Government, Policy and Society MA (Hons)

You will take the following compulsory courses:

• Social Policy and Society
• Understanding Public Policy
• Politics of the Welfare State

Social Policy and Society

In this course we will introduce key ways to analyse how government policies affect society.

We use a variety of important concepts like power and inequality to make sense of societal structures. This allows us to look at the impact of policy on different groups of people (for example, based on class, gender or race).

Understanding Public Policy

In this course you will develop the skills needed to analyse specific policies created by governments, with regard to their goals, structures and effectiveness.

You will engage with external practitioners to understand the practical implications of their academic knowledge to the world of real policy-making.

Politics of the Welfare State

In this course we introduce you to the politics of welfare.

In many countries this area constitutes one of the largest sets of government expenditure. You will be confronted with debates about different ways of delivering welfare and the interplay between the state and the private sector.

Option courses

You will take further option courses from across the University to broaden your perspectives.

These may include courses within social and political science, such as:

• social anthropology
• international relations
• sociology
• political science
• social work

You can also choose options from other disciplines, such as:

• economics
• philosophy
• history

You will take three compulsory courses:

• Comparative Social Policy: Global Perspectives - In this course, 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

You will take further option courses from across the University to broaden your perspectives. These may include courses within social and political science, such as:

• social anthropology
• international relations
• sociology
• political science
• social work

You can also choose options from other disciplines, such as:

• economics
• philosophy
• history

You will take three compulsory courses to help sharpen your analytical abilities and develop transferable research skills with applications in many professional areas:

• Qualitative Research: Principles and Practicalities for Social Policy
• Doing Survey Research
• Analysing and communicating Social Policy

Qualitative Research: Principles and Practicalities for Social Policy

This course will introduce you to a wide range of qualitative research techniques and teach you how to carry out high-quality research yourself.

Doing Survey Research

This course will equip you to work with large-scale quantitative datasets.

You will analyse information from surveys of any unit, ranging from people to countries and firms.

Using real-life data, you will develop skills useful for many career paths.

Analysing and communicating Social Policy

This course prepares students to translate their academic learning in social policy into real-world applications that address different audiences. The course builds on the various lenses students have been introduced to during their pre-honours studies (for example, sociological, political, economic and comparative perspectives).

You will also choose seven specialisation courses from a wide range of options which fall into two categories:

• policy-oriented courses, focusing on the specific areas of policy in your area of specialisation (for example, policy on labour markets, health, education, and poverty, among others)
• process-oriented courses focusing on political decision-making and perspectives on government (such as government budgetary politics, practical political work, the governing of social affairs, and many others)

You will continue to take social policy courses and will complete an individual research project.

This may involve collecting and analysing data and information from sources such as:

• the European Commission
• UK Government
• Scottish Government
• local authorities
• voluntary organisations

Dissertation

You will also complete a major project and write a 12,500 to 15,000-word dissertation. This is a genuine, original piece of research that you will carry out over the course of a year.

With guidance and mentoring from a member of staff, you will choose whether to work with quantitative and/or qualitative skills.

You will analyse existing data or conduct your own primary research, either in the UK or, as many of our international students do, in your home country.

There is also the possibility to combine your dissertation research with external work in placement or volunteering contexts. Past students have combined practical interests with their research work to make their dissertation useful beyond the University.

Where appropriate, we will help you find ways to share your findings with the appropriate audiences.