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Are sociology and politics actually "soft" subjects?
Might be a tad early but I'm going into year 11 this year and my school have already asked us to begin to think about what courses to take for A-Levels. I'm thinking of taking English Lit, History, Politics and Sociology as I'm good at essay subjects and I'm interested in them all but I've seen quite a few people on here saying that the latter two are "soft" subjects and my friends who want to study STEM are telling me that Russell Group universities don't respect them (whatever that means lmaooo). I've looked online and it says nothing about politics and sociology being "soft" or "not respected" @ Russell Unis.
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
Okay, so first of all, take any advice you see on this forum as a caution because it's plagued with STEM students who stick up their noses at any kind of *gasp* social science *gasp*.
And besides that, people greatly misunderstand what 'soft' and 'hard' subjects are. They are not concerned with the difficulty of the subject, although there is a correlation, but instead wirh how facilitating a subject it is i.e. how many university courses it opens you up to. The reason people class sociology/politics as 'soft' subjects, is because they are generally not as facilitating for as many university subjects as say maths is.
To explain a bit more, the reason a subject like pure philosophy would be more facilitating than sociology is because the main focus upon philosophy is not trying to cram lots of information in your head, but instead about accurately presenting arguments and evaluating viewpoints. You can be very vague in sociology and get away with it whereas you cannot do that in pure philosophy. It's not to do with difficulty, but how the subject is typically geared.
As to whether it matters; really depends on what you're going to apply for. If it's a highly competitive course like law I would advise to choose more facilitating essay subjects (philosophy, english literature,languages, history are the main ones), but otherwise it shouldn't matter. I got offers from all the unis I applied for and all were RG and I have an A-Level in Sociology.
And besides that, people greatly misunderstand what 'soft' and 'hard' subjects are. They are not concerned with the difficulty of the subject, although there is a correlation, but instead wirh how facilitating a subject it is i.e. how many university courses it opens you up to. The reason people class sociology/politics as 'soft' subjects, is because they are generally not as facilitating for as many university subjects as say maths is.
To explain a bit more, the reason a subject like pure philosophy would be more facilitating than sociology is because the main focus upon philosophy is not trying to cram lots of information in your head, but instead about accurately presenting arguments and evaluating viewpoints. You can be very vague in sociology and get away with it whereas you cannot do that in pure philosophy. It's not to do with difficulty, but how the subject is typically geared.
As to whether it matters; really depends on what you're going to apply for. If it's a highly competitive course like law I would advise to choose more facilitating essay subjects (philosophy, english literature,languages, history are the main ones), but otherwise it shouldn't matter. I got offers from all the unis I applied for and all were RG and I have an A-Level in Sociology.
(edited 6 years ago)
I don't think any A levels are 'soft' at all. Even if they were, you've got two 'facilitating' subjects there. It depends on what you enjoy/want to do in future and if that includes politics and sociology then go for it 
Don't let people put you off it.
I'm also going into year 11, good luck for these new exams
Don't let people put you off it.I'm also going into year 11, good luck for these new exams
Original post by shutupkatherine
Might be a tad early but I'm going into year 11 this year and my school have already asked us to begin to think about what courses to take for A-Levels. I'm thinking of taking English Lit, History, Politics and Sociology as I'm good at essay subjects and I'm interested in them all but I've seen quite a few people on here saying that the latter two are "soft" subjects and my friends who want to study STEM are telling me that Russell Group universities don't respect them (whatever that means lmaooo). I've looked online and it says nothing about politics and sociology being "soft" or "not respected" @ Russell Unis.
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
No.
This is coming from a STEM person as well. Sick and tired of the STEM snobbery that goes on.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by cat7
Personally wouldn't call them soft although can understand why sciencey friends might think so. If you're looking for a career/to study politics/sociology or anything essay based seems like a good choice to me.
i'm not even sure what career I want lmaoo but I definitely know I want to study a social science/humanities at uni. Thank you for the help!
Original post by Asolare
Okay, so first of all, take any advice you see on this forum as a caution because it's plagued with STEM students who stick up their noses at any kind of *gasp* social science *gasp*.
And besides that, people greatly misunderstand what 'soft' and 'hard' subjects are. They are not concerned with the difficulty of the subject, although there is a correlation, but instead wirh how facilitating a subject it is i.e. how many university courses it opens you up to. The reason people class sociology/politics as 'soft' subjects, is because they are generally not as facilitating for as many university subjects as say maths is.
To explain a bit more, the reason a subject like pure philosophy would be more facilitating than sociology is because the main focus upon philosophy is not trying to cram lots of information in your head, but instead about accurately presenting arguments and evaluating viewpoints. You can be very vague in sociology and get away with it whereas you cannot do that in pure philosophy. It's not to do with difficulty, but how the subject is typically geared.
As to whether it matters; really depends on what you're going to apply for. If it's a highly competitive course like law I would advise to choose more facilitating essay subjects (philosophy, english literature,languages, history are the main ones), but otherwise it shouldn't matter. I got offers from all the unis I applied for and all were RG and I have an A-Level in Sociology.
And besides that, people greatly misunderstand what 'soft' and 'hard' subjects are. They are not concerned with the difficulty of the subject, although there is a correlation, but instead wirh how facilitating a subject it is i.e. how many university courses it opens you up to. The reason people class sociology/politics as 'soft' subjects, is because they are generally not as facilitating for as many university subjects as say maths is.
