Sociology and Politics

Sociology and politics is a pairing that shares a fundamental concern with how power operates in society. Sociology provides the theoretical and empirical tools to understand the social structures, inequalities, and cultural processes that shape people's lives, examining how institutions from families and schools to media organisations and the state reproduce patterns of advantage and disadvantage. Politics examines how power is formally organised and contested, how governments are formed and held to account, how policies are made, and how social movements and political parties seek to change the direction of collective life.

Together, the two disciplines develop a critical and contextual understanding of society that neither provides on its own.

Goldsmiths has a distinctive intellectual tradition in the social sciences, characterised by critical thinking, engagement with questions of culture and power, and a commitment to understanding social life in its full complexity. The programme in sociology and politics reflects that tradition, combining sociological theory and research with political analysis in a way that is attentive to inequalities of race, class, gender, and other dimensions of social differentiation. You will engage with foundational thinkers in both disciplines and with the contemporary debates that follow from their insights, developing the analytical skills to read social and political situations with rigour and depth.

Graduates move into careers in social research, policy analysis, journalism, the civil service, political organisations, local government, campaigning and advocacy, and the voluntary sector. Goldsmiths graduates are particularly well represented in media, culture, and the creative industries, reflecting the institution's character and connections. Human resources, management consultancy, and general graduate training schemes also recruit from sociology and politics degrees for the analytical and communication skills they develop.

Postgraduate study in sociology, political science, social policy, or media studies is another direction for those who wish to deepen their expertise.