You will undertake advanced studies in political sociological analysis and this programme is ideal preparation for a research degree. It assumes an undergraduate training in sociology and/or political science, or a cognate discipline, or relevant professional experience such as journalism.
The programme is distinctive in its focus upon social and political movements, protest, and the less conventional and institutionalised forms of political action and participation, environmental politics and globalisation, but students with interests in other areas of more conventional and institutionalised politics are well catered for.
You will gain an understanding of the interaction and interdependence among social and political institutions, processes and action, especially collective action. The programme begins with a focus upon protest and social movements, and in the second term you may choose to focus upon either or both of environmental politics and / or processes of global social change and questions of political order. There is a wide range of optional modules from which to choose, and at the end of the programme, you should have a much enhanced understanding of processes of social and political change and the theoretical and methodological approaches to their interpretation and study.
Depending upon your choice of option modules, the programme will also give you:
The programme is also designed to enhance your professional development. We place considerable emphasis on the socialisation of graduate students into a research community. This is reflected in our pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning. There is less didactic teaching and more emphasis on structured seminars with greater participation from students. Class sizes are generally much smaller than at undergraduate level and you will be taught by established members of the academic staff, many of whom are internationally recognized leaders in their particular fields of inquiry. This facilitates close working relationships between staff and students. You will also be encouraged to participate in the staff/graduate seminar which allows MA and research students the opportunity to become more fully involved in a professional research culture, and to meet visiting speakers from many universities in Britain and beyond.
You take compulsory modules alongside optional modules of your choice. Modules may include:
https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/134/political-sociology#structure
Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability, we place considerable emphasis on you gaining specialist knowledge in your chosen subject alongside core transferable skills. We ensure that you develop the skills and competences that employers are looking for including: research and analysis; policy development and interpretation; independent thought; writing and presentation, as well as time management and leadership skills. You also become fully involved in the professional research culture of the School. A postgraduate degree in the area of social and public policy is a particularly flexible and valuable qualification that can lead to many exciting opportunities and professions.
Our graduates obtain a range of transferable skills and report high levels of being in employment or further study within six months of graduation across all of our degree programmes.
Over 98% of Kent's postgraduate students who graduated in 2016 were in work or further study within six months. Recent graduates from our School have pursued careers in academia, journalism, local and central government, charities and NGOs.
How to apply: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/
We offer inspirational teaching and supervision alongside first-class library and IT facilities. You also benefit from our high-impact research in all subjects. Whatever you are looking to study, Kent provides a dynamic and challenging environment for your postgraduate studies.
* of 122 universities, not including specialist institutions
This programme invites you to think systematically about the social world, how it is changing, the challenges and how we as individuals and groups organise, rationalise and assimilate our response
The programme provides a comprehensive overview of the foundational concerns and current debates in sociology and offers a range of options for exploring applications in specific areas of research. You learn about current theoretical tools and develop skills in research and data analysis, which can be used in a range of professional fields. The programme is also an excellent basis for pursuing further research in sociology or more specialised or applied subjects.
The programme aims to provide you with:
The programme is also designed to enhance your professional development. We place considerable emphasis on the socialisation of graduate students into a research community. This is reflected in our pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning. There is less didactic teaching and more emphasis on structured seminars with greater participation from students. Class sizes are generally much smaller than at undergraduate level and you will be taught by established members of the academic staff.
The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation:
https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/141/sociology#structure
Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability, we place considerable emphasis on you gaining specialist knowledge in your chosen subject alongside core transferable skills. We ensure that you develop the skills and competences that employers are looking for including: research and analysis; policy development and interpretation; independent thought; writing and presentation, as well as time management and leadership skills. You also become fully involved in the professional research culture of the School. A postgraduate degree in the area of social and public policy is a particularly flexible and valuable qualification that can lead to many exciting opportunities and professions.
Our graduates obtain a range of transferable skills and report high levels of being in employment or further study within six months of graduation across all of our degree programmes.
Over 98% of Kent's postgraduate students who graduated in 2016 were in work or further study within six months. Recent graduates from our School have pursued careers in academia, journalism, local and central government, charities and NGOs.
How to apply: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/
We offer inspirational teaching and supervision alongside first-class library and IT facilities. You also benefit from our high-impact research in all subjects. Whatever you are looking to study, Kent provides a dynamic and challenging environment for your postgraduate studies.
* of 122 universities, not including specialist institutions
We have a scholarship fund of over £9 million to support our taught and research students with their tuition fees and living costs. Find out more: https://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/postgraduate/
This MA programme provides you with a thorough grounding in the classics of Social and Political Thought and a deep and varied engagement with their 20th and 21st Century offshoots. This course addresses a range of key concepts and ideas that are central to the analysis of contemporary society, politics and culture, including debates over the basis of contemporary capitalism, neoliberalism, biopolitics, ideology, and the fundamental question of what it means to be ‘social’ and/or ‘human’.
The degree is structured around two core modules. The first of these is State, Capitalism and Market (convened by Professor Nicholas Gane), which uses theoretical resources such as Michel Foucault’s writings on biopolitics to think analytically and critically about capitalism and its recurrent crises. This module looks in particular at the recent financial crisis and the role this crisis has played in the reconfiguration of structural relations between the market and the state. A key part of this module is the critical analysis of political-economic discourses of neoliberalism that argue for the sovereignty of markets and economics over all things ‘social’. The second core module is Politics and Social Theory (convened by Dr Charles Turner) uses the work a wide-range of classical thinkers (for example, de Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim and Weber) and Twentieth Century writers (Arendt, Schmitt and Rorty) to consider the possibility of developing a sociological understanding of politics.
Beyond these two core modules, you can pursue your own research interests and specialisms by choosing four modules from a wide range of options, and then progressing to research and write their own 15,000 word dissertation.
