Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences
This studies do not exist in everywhere around the world, but they have become quite popular in English speaking colleges, specially those from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. University of Manchester is the main college of choice in the United Kingdom. Some other institutions abroad include the universities of Hong Kong, Waikato, Tasmania, Lincoln, Queensland, Calgary and New South Wales.
Social sciences is a three year -sometimes four year- program that covers a lot of disciplines that formerly used to be taught in separate degrees, such as History, Sociology, Political science, etc… It works as a general introduction to further studies and allows a huge range of specialization opportunities.
Multidisciplinary choice
Here there are some of the majors to be chosen once the first three year degree is complete:
- Anthropology
- Economics
- Education Studies
- Environmental Planning
- Geography
- History
- Human Development
- Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management
- Labor Studies
- Linguistics
- Philosophy
- Political Science
- Population Studies
- Psychology
- Public Policy
- Social Policy
- Sociology
- Tourism Studies
- Women’s and Gender Studies
Please note this system does not apply everywhere. A lot of countries still consider that Psychology, History or Economics are independent degrees that don’t share the first three years. Nevertheless, most of them will allow you to switch studies, just following a few complementary subjects.
A successful mix
Why to create a global degree in Social Science, then? The answer is simple: governments realized that some degrees, such as History and Sociology, had a decreasing demand among students, as they proved themselves to offer less job opportunities. Market ups and downs shouldn’t make a knowledge disappear completely, so universities chose to recycle themselves instead. The goal is to set an optimal environment for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary societies, including the analysis of historical, political, social, spatial, cultural and ethical issues that people confront daily in today’s world, and provide grounding in both social theory and research methodology. No doubt Social science programs achieve this with maximum flexibility.
Social science bachelors can become demographers, economists, diplomats, human resource managers, social welfare counselors or environmental consultants. In fact, almost every managing or intermediate position in private industry might benefit from a Social science bachelor’s abilities. These studies encourage creative and critical thinking, problem solving and cross-cultural awareness, which are qualities that any modern company would appreciate. Information processing, effective written and oral communication and computer literacy are some other clue skills of a Social science bachelor.
Perfect for… anyone interested in people’s behavior, anyone willing to keep many doors open and students who haven’t made up their mind yet.
Don’t choose it if… you’re looking for something related to technology.
Match it with… virtually any major or bachelor degree, with an emphasis on politics, economics, sociology or employment relations.