Economics and Social Anthropology

Economics and social anthropology is an intellectually distinctive combination that brings together the rigorous quantitative methods of economics with the qualitative, ethnographic approaches of anthropology to understand human societies and the choices they make. Economics provides a structured, cumulative, and rigorous foundation in economic concepts, principles, analysis, techniques, and knowledge, developing analytical and decision-making abilities through training in quantitative and model-based methods. Social anthropology asks different questions: how do people in different cultures organise their lives, construct meaning, maintain social relations, and understand their own economic activities?

The two disciplines in dialogue give you tools that neither can offer alone.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year MA (Hons) programme develops your economic and anthropological skills in parallel, covering microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and the methods and major debates of social anthropology. A year abroad is built into the programme, giving you the opportunity to study in a different institutional and cultural context. Entry typically requires around 232 UCAS tariff points.

Graduates of economics and social anthropology work in international development organisations, economic consultancy, policy research, anthropological fieldwork, journalism, the civil service, international business, and non-governmental organisations. The combination of quantitative analytical ability with deep cross-cultural understanding is particularly valued in roles that require both rigorous data analysis and sensitivity to how economic systems operate differently in different social contexts. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in economics, anthropology, development studies, or related disciplines.