About subject area content
About
About content
Established over 60 years ago, Sociology at the University of Edinburgh has a longstanding commitment to undertaking original, theoretically informed detailed empirical research. One of our major strengths is diversity, both in who we are and what we do.
Our staff and students come from all over the world and our research covers Scotland, the UK and other parts of Europe; the Americas (including Latin America); the Middle East; South and East Asia; and Africa. The sociological issues and themes we research are similarly diverse in scope, ranging from personal life to global phenomena.
About Sociology
Sociology is the study of societies. It focuses on human behaviour, social relationships and patterns of social interaction. Sociology encompasses microlevel everyday social interactions, social systems, social structures, and social and political institutions.
Our teaching
Our major strength is research informed teaching and learning, we integrate our cutting edge research into the curriculum.
Our single and joint undergraduate degrees place a strong emphasis on developing a sociological imagination. This involves critically engaging with sociological concepts and ideas to better understand life in contemporary societies.
Rated sixth in the UK for Subject Area (QS World University Rankings 2025)
Our research
We are committed to better understanding the transformations facing contemporary societies.
Our work is also methodologically diverse. We have expertise in advanced quantitative approaches; digital research; qualitative and ethnographic methods; documentary analysis; and mixed methods. This expertise is reflected in large methodological initiatives hosted at the University, including one of the key UK units of the Economic and Social Research Council National Centre for Research Methods.
Rated first in the UK for the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF2021)
Our research environment is vibrant, and scholars are working towards the overarching goal of producing innovative sociological research that investigates the major issues and challenges facing contemporary societies. Researchers are engaged in qualitative and ethnographic research, digital research and statistically orientated research, as well as programs of work that comprise multiple methods.
An interdisciplinary approach
Our research is interdisciplinary, with connections and partnerships across our academic areas of expertise.
We have strong links with other centres for research and teaching in the School of Social and Political Science, particularly the Centre for South Asian Studies and Centre of Canadian Studies, and with Science, Technology and Innovation Studies.
Our history
In 1964 the Sociology department at University of Edinburgh was founded by Tom Burns (1913 - 2001).
A prominent sociologist and one of the first sociologists to be elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy, Professor Burns worked at the University until his retirement in 1981.
Sociological research and teaching had taken place here for several years before that - perhaps represented most notably by two famous monographs, Burns's own The Management of Innovation (written with G. Stalker) published in 1961 and Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Lifewhich was originally published in Edinburgh in 1956. Burns published his acclaimed Erving Goffman in 1992.
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (published by the Social Science Research Centre, University of Edinburgh in 1956) is one of the most influential sociological texts of the twentieth century. It was written whilst he was a visiting Canadian scholar at the University of Edinburgh,
To mark the 50th Anniversary of this we established an annual Erving Goffman Memorial Lecture.
Each year, Sociology invites a scholar of high international reputation to give the Erving Goffman Memorial Lecture. This aim of this lecture is to honour and continue the intellectual legacy of Erving Goffman by deepening our understanding of human behaviour and interactions.