Social Sciences

About this programme

Questions about how we understand, organise and change society have never been more urgent. These questions surface in a range of contemporary phenomena. The many faces of inequality. Rising Islamophobia, antisemitism and resurgent nationalism. War, displacement and human trafficking. Child exploitation and care scandals. Climate Crisis and green politics. AI and fake news. But also growing anti-racist and decolonial movements, queer and trans activism, and feminist campaigns against gender inequality and sexual harassment. This course welcomes students from across the world to the heart of London to provide them with an internationally and practically oriented understanding of the ways in which core debates within the social sciences can shape our responses to pressing social, political, and policy questions. The course has a particular focus on issues of inequality and social justice, informed by the close reading of social theory and the analysis of empirical case studies and policy literatures. Join a top programme ranked 3rd in the UK for Sociology and Social Policy (The Guardian University Guide, 2026). Centrally located and well connected, Waterloo brings together students from health, science and law, just steps from the South Bank. It's also home to the world's #2 nursing school – the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery (QS 2026).