Overview
Introduction
The MSc Culture and Society examines how cultural trends and practices shape and are shaped by society.
Drawing on leading-edge cultural theory and innovative methodologies, you’ll have the freedom to study and research any social processes that fall within our broad understanding of culture. You can delve into topics such as identity and globalisation, gender and sexuality, nature and more-than-human world, or disability and embodiment.
The programme is distinctive for its interdisciplinary and international approach. You’ll be encouraged to think and research globally and draw on our expertise in sociology, anthropology, material culture, media studies and many other disciplines.
The curriculum includes a blend of core and optional courses, allowing you to tailor your studies to suit your interests. You’ll also develop your qualitative research skills,enhancing your professional skills further.
Our students come from diverse backgrounds, including anthropology, history, cultural and media studies, international relations, the arts, design and the humanities. We also welcome numerous mature students with established careers, particularly in the media and cultural industries. Whatever your background, this degree helps you build a strong foundation in sociological approaches to cultural research.
When you graduate, you’ll be well-prepared for a career in academia, the creative industries, research organisations, or policymaking.
Preliminary readings
- Ahmed, S. 2004. "Affective economies", Social text, 22: 117-139.
- Ahmed, S. (2006) Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Anzaldúa, G. (1987) Borderlands: The New Mestiza / La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Book Company
- Appadurai, A. (1990) Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. Theory, Culture and Society, Vol 7, 295-310
- Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. London: Routledge.
- Featherstone, M. (1990) Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. Sage, London.
- Hall, S. (1992) New Ethnicities in Donald, J and Rattansi, A (eds.) (1992) “Race”, Culture, Difference, London: Routledge.
- Haraway, D. (2003) The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
- Haraway, D. (2016) Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Durham: Duke University Press.
Hennion, A. (2001) Music Lovers: Taste as Performance. Theory, Culture and Society, 18(5): 1-22 - Jameson, F. (1984) Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism. New Left Review 146, 53–92.
- Kafer, A. (2013) Feminist, Queer, Crip. Bloomington: Indiana UP
- Latour, B. (2004) Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern. Critical Inquiry 30 (Winter 2004), 225–248.
- McRuer, R. (2006) Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. New York: New York University Press.