Course summary

This Master’s degree is a cutting-edge, new MA programme, which aims to set new standards in the critical study and application of social sciences. Learning from active researchers with diverse areas of expertise, you will be led through the key contemporary debates in social policy. Our Master’s degree has a strong focus on critical and radical approaches to the study of social policy both here in the UK and from international and global perspectives. The commitment we share is to provide our students with the skills to apply challenging intellectual debates in order to design and conduct high quality research primarily with a view to improving social justice and creating change in the face of a turbulent and market-driven global society. In particular, the course examines how social policies can reinforce and reproduce marginalisation and oppression in society for groups such as women, deprived communities, ethnic minorities, migrants, disabled people and older people. The programme also analyses how various social policies have been the result of resistance to dominant economic structures and should therefore also be conceptualised as key institutions formalising the rights of the same groups which social policies often oppress. Social policy is a deeply political subject and as consequence our programme explores the theoretical links between the economy and transformations in welfare systems, with a focus on change through different phases of welfare development. It considers the ideologies and political-economic projects that underpin different stages of welfare development, and possible future changes for the welfare state. With our strong focus on research, our course also enables students to develop the central skills required to analyse, understand and critically evaluate social policy issues. Not only do we encourage students to understand policies comparatively, we also provide research training which covers the key philosophical issues and traditions in social science and the uses and strengths of the range of methods and methodological approaches. Finally, the programme enables participants to develop and critically assess a range of dialogical and transferrable skills, which will maximise their potential and equip them with the knowledge and awareness of the changing global social dynamics, necessary in order to pursue leading and managerial positions in various fields, including education, business, media and governance.