Economic & Social History/Philosophy

Economic and social history occupies a distinctive position among the humanities and social sciences. It asks how material conditions, social structures, and economic forces have shaped human experience over time, drawing on both historical method and social science theory to explain patterns of change that statistics alone cannot capture and narratives alone cannot quantify. The discipline connects the long-run story of capitalism, labour, inequality, and institutions to the lived realities of ordinary people in specific times and places.

At Glasgow this programme is studied alongside Philosophy, a combination that adds a further layer of analytical depth. Philosophy sharpens the conceptual tools you bring to historical and social questions, asking what counts as evidence, how we reason about causation, and what it means to explain human behaviour. Together the two disciplines train you to think rigorously across both empirical and normative questions, an unusual and transferable combination.

The programme runs part time and includes a year abroad, giving you flexibility in how you manage your studies while also providing the opportunity to engage with international academic perspectives. Economic and social history, as the course notes, focuses on how people in the past lived and worked and how that history has shaped the world we inhabit today.

Graduates from this combination go on to careers in the public sector, policy and research organisations, financial services, journalism, consultancy, and education. The ability to interpret complex evidence, construct well-reasoned arguments, and situate contemporary problems in historical context is valuable across a wide range of professional settings. Postgraduate study in economic history, social history, philosophy, or policy is a natural next step for those who want to pursue research or specialist careers.