Section: Prospective Students
Social Policy is concerned with attempts to promote the welfare or well-being of the population by setting and enforcing standards and by providing and financing services. We look at how welfare issues are constructed and debated in society, and at the politics and institutions of the welfare state in Scotland, Britain, Europe and other countries. The subject relates closely to aspects of everyday experience, for example to our health, education, employment and incomes, and to the roles played by the family, the market, the community and the state.
Social Policy appeals to students who are interested in contemporary social and political issues and enjoy thinking critically about the structures, institutions and problems that shape our lives. It is genuinely multi-disciplinary and draws on a variety of perspectives, e.g. sociological, political, economic, historical and legal perspectives.
Social Policy is a subject that is best studied along with another subject as part of a joint degree, so that the applied concerns of social policy are combined with the theoretical orientation of another discipline. Most students take a four year joint Honours degree, although a three-year BA (Ordinary) in Humanities and Social Sciences with Social Policy as the main subject is also available.
The joint degrees available combine Social Policy with:
Economics
Geography
Law
Modern European Languages
Politics
Social and Economic History
Social and Political Studies
Social Anthropology
Sociology
In the first two years students take three introductory courses in Social Policy (Social Policy & Society, Politics of Welfare, and European Social Policy), introductory courses in their joint subject, two School-wide courses in Social and Political Theory and Enquiry, plus ‘outside subjects’.
There is then a distinct progression to the Honours (third and fourth) years. Students then take some core courses in theory and research methodology along with a range of specialized options drawn from both subjects in their joint degree and a research project on a topic of the student’s choice with the guidance of a supervisor.
Social policy provides a good basis on which to build a career. Employers appreciate its practical problem-solving orientation. Social Policy students do well competing for jobs in central and local government, the voluntary sector, pressure groups and journalism. Many graduates go on to careers in policy-related research. A Social Policy degree is especially relevant for professional careers in housing, health management and social work.
The Social Policy Secretary
School of Social and Political Studies
The University of Edinburgh
Chrystal Macmillan Building
15A George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD
Tel: +44 (0)131 650 3923
Fax: +44 (0)131 6503945
E-mail: L.Angus@ed.ac.uk
This page was published on 10 June 2008