We live in a world of social and political upheaval. Faced with multiple crisis – of the environment, of democracy, of war and peace, of poverty among plenty, of facing up to colonialism and structural racism – it is high time to gain better comprehension of our social and political world, and find new solutions. But just as the problems do not come neatly packaged in disciplines, the solutions won’t either.

This interdisciplinary MA allows you to draw on Essex’s strengths in social and political theory, from critical theory to ideology discourse analysis, from human rights to the sociology of migration, from intergenerational justice to environmental philosophy, from psychoanalytic approaches to theories of justice. Combining compulsory and optional modules from both the humanities and the social sciences, MA Social and Political Thought will equip you to see the world in a new way and to change it for the better.

We are involved in many exciting and interdisciplinary research projects, and have active links with other areas including Political Science, Law, Sociology, Psychoanalysis, and Art History. We are 7th in the UK for research impact in philosophy (Grade Point Average, REF2021).

Your future

Many of our philosophy graduates embark on doctoral study after finishing their MA. We offer supervision for PhDs in a range of fields including:

Continental philosophy
Critical Social Theory
History of philosophy
Applied ethics

Our graduates have also gone into careers in law, the media, local administration, HM Revenue and Customs, and top jobs in the Civil Service.