4 courses offered in the Department of Sociology
Sociology - PhD
The Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge is a world-class centre for teaching and research in Sociology. It has a proud tradition of research grounded in engagement with contemporary real-world issues.
Our Department is ranked first for Sociology in the Complete University Guide League Table 2025 with a 100% score, and second for Sociology in the Guardian's Best Universities league table 2025.
The Times Higher Education World University ranking 2025 rates our department second overall in the UK for the Social Sciences. The QS World University rankings list our department as sixth of 375 sociology departments across the world in 2025.
Our PhD programme combines taught content in research methods and academic skills with independent study under the supervision of one or more experts in the student's chosen field.
Many who graduate from our PhD programme go on to become professional researchers or academics; others work in national government, international organisations, NGOs, think tanks, and consultancies.
Sociology (Political and Economic Sociology) - MPhil
Our Department is ranked first for Sociology in the Complete University Guide League Table 2025 with a 100% score, and second for Sociology in the Guardian's Best Universities league table 2025.
The Times Higher Education World University ranking 2025 rates our department second overall in the UK for the Social Sciences. The QS World University rankings list our department as sixth of 375 sociology departments across the world in 2025.
This MPhil pathway is designed to give students an advanced understanding of major themes and debates in political and economic sociology.
The Political and Economic Sociology pathway examines power relations and conflict among political and economic elites and classes, protest and revolutionary groups, and the ways these take form within both popular and intellectual fields. It typically covers topics such as the state, revolution and regime change, social movements, class relations, labour disputes, ideology, and nationalism. Students are encouraged to understand these phenomena in their full complexity and identify the plethora of sociological perspectives available to study them.
Sociology (The Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion) - MPhil
The Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge is a world-class centre for teaching and research in Sociology. It has a proud tradition of research grounded in engagement with contemporary real-world issues.
Our Department is ranked first for Sociology in the Complete University Guide League Table 2025 with a 100% score, and second for Sociology in the Guardian's Best Universities league table 2025.
The Times Higher Education World University ranking 2025 rates our department second overall in the UK for the Social Sciences. The QS World University rankings list our department as sixth of 375 sociology departments across the world in 2025.
The MPhil in Sociology provides students with a firm grounding in theoretical and empirical analysis, which are at the core of understanding the workings of social inequality.
The Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion pathway will equip students with a broad understanding of theoretical approaches to marginality and exclusion. It will also provide students with the ability to explore research-led areas of marginalization and forms of exclusion in-depth, examining their contextual specificity, transformations over time, and their impact on other aspects of social and political life.
Sociology (The Sociology of Media and Culture) - MPhil
The Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge is a world-class centre for teaching and research in Sociology. It has a proud tradition of research grounded in engagement with contemporary real-world issues.
Our Department is ranked first for Sociology in the Complete University Guide League Table 2025 with a 100% score, and second for Sociology in the Guardian's Best Universities league table 2025.
The Times Higher Education World University ranking 2025 rates our department second overall in the UK for the Social Sciences. The QS World University rankings list our department as sixth of 375 sociology departments across the world in 2025.
1 course also advertised in the Department of Sociology
Health, Medicine and Society - MPhil
From the Department of History and Philosophy of Science
The MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society is a full-time 9-month course run jointly by the Departments of History and Philosophy of Science, Sociology and Social Anthropology. It introduces students from a range of backgrounds to research skills and specialist knowledge relevant to their research interests and provides them with the opportunity to carry out focused research under close supervision by senior members of the University. Students develop a critical and well-informed understanding of discourses and practices of history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology of health and medicine, and those intending to go on to doctoral work learn the skills needed to help them prepare a well-planned and focused PhD proposal.