Created for international students who wish to familiarise themselves with academic learning in the UK before undertaking rigorous study in their chosen subject. Students undertake a preparatory year of English language and undergraduate modules in the subject area before embarking on Master's level modules in their second year.
You gain a clear, confident and advanced understanding of the subject while receiving coaching in academic study and writing skills. The skills you develop on this programme include critical thinking, data analysis and presentation of key findings as well as transferable skills such as time management, IT and problem solving.
You acquire practical and analytic skills in advanced research methodologies, learning the techniques and approaches that social researchers use to organise, structure and interpret data. You will learn about the process of research and how the analysis and presentation of evidence is influenced and can be influential in understanding social structure. You will become adept at using a range of frameworks and methodologies and will be able to assess the most appropriate to use in a given scenario.
As well as taking core modules, you choose from a range of optional modules; typical optional modules may include::
Over 98% of Kent's postgraduate students who graduated in 2016 were in work or further study within six months. Recent graduates from our School have pursued careers in academia, journalism, local and central government, charities and NGOs.
We offer inspirational teaching and supervision alongside first-class library and IT facilities. You also benefit from our high-impact research in all subjects. Whatever you are looking to study, Kent provides a dynamic and challenging environment for your postgraduate studies.
* of 122 universities, not including specialist institutions
We have a scholarship fund of over £9 million to support our taught and research students with tuition fees and living costs. Find out more: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/fees-and-funding/index.html
Kent offers a range of modules and programmes in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) which you can access throughout your degree https://www.kent.ac.uk/international-pathways/
This programme allows you to combine advanced-level training in sociology and social policy. The combination allows you to acquire substantive knowledge about the nature of social needs, the emergence and reactions to social problems, and the contested, political boundaries between the individual and the state, across two complementary disciplines. Choose from the quantitative, the qualitative or the substantive pathway: this means you have a broad choice of modules.
Modules from (depending on pathway): Understanding Modernity; International Social Policy; Understanding Social Change; International Social Welfare; Philosophy of Social Science Research; Research Design and Practice; Quantitative Methods; Qualitative Methods; Project Modules 1 and 2 (from a range of specialist options) Plus dissertation.
The Environmental Social Science programme is interdepartmental and benefits from expertise found across the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Social science perspectives are crucial to understanding and solving environmental problems. Human behaviour produces many elements of the ‘natural’ environment, from landscapes to floods and famines. Local and national policies and international agreements regulate the environmental practices of corporations, governments and households. The social sciences have a great deal to contribute to understanding what have become defined as environmental issues, and what measures can most effectively tackle them.
Environmental Social Science draws on contributions from the study of Anthropology, Conservation and Ecology, Law, Social Policy and Sociology.
Visit the website https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/13/environmental-social-science
This interdisciplinary programme introduces you to social science perspectives on environmental issues. It draws on sociology, politics, social policy, anthropology and law. The dissertation is a chance for you to make a specialised study of a topic that interests you, and we encourage first-hand research. The programme is suitable for graduates with a wide range of first degrees.
You take compulsory modules alongside optional modules of your choice. Modules may include:
This programme aims to:
Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability, we place considerable emphasis on you gaining specialist knowledge in your chosen subject alongside core transferable skills. We ensure that you develop the skills and competences that employers are looking for including: research and analysis; policy development and interpretation; independent thought; writing and presentation, as well as time management and leadership skills. You also become fully involved in the professional research culture of the School. A postgraduate degree in the area of environmental social science is a particularly flexible and valuable qualification that can lead to many exciting opportunities and professional advancement.
Our graduates obtain a range of transferable skills and report high levels of being in employment or further study within six months of graduation across all of our degree programmes.
Over 98% of Kent's postgraduate students who graduated in 2016 were in work or further study within six months. Recent graduates have gone on to pursue careers in environmental law, community projects, research, education, advocacy and social policy at both local and central government levels.
How to apply: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/
We offer inspirational teaching and supervision alongside first-class library and IT facilities. You also benefit from our high-impact research in all subjects. Whatever you are looking to study, Kent provides a dynamic and challenging environment for your postgraduate studies.
* of 122 universities, not including specialist institutions
Studying Criminology at Kent provides you with the opportunity to study advanced criminological theory and to look at how this is applied to criminal justice and social policy in an ever-evolving global context.
This programme provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary debates about crime. You will critically analyse crime and punishment developments in social theory, sociology and social policy, looking at political and populist influences. You will gain an understanding of the social processes that influence the relationships between individuals, groups and institutions.
Our programme also provides the opportunity for you to participate in the European Common Study Programme in Criminology through which you engage in collaborative study with our European partner universities.
This programme aims to:
You take compulsory modules alongside optional modules of your choice. Modules may include:
Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability, we place considerable emphasis on you gaining specialist knowledge in your chosen subject alongside core transferable skills. We ensure that you develop the skills and competences that employers are looking for including: research and analysis; policy development and interpretation; independent thought; writing and presentation, as well as time management and leadership skills. You also become fully involved in the professional research culture of the School. A postgraduate degree in the area of social and public policy is a particularly flexible and valuable qualification that can lead to many exciting opportunities and professions.
Our graduates obtain a range of transferable skills and report high levels of being in employment or further study within six months of graduation across all of our degree programmes.
Over 98% of Kent's postgraduate students who graduated in 2016 were in work or further study within six months. Recent graduates from our School have pursued careers in academia, journalism, local and central government, charities and NGOs.
How to apply: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/apply/
We offer inspirational teaching and supervision alongside first-class library and IT facilities. You also benefit from our high-impact research in all subjects. Whatever you are looking to study, Kent provides a dynamic and challenging environment for your postgraduate studies.
* of 122 universities, not including specialist institutions
