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Accessibility statement
This module provides an ideal introduction to the social sciences – social policy and criminology, geography and environment, politics and international studies, economics and sociology. You’ll explore a wide range of topics that shape the nature of contemporary UK society, from questions of identity and inequalities and differences to consumerism and environment and issues of social order, disorder, and governance. Using a blend of text, audio, video and online materials, you’ll be equipped with various skills for independent study and your personal and working life.
This module provides an accessible and contemporary introduction to the social sciences and the questions and issues that social scientists investigate and explore. It is an ideal entry-level module for a range of social science and related qualifications.
The module begins with The Life and Times of the Street as a window into a range of social issues which social scientists are interested in exploring. In addition to providing the starting point for the three questions that form the teaching strands of this module, the street is regarded as a place that provokes questions and issues, which you'll return to at various points during your study. By exploring the street, this module aims to show you how social life is being made and remade in the contemporary UK.
The three module-wide questions are:
You'll explore social science answers to these questions by looking at the following three strands of study:
1: Making lives

This addresses questions about how people make and remake their lives but not in circumstances of their own choosing. Through a focus on consumerism and shopping, power and markets, you'll explore how social lives are made and remade, how individuals’ identities and sense of self are shaped by their relationship with other people and with objects. In addition, you will examine the constraints and opportunities that impact people’s ability to belong to a consumer society.
2: Connecting lives

The second strand is about the various ways that individuals and their social lives are made and remade through connections to, and disconnections from, other people and places, plus how they see themselves, see others and where they live. A key focus will be on the insights sociologists can bring to an examination of questions of identity. This will be in relation to personal and social lives, issues of class, gender, race and disability and issues around our connections to place and migration.
3: Ordering lives

The final strand explores some of the different ways in which social life is ordered and governed through the rules, norms and expectations people have of one another in day-to-day interaction. You'll discover how these are made and remade; how social order and ordering vary in time and place; and how social order is contested, challenged and sometimes broken. You'll explore the relationship between social order and disorder, beginning at the level of homelessness and finishing with examining the role played by political authorities (governments and states) in defining and attempting to govern order and disorder.
This is a key introductory OU level 1 module. OU level 1 modules provide core subject knowledge and study skills needed for both higher education and distance learning to help you progress to modules at OU level 2.
Introducing the social sciences is available for standalone study and is an ideal starting point if you are considering going on to study one of our qualifications in social sciences. Its interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences and its integrated teaching of key study skills will give you a firm foundation for further study.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
You’ll be provided with two printed module books and have access to a module website, which includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying DD102 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Introducing the social sciences starts twice a year – in February and October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2025 and February 2026, when we expect it to start for the last time.
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