeen (PD1002)

This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students (and articulating students who are in their first year at the University), is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.

Topics include orientation overview, equality and diversity, health, safety and cyber security and how to make the most of your time at university in relation to careers and employability.

Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Enhanced Transcript as ‘Achieved’.

Introduction to Sociology I: Self, Identity & Society (SO1007)

15 Credit Points

Sociology is the study of human social groups. It particularly focuses on modern societies, analysing how they work and how the major social institutions in them (such as religion, the media, government and the economy) operate. The course provides students with a general introduction to the unique manner in which sociologists seek to understand contemporary societies. Students are presented with current and classical approaches to understanding the social processes that underlie self-construction, group formation and social interaction, within urbanizing and globalizing social contexts.

Criminal Law (LS1020)

15 Credit Points

This course is a compulsory course on the LLB degree introducing students to Scottish Criminal Law including its sources and current law. It examines various aspects of substantive law including crimes against the person, crimes of dishonesty, crimes against property and criminal defences enabling students to understand and apply the law in these areas. The course also develops student’s written, verbal and analytical skills utilising written course work and problem solving exercises in tutorial groups.

Introductory Psychology I: Concepts and Theory (PS1009)

15 Credit Points

PS1009 introduces you to major concepts and theories in psychology to provide you with a strong understanding of the human mind and behaviour. You will attend lectures on biological, social and cognitive psychology and participate in tutorials where you will work with peers to discuss topics related to the lecture materials. Studying psychology is beneficial to a wide range of careers including management, education, and counselling, to name a few.

Introduction to Sociology II: Systems of Power (SO1509)

15 Credit Points

This course is an introduction to macro-sociology, which analyses the ways that people’s lives are shaped by large-scale forces, structures, and institutions. Students are introduced to the particular ways in which classical and contemporary sociologists understand social forces in the modern domestic and global environment and learn to think critically about those social forces that impact their everyday lives using the sociological imagination. Substantive topics likely to be covered in this course include the media, politics, religion, surveillance, education, class stratification, international inequalities, and the relationship between humans and other animals.

English Criminal Law (LS1527)

7.5 Credit Points

This course is a compulsory course on the LLB with English Law degree introducing students to English Criminal Law including its sources and current law. It examines various aspects of substantive law including offences against the person, offences of dishonesty, offences against property and criminal defences enabling students to understand and apply the law in these areas. The course also develops student’s written, verbal and analytical skills utilising written course work and problem solving in tutorial groups.

Introduction to English Legal System (LS1528)

7.5 Credit Points

This 7.5 credit course builds on knowledge gained in Legal System. It covers key elements of the English legal system. This includes sources of law, key institutions and roles, criminal and civil processes. It includes topical areas of relevance such as access to justice, the future of legal aid, the composition of the judiciary and the present and developing nature of the different branches of the legal profession. Assessment is by research exercises.

Introductory Psychology II: Concepts and Theory (PS1509)

15 Credit Points

PS1509 introduces you to major concepts and theories in psychology to provide you with a strong understanding of human mind and behaviour. You will attend lectures on evolution & emotion, lifespan development, and sensation & perception and participate in tutorials where you will work with peers to discuss topics related to the lecture materials. Studying psychology is beneficial to a wide range of careers including management, education, and counselling, to name a few.

Optional Courses

Plus 30 credit points from courses of choice.

Year 2

Compulsory Courses

Sociology of Everyday Life i: the Embodied Self (SO2006)

30 Credit Points

This follows on from level-one sociology. It is designed to highlight the ways that sociological theory informs the research endeavour, not only the questions sociologists raise, but also the particular modes through which we go about investigating them. The module examines these points in relation to a range of micro-level topics – the body, food and feeding, health and illness, the emotions, group behaviour, sex and gender, the life course and death and dying – all of which emphasise the nature of human interaction and sociological efforts to understand it.

Introduction to Criminology (SO2007)

15 Credit Points

This course serves as the initial introduction to criminology and provides a sociologically based understanding of the key themes in this field, such as crime, deviance, surveillance, punishment, recidivism, reintroduction, social cohesion, and social order. Across the course students are introduced to a variety of case studies which illustrate the centrality of different actors and institutions to both the theory and practice of criminology and criminal justice, including the police, courts, and prisons, as well as additional actors in the criminal justice system.

Advanced Psychology A - Concepts and Theory (PS2017)

15 Credit Points

This course builds on the material covered in the 1st-year courses, expanding on psychology’s concepts and theories. The course covers three core areas of psychology: language and cognition, perception, and individual differences.

Sociology of Everyday Life II: Global Issues in the 21st Century (SO2509)

30 Credit Points

This macro-sociology course extends students’ understanding of large-scale social, as well as political and economic, processes and institutions. Particular focus is on the sociological analysis of global issues and socio-political controversies, many of which are subject to topical and, at times, contentious debate at the beginning of the 21st century. The substantive topics include areas of social and political concern such as globalisation; the changing nature of economy, work and leisure; risk and insecurity; multiculturalism; food production and security; social movements; nationalism and identities.

