Social & Public Policy/English Language

Social and public policy combined with English language brings together two disciplines that are both concerned with how language shapes social reality. Social and public policy is the academic study of how governments and public institutions respond to social challenges: poverty and inequality, health and housing, education and welfare, environmental sustainability and technological change. English language, as a linguistic discipline rather than a literary one, analyses the structure, use and social functions of English across different contexts, genres and communities of speakers.

Together they provide a distinctive toolkit for understanding how policy is made, communicated and contested, and how language mediates those processes.

At the University of Glasgow, social and public policy focuses on finding ways to address global and societal challenges such as poverty and inequality, housing, health, technology and sustainability, applying ideas from political science, sociology and economics to understand how governments shape responses to people's needs, welfare and wellbeing. The English language strand develops your understanding of grammar, discourse, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and the analysis of language in use. A year abroad is part of this four-year programme, giving you the opportunity to study in a different policy and linguistic context and to develop an international perspective on the questions both disciplines address.

The combination develops analytical rigor, an understanding of social structures and policy processes, and a sophisticated awareness of how language works in public and institutional life. These capabilities are highly relevant to many professional contexts.

Graduates go on to careers in public policy, the civil service, local government, social research, health and social care management, communications, journalism, teaching and the voluntary sector. Further study in social policy, linguistics, education or public administration is also a common route for those seeking specialist or leadership roles.