Social Anthropology and Social Policy MA (Hons)

Year 1 provides you with a broad introduction to both subjects.

You will study the following:

Social Anthropology 1A: The Life Course

This course is intended as an introduction to social anthropology. As well as covering life crisis moments and rituals of birth, marriage, and death, the course includes themes such as:

• gender
• personhood
• work and making a living
• the house
• consumption and exchange
• health
• the body

Social Anthropology 1B: Anthropology Matters

This course examines how concepts and ideas that have driven anthropology help us shed new light on debates that are at the heart of contemporary questions about how our societies work.

Each week will include two sessions exploring a single issue and anthropological contributions to debates relating to that issue. The issues explored will vary from year to year, but examples include:

• climate change
• hunger
• wellbeing
• body modification
• human rights

Social Policy and Society

This course revolves around three main themes:

• social needs
• social problems
• social rights

You will also examine how different debates about welfare have been influenced by these themes.

Politics of the Welfare State

This course examines social policy as a political issue in the UK. It introduces you to the politics of welfare, the area that constitutes one of the largest sets of government expenditures.

You will be confronted with debates about the different ways of delivering welfare, and the interplay between the state and the private sector.

Option courses

You will also study two option courses.

You will study the following:

Social Anthropology 2: Key Concepts

This course provides a historical overview of anthropological thought.

You will be taught through an introduction to keywords that have helped to shape the development of social anthropology.

This thematic approach is designed to be engaging and stimulating, and to help foster critical, conceptual, and theoretical skills. It will highlight the continued significance of key concepts and oppositions over time.

Ethnography: Theory and Practice

This course will introduce you to the theory and practice of ethnographic fieldwork.

At the heart of this course is a collaborative project during which you will learn about qualitative methods by putting them to the test in practical group work.

Your collective ethnographies will require you to write extensive field notes, which will be assessed. This will help you learn to write effectively in an academic manner.

Comparative Social Policy: Global Perspectives 

You will compare different approaches to social policy in European and non-European countries.

Research Skills for Social Policy

This course equips you with core research training and provides a forum for subject-specific learning and community building.

Evidence, Economy and Social Policy

This course will focus on the economic dimension of social policy, and the (mis)use of underlying evidence.

Option courses

Additionally, you will choose two further courses, either related to your programme or from another academic area.

You will study compulsory courses including:

• Analytical Perspectives in Social Policy
• Imagining Anthropological Research (a dissertation preparation course)

On top of that, you will choose option courses from a range of social anthropology and social policy courses.

You will also have the opportunity to conduct your own research during the summer break between Years 3 and 4. Your dissertation supervisor will help you plan and develop your research project, which can take place in the UK or overseas.

You will study Culture and Power.

This course introduces a range of anthropological approaches to politics. It provides a detailed examination of both open and hidden forms of power and their workings at the global, state, national, community, and personal level.

You will also use your research findings to complete an honours dissertation, and continue to study option courses.