Crime Theories and Concepts (Law) (LS2541)

15 Credit Points

This course will introduce students to key criminological theories and perspectives to understand e.g. why some people are more likely to commit or be victims of crime than others and examine the learning and insight to be taken from those theories.

Advanced Psychology B - Concepts and Theory (PS2517)

15 Credit Points

This course builds on the material covered in the 1st-year courses, expanding on psychology’s concepts and theories. The course covers four core areas of psychology: social psychology, behavioural neuroscience and developmental psychology.

Year 3

Compulsory Courses

  • Crime and Social Justice
  • Policing and Society
Thinking Sociologically (SO3066)

30 Credit Points

Thinking Sociologically is the department's core sociological theory module. The course offers our students an introduction to a range of key sociological thinkers and bodies of thought, both classical and contemporary, that inform sociological analysis of social life and social institutions. As such, this course is intended to provide our honours students with a conceptual 'toolkit', that can be applied to facilitate understanding, insight and informed critique with respect to a broad range of historical and contemporary social, political and economic phenomena.

Biological Psychology (PS3014)

15 Credit Points

This course aims to provide students with a good understanding of the biological basis of behaviour and cognition. The course is split into two sections, each featuring 5 lectures. Section 1 focuses on psychopharmacology, which is the investigation of the effect of medication on normal and abnormal brain function. Section 2 focuses on neuropsychology, examining what can be learnt about psychological processes from studying patients with brain damage.

Specific topics that will be covered include: neurotransmitters; drug effects; psychedelic drugs; impaired object and face recognition; amnesia; and disorders of motor control.

Social Research Methods (SO3524)

30 Credit Points

Sociologists use a range of methods and techniques to explore and test sociological theory. This module introduces many of these methods and techniques. It aims to ground students’ theoretical understanding of society through the practical analysis of a variety of data. It starts by introducing the varying philosophical starting points of research and goes on to provide foundation level critical analysis skills in the key quantitative and qualitative methods that sociologists have deployed to understand and ‘capture’ the social world.

Social Psychology (PS3520)

15 Credit Points

Social Psychologists explore the psychological factors that influence individual behaviours within social situations. As such, the aim of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the range of topics within experimental social psychology, with a defined focus on social cognition.

Topics covered within this lecture based course include: Stereotypes; social perception and action; self-control; consciousness and mimicry.

This course provides a scientific explanation for social phenomena, making it ideal for students with an interest in individual and group behaviour.

Crime and Social Justice (SO3025)

15 Credit Points

This course introduces students to the contemporary study of issues of crime and social justice and considers how they relate to individuals, communities, and sections of society. We adopt a critical criminological perspective in order to consider wider social harms, while analysing and reflecting on the criminal justice system and social justice interventions.

Policing & Society (Law) (LS3533)

15 Credit Points

The course is designed to introduce students to understanding and knowledge and to develop critical awareness across areas of criminology and policing, and specifically the complex interface between policing and contemporary society.

Year 4

Compulsory Courses

Choose between:

  • Option Course in Law (30 credits)
  • PS4546 Face Recognition (15 credits)
  • PS4536 Forensic Psychology (15 credits)

OR:

  • SO4068 Research Project Part 1 (30 credits)
  • SO4568 Research Project Part 2 (30 credits)

OR:

  • 60 credit points from level 4 Sociology courses of choice
Research Project Part 1 (SO4068)

30 Credit Points

This course is the first of two courses that comprise the Dissertation in Sociology. This first course affords students an opportunity to apply their sociological knowledge and research skills to an individual piece of research, focusing on a topic selected by the student and ethically approved by their Supervisor. Over the course of SO4068, with guidance from a member of staff, the project student will formulate an appropriate research question(s), conduct a critical literature review of relevant material, select appropriate research methods and prepare appropriate data collection tool(s) in order to commence their (online) research by the end of this course. Students will also get the opportunity to reflect on their presentation skills and prepare a 5-minute Panopto video on their project design for peer review. Particular emphasis will be given to helping students develop time management skills, a key transferable skill.

Research Project Part 2 (SO4568)

30 Credit Points

In this course, project students, guided by regular staff supervision, build on the foundations developed in SO4068 to conduct their original research and deliver their conclusions in two formats. All students will present their developing work to peers in a multi-day student conference early in the semester and submit a final report of their work (i.e. project dissertation) at the end of the course.

Face Recognition (PS4546)

15 Credit Points

Face processing underpins human social interaction, allowing us to recognise friends and avoid enemies, identify social groups, decode emotional messages and find romantic partners. Despite the advice not to ‘judge a book by its cover’, people also form judgements of a stranger’s attractiveness and character within seconds of seeing their face. This course will examine how these aspects of face processing relate to contemporary real-world topics, including the rise of facial AI.

We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.

How You'll Study

Learning Methods

  • Individual Projects
  • Lectures
  • Seminars
  • Tutorials

Assessment Methods

Students are assessed by various assessment methods which typically include:

  • Coursework such as essays, reports and quizzes completed throughout the course;
  • Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course such as presentations; and
  • Written examinations at the end of each course.

