簡介：Sociology has slipped to second-bottom in the employment table this year, with more than half of those graduating in 2010 in low-level jobs or unemployed at the end of the year. The subject had been growing in popularity, with substantial increases in the demand for places in 2010 and 2011, but the prospect of higher fees brought an above-average decline of 11 per cent in 2012. Competition for places was already moderate for the social sciences, with fewer than five applications to the place and manageable entry grades. Cambridge remains well clear in first place, despite uncharacteristically low grades for research. The sociology panel for the 2008 assessments was no respecter of reputations: neither Cambridge nor the London School of Economics is among the top 15 universities on this measure. But Cambridge has the most satisfied students and the best employment scores, while its entry grades are 100 points ahead of the nearest challenger. Bath, which is up three places to third this year, has the best research score, with three quarters of the university’s work judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Research grades in sociology were not as high as in many subjects, but Southampton, in 12th place, also did well, with 70 per cent of research in the top two categories. Glasgow, Aberdeen and Strathclyde (in that order) have all overtaken Edinburgh for sociology in Scotland, while Cardiff is best-placed in Wales. Portsmouth is the top post-1992 university and the only one in the top 30. Sociology’s low standing in the employment table is naturally reflected in the performance of individual universities. It is one of the few subjects in which not a single university saw 80 per cent of leavers go straight into graduate-level jobs or continue their studies. At 11 universities, over twice as many as last year, there were “positive destinations” for fewer than one new graduate in three. Other subjects such as criminology, urban studies, women’s studies and some communication studies are included in the category of sociology, and a large number of institutions teach the subject as part of a combined studies or modular programme. The subject’s low standing in the employment ranking is not repeated in the comparison of graduate earnings, although it has slipped into the bottom half of the table this year after a drop of more than ￡1,000 in average starting salary in graduate-level jobs.以下是2013年Times社會學排名。