MA Sociology/Philosophy

About this course

Sociology and philosophy are disciplines that share a fundamental concern with understanding human life, but they approach that project from different angles. Philosophy asks foundational questions about knowledge, truth, morality, mind, and existence, using reason and argument as its primary tools. Sociology examines how human beings live together in societies, how social structures, institutions, inequalities, and cultures shape individual lives and collective outcomes, and how the social world can be studied empirically and theoretically. Bringing them together creates a particularly powerful intellectual combination: you can ask both what society is like and what we can know about it and why it matters. At the University of Glasgow, this part-time programme offers the flexibility to study across a longer period, which suits those who are working alongside their studies or who have other significant commitments. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution overseas and to experience different intellectual traditions and academic cultures. You will engage with philosophical questions about knowledge, ethics, the philosophy of mind, and political theory, alongside sociological accounts of inequality, identity, power, culture, and social change. The combination develops your capacity for rigorous argument and your sensitivity to the social contexts in which ideas and institutions are embedded. Graduates of sociology and philosophy programmes are well prepared for careers in research, education, policy, social work, journalism, the civil service, the voluntary sector, and any role that requires the ability to think critically about how society works and why it matters. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in sociology, philosophy, social policy, or related humanities and social science disciplines, and the analytical and writing skills developed in the degree are highly valued across professional contexts.

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