To explain a bit more, the reason a subject like pure philosophy would be more facilitating than sociology is because the main focus upon philosophy is not trying to cram lots of information in your head, but instead about accurately presenting arguments and evaluating viewpoints. You can be very vague in sociology and get away with it whereas you cannot do that in pure philosophy. It's not to do with difficulty, but how the subject is typically geared.
As to whether it matters; really depends on what you're going to apply for. If it's a highly competitive course like law I would advise to choose more facilitating essay subjects (philosophy, english literature,languages, history are the main ones), but otherwise it shouldn't matter. I got offers from all the unis I applied for and all were RG and I have an A-Level in Sociology.
Yeah people who I know study stem irl and people on this site are .... yikes sometimes haha. And I am considering doing Philosophy too but the GCSE is really putting me off it (even though I know that at A-Level it is a lot more of a challenge which I like). I'm not looking to study law or anything so that's fine, just a general social science. Thank you for your help!!
Original post by Pepzi_Kola
I don't think any A levels are 'soft' at all. Even if they were, you've got two 'facilitating' subjects there. It depends on what you enjoy/want to do in future and if that includes politics and sociology then go for it Don't let people put you off it.
I'm also going into year 11, good luck for these new exams
Don't let people put you off it.I'm also going into year 11, good luck for these new exams
I agree. I don't like this whole "soft" A level thing. It's really annoying and it puts me off that literally everyone keeps calling humanities/social science subject "soft".
And good luck for your exams too! (hopefully the grade boundaries are as low as this year???)
Original post by Blue_Cow
No.
This is coming from a STEM person as well. Sick and tired of the STEM snobbery that goes on.
This is coming from a STEM person as well. Sick and tired of the STEM snobbery that goes on.
thank you! (and thanks for being a STEM person who can see things past STEM? lol)
Politics and Sociology are as 'hard' as any other essay based subject.
The idea of 'soft' subjects is that anyone who does THREE soft subjects like PE, Media Studies and Textiles wont have any A levels that might get them to Uni or even an apprenticeship. If they included at least one more traditional subject (like Politics or Sociology) then they might have that opportunity.
Whoever told you that 'RG Unis dont like Politics and Sociology' is talking utter rubbish. If they didnt, why would they offer degree courses in these subjects!
The range of subjects you have selected are totally fine. Do not allow anyone else to tell you anything different.
The idea of 'soft' subjects is that anyone who does THREE soft subjects like PE, Media Studies and Textiles wont have any A levels that might get them to Uni or even an apprenticeship. If they included at least one more traditional subject (like Politics or Sociology) then they might have that opportunity.
Whoever told you that 'RG Unis dont like Politics and Sociology' is talking utter rubbish. If they didnt, why would they offer degree courses in these subjects!
The range of subjects you have selected are totally fine. Do not allow anyone else to tell you anything different.
Original post by shutupkatherine
I agree. I don't like this whole "soft" A level thing. It's really annoying and it puts me off that literally everyone keeps calling humanities/social science subject "soft".
And good luck for your exams too! (hopefully the grade boundaries are as low as this year???)
And good luck for your exams too! (hopefully the grade boundaries are as low as this year???)
Yeah, it seems to happen all the time and it's annoying (and I'm a STEM student). Nothing soft at all about humanities/social sciences.
And yeah, hopefully they are. They probably will be because we're the first year to do the 9-1 exams for most subjects.
The idea that Russell Group universities don't respect subjects like Sociology is a lie.
I took RS, English Language, Sociology and General Studies. RS is very well respected, English Language moderately so, and the latter two are seen as soft subjects.
I got five offers from Russell Group unis and one offer from a Top 10 that is not in the Russell Group (yes, I got six offers; before anyone calls me on this, I applied through a system called Extra which gave me a sixth option).
Whether or not your "soft" subjects will lead to an offer depends on:
1. How many "soft" subjects you are doing. I would advise taking no more than two.
2. The course you've applied for. If it's under-subscribed or an essay-based subject, having a couple of "soft" subjects won't hold you back.
3. If your subjects are relevant to the course you want to do.
And of course many other factors.
Even Oxford and Cambridge aren't usually snobby about it as long as you have two facilitating subjects.
I took RS, English Language, Sociology and General Studies. RS is very well respected, English Language moderately so, and the latter two are seen as soft subjects.
I got five offers from Russell Group unis and one offer from a Top 10 that is not in the Russell Group (yes, I got six offers; before anyone calls me on this, I applied through a system called Extra which gave me a sixth option).
Whether or not your "soft" subjects will lead to an offer depends on:
1. How many "soft" subjects you are doing. I would advise taking no more than two.
2. The course you've applied for. If it's under-subscribed or an essay-based subject, having a couple of "soft" subjects won't hold you back.
3. If your subjects are relevant to the course you want to do.
And of course many other factors.
Even Oxford and Cambridge aren't usually snobby about it as long as you have two facilitating subjects.
Original post by shutupkatherine
Might be a tad early but I'm going into year 11 this year and my school have already asked us to begin to think about what courses to take for A-Levels. I'm thinking of taking English Lit, History, Politics and Sociology as I'm good at essay subjects and I'm interested in them all but I've seen quite a few people on here saying that the latter two are "soft" subjects and my friends who want to study STEM are telling me that Russell Group universities don't respect them (whatever that means lmaooo). I've looked online and it says nothing about politics and sociology being "soft" or "not respected" @ Russell Unis.
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
Basically my question is: are sociology and politics really considered to be soft and does it even matter if I take them alongside two facilitating subjects?
I am studying politics and sociology as part of my access course, I wouldn’t call either of them soft subjects they are more analytical and evaluation based subjects than a subject like maths.
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