The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses. Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of an optional written dissertation.

Why Study Criminology and Sociology?

  • This multidisciplinary degree programme is delivered by the School of Social Sciences in partnership with the School of Psychology and the School of Law to offer a comprehensive understanding of the social, psychological and legal aspects of crime and crime prevention.
  • You will study the theory and methods of criminology, and apply your theoretical understanding of crime to investigate real-world problems such as gang violence, domestic violence, public disorder, drug-related, environmental, white-collar crime and cybercrime.
  • You will also explore how technological advances are affecting crime and crime detection, including surveillance, facial recognition technologies and forensic psychology.
  • The programme also addresses the development of self and society, power relations and inequalities, social order and conflict, with a view to contextualising the study of contemporary criminality.
  • Students also gain a range of sound theoretical, methodological and analytical skills, which can be applied in an optional independent research project in the final year.

Entry Requirements

Qualifications

The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the University of Aberdeen.


General Entry Requirements

2024 Entry

SQA Highers

Standard: AABB

Applicants who have achieved AABB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.

Minimum: BBB

Applicants who have achieved BBB (or are on course to achieve this by the end of S5) are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will normally be required.

Adjusted: BB

Applicants who achieve BB over S4 and S5 and who meet one of the widening access criteria are guaranteed a conditional offer. Good performance in additional Highers/Advanced Highers will be required.

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

A LEVELS

Standard: BBB

Minimum: BBC

Adjusted: CCC

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

International Baccalaureate

32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.

Irish Leaving Certificate

5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.

Entry from College

Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.

2025 Entry

SQA Highers

Standard: BBBB

Applicants who have achieved BBBB (or better), are encouraged to apply and will be considered. Good performance in additional Highers/ Advanced Highers may be required.

Minimum: BBC

Applicants who have achieved BBC at Higher and meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an unconditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees. 

Adjusted: BB

Applicants who have achieved BB at Higher, and who meet one of the widening participation criteria above are encouraged to apply and are guaranteed an adjusted conditional offer for MA, BSc and BEng degrees.

We would expect to issue a conditional offer asking for one additional C grade at Higher. 

Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

A LEVELS

Standard: BBC

Minimum: BCC

Adjusted: CCC

More information on our definition of Standard, Minimum and Adjusted entry qualifications.

International Baccalaureate

32 points, including 5, 5, 5 at HL.

Irish Leaving Certificate

5H with 3 at H2 AND 2 at H3.

Entry from College

Advanced entry to this degree may be possible from some HNC/HND qualifications, please see www.abdn.ac.uk/study/articulation for more details.

The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our detailed entry requirements section.


English Language Requirements

To study for an Undergraduate degree at the University of Aberdeen it is essential that you can speak, understand, read, and write English fluently. The minimum requirements for this degree are as follows:

IELTS Academic:

OVERALL - 6.0 with: Listening - 5.5; Reading - 5.5; Speaking - 5.5; Writing - 6.0

TOEFL iBT:

OVERALL - 78 with: Listening - 17; Reading - 18; Speaking - 20; Writing - 21

PTE Academic:

OVERALL - 59 with: Listening - 59; Reading - 59; Speaking - 59; Writing - 59

Cambridge English B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency:

OVERALL - 169 with: Listening - 162; Reading - 162; Speaking - 162; Writing - 169

Read more about specific English Language requirements here.

Fees and Funding

You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.

Fee information
Fee category Cost
EU / International students £20,800
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year
Home Students £1,820
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year
RUK £9,250
Tuition Fees for 2025/26 Academic Year

Scholarships and Funding

Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.

Additional Fees

  • In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips. Any additional fees for a course can be found in our Catalogue of Courses.
  • For more information about tuition fees for this programme, including payment plans and our refund policy, please visit our Tuition Fees page.

Our Funding Database

View all funding options in our Funding Database.

Careers

As governments around the world face increasing constraints on public spending, understanding crime and other social problems is a key concern for policy makers and stakeholders. This degree will develop the key critical thinking, analytical and research skills for a career in social and public policy fields in all sectors (public, voluntary, and private), as well as more specifically within criminal justice organisations. Criminology is also a pathway to careers including:

  • Civil Servant
  • Community Development Officer
  • Paralegal
  • Police Officer
  • Policy Advisor / Researcher
  • Prison Officer
  • Probation Officer
  • Social Worker / Youth Worker
Image for useful fact about this Degree

5th in the UK for Sociology and Social Policy

Aberdeen is ranked 5th in the UK for Sociology and Social Policy by the Guardian University Guide 2025

Our Experts

This programme is delivered by a range of teaching staff in Sociology, Criminology, Law and Psychology. The programme coordinator, Dr Karen Lumsden, is a sociologist and criminologist. She teaches the Year 2 course ‘Introduction to Criminology’. Karen’s research expertise includes policing, cyber-crime, victimisation and qualitative research methods.

Programme Coordinator
Karen Lumsden

Information About Staff Changes

You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.

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Get in Touch

Contact Details

Address
Student Recruitment & Admissions
University of Aberdeen
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX