Social and Political Thought (2013 entry)

MA, 1 year full time/2 years part time

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Subject overview

Research in social and political thought is interdisciplinary, bridging the conventional divides between social theory, political philosophy, and the history of social and political thought; and between empirical and normative analysis.

The particular research strengths of the Centre for Social and Political Thought are in the following areas:

  • social theory, especially Marxism, Hegel, hermeneutics and critical theory
  • recent democratic, socialist and environmentalist thought and practice
  • history of political, social and economic thought
  • philosophy of social science and the sociology of knowledge
  • contemporary political philosophy
  • cosmopolitanism.

Academic activities

Centre for Social and Political Thought

The Centre is the organisational base for research associated with social and political thought. A major dimension of the Centre’s research is critical social theory. ‘Europeanness’ is an important part of its identity, as it is for the University of Sussex. The Centre is also the home of the European Journal of Social Theory. Currently one Marie Curie Post-Doctoral fellowship is based in the Centre.

At the heart of the Centre’s intellectual activity is the postgraduate/faculty research seminar in social and political thought, at which internal and visiting speakers present papers. All MA and research students are welcome.

There is also a work-in-progress seminar run by research students, at which they present papers for discussion. We have other occasional seminar series and Studies in Social and Political Thought, our own in-house journal, is published by a group of students and faculty. It offers an ideal opportunity for our students to publish their work.

The Centre brings together research students and faculty at Sussex who are interested in the interactions between the explanatory, normative and ideological dimensions of social and political thought. The Centre has sponsored conferences on The Future of Critical Social Theory, Social Democracy: Current Ideological Directions, Environmentalism and Critical Realism, Reconstructing Human Rights, and Europe since 1989. Members have also organised conferences on The Good Life, The Direction of Contemporary Capitalism, Hegel: History and Politics, and The Life and Work of Edward Said,
as well as graduate conferences every year since 2002.

The Centre has special links with the Social Theory Centre at the University of Warwick, with whom it organised a major series of seminars on Social Theory and Major Social Transformations and with whom it jointly publishes the journal Papers in Social Theory. Faculty have links with a variety of scholars in Europe and North America and often invite colleagues to give papers at Sussex.

Programme outline

The strength of this MA derives from it being a genuinely interdisciplinary course that bridges the conventional divides between social theory, political theory and philosophy, the history of social and political thought, and the study of political and social movements.

The degree brings together philosophers, sociologists, historians and political scientists who have an interest in the interactions between the explanatory, normative and ideological dimensions of social and political thought.

The MA aims to cover both historical traditions and contemporary developments. Our objective is to provide you with a specialised knowledge of selected areas in contemporary thought and a broad basis in the major European historical tradition.

We continue to develop and update our modules for 2013 entry to ensure you have the best student experience. In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.

Autumn term: Text and Critique in Social and Political Thought • Theorising the Social. 

Spring term: you choose two options from the following: Hegel and Marx • International Relations in World History • Modernity and International Relations • Modern Republicanism and Commercial Society • Political and Legal Philosophy • The Ethics and Politics of Globalisation • The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory • The Idea of Europe • War, Terror, Violence. 

Summer term: you undertake supervised work on the MA dissertation. There are regular work-in-progress seminars. 

Assessment 

The largest assessed element in the MA is the 20,000-word dissertation. In addition, the core modules and options are assessed by 5,000-word term papers. 

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Democracy and Human Rights

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

In contemporary political philosophy rights are often described as the necessary foundation of democratic government. The democratic polity could not function, it is thought, without the establishment of and adherence to particular rights. Having respect for human rights enshrined in law is often said to ensure liberal governance. Equally, the democratic values of individual equality and of trust and compromise help to foster a political culture respectful of rights. This module scrutinises the presumed fit between rights and democracy, by looking at the origins of modern ideas about rights and about democracy, from Aristotle's defence of the natural slave and scholastic ideas about rights to the seventeenth-century attempt to create a minimalist natural law and beyond. During the enlightenment era, and especially in France and in Scotland, authors put forward modules for reform, intended in part to curb the perceived excesses of commercial society, and at the same time to protect certain civil liberties. In the eyes of some reformers, such as the physiocrats, the assertion of rights was the key to French revival in economic and political arenas, but this was premised on the avoidance of democracy. For the physiocrats, as for so many early modern authors, there was no necessary connection between democracy and rights, and the main goal of politics was to avoid the kinds of violence and irrationality associated with mob rule, and with the active role of the people as political agents. The module commences with study of the first attempts to establish political systems based upon rights, and the very different contemporary criticisms and justifications of democracy. While democracy was often seen to be a source of internal division, a dangerous motor of extremism and unnecessary innovation, and a cause of international instability because of the usual support of the people for external wars, democracy could equally be described as a form of government both just and wise, sustaining a polity whose patriotic populace were devoted to the public good. The module goes on to study authors who saw democracy and rights as mutually sustaining, from Condorcet and Thomas Paine onwards, and how such authors addressed the issues of necessity in politics, and strove to secure national unity, commercial success and national defence. The module ends by studying current presumed connections between universal human rights and democratic governance.ce.

The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module explores the origins, development and impact of the ideas of some of the major theorists of the Frankfurt School. The module begins by looking both at the early ideas of the Frankfurt School in 1930's that were influenced by Marx, and then proceeds to address the various ways in which the Frankfurt School theorists attempt to integrate various other aspects of thought in response to historical developments.

We will focus on texts by Benjamin, Habermas, Horkheimer, Kircheimer, Marcuse, Neumann and Adorno, but also look at the theorists that most influenced them such as Hegel, Marx and Lukcs. We will also look at certain key themes in Frankfurt School criticism such as, 'dialectic', 'negative dialectics', 'determinate negation', 'critique', 'immanent critique', 'positivism', 'instrumental reason' and 'Enlightenment'

Hegel and Marx

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The first half of this course examines Hegel's social and political philosophy, and its place in his overall account of human consciousness, historical change, and the Absolute. You will consider notions such as recognition, spirit, freedom and ethical life in Hegel and their political implications. The second half of the course examines Marx as an ethical and political thinker. You will look at a range of his works, beginning with his earliest, investigating his ideas of freedom, species-being, alienation, class, ideology, fetishism and capital, and asking on what basis he advocates and expects the replacement of capitalism by communism.

Law and Social Theory

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module introduces you to a series of readings that explore the relationship between law and social theory. The objective is to reflect on how law can be understood as a social phenomenon, whose nature and functions are intimately connected to different stages of social, economic and political development. Beginning with a consideration of classical social theory (Marx, Durkheim, and Weber) and its analysis of the relationship between law and modern society, the module proceeds to analyse more recent works of social theory and to reflect on how these might help us to understand the contemporary workings and roles of law and legal institutions. Among the themes to be explored will be law and disciplinary society, and neoliberalism and the welfare state.

Law, Security and the Global Public Good

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module looks at the often problematic relationship between 'security' and the global 'public good' within international law. In the module we examine the historical development of international law in relation to colonialism and globalisation and go on to consider the possibilities and limitations of new modes of global governance. We will look at how international law has ordered and shaped global space in relation to property, economic organisation and the use of force and we will investigate the various legal, moral and political arguments that lie behind these changes. The module combines international law scholarship, critical theory and case studies to assess the global significance of the idea of 'security' today.

Political and Legal Philosophy

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module addresses some of the major issues in contemporary political philosophy and philosophy of law, both national and international. Topics covered may include: the nature and justification of the state and of political ideals such as democracy, justice, freedom, equality and legality; natural law and positivist theories of law; rights and natural rights; political legitimacy and political obligation; arguments for and against private property and the market economy; perfectionism, neutrality, communitarianism and multiculturalism in political philosophy; Marxist, feminist, postmodern and postcolonial approaches to political philosophy; the nature and ground of international law; the ideas of global justice and cosmopolitanism; and the justification of war. The main focus is contemporary writers such as Hart, Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin, Walzer and MacKinnon, but texts from the history of political and legal thought may also be used.

Text and Critique in Social and Political Thought

30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

The module explores the key texts of social and political thought and responses to them by contemporaries and subsequent critics. The module is organised around a reading of key sections from texts such as Hegel's Philosophy of Right and Marx's critique of Hegel.

Theorizing the Social

30 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module introduces you to the major contemporary approaches to theorising social and political reality and examines how they articulate explanatory and normative concerns. The topics covered concern some of the major contemporary debates on the idea of the social in social and political thought. Consideration is also given to how some of the classical conceptions of the social are challenged by recent developments.

War, Terror, Violence and International Law

30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

You will focus upon the contemporary problems of war and terrorism within a historical, political and global context. Drawing upon approaches from international law, political and critical theory and international relations, the module examines law's various attempts to define what constitutes 'legitimate violence'. In this respect we will look at some of the dominant legal, moral and political arguments behind the justification and condemnation of acts of war, terror and public violence. We will look at the law's criminalisation of non-state violence, the use of new theological arguments to justify 'humanitarian wars', the relationship between violence and international security and the ethics of violence.

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Entry requirements

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree in a humanities or social sciences subject.

Overseas entrance requirements

Please refer to column A on the Overseas qualifications.

If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas qualifications table, contact the University.
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.

For more information, refer to English language requirements.

For more information about the admissions process at Sussex

For pre-application enquiries:

Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

For post-application enquiries:

Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk 

Related programme

Fees and funding

Fees

Home UK/EU students: £5,5001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £5,5002
Overseas students: £13,0003

1 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.

To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.

Funding

The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.

To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.

Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2013)

Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013

The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.

Sussex Graduate Scholarship (2013)

Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 16 August 2013

Open to final year Sussex students who graduate with a 1st or 2:1 degree and who are offered a F/T place on an eligible Masters course in 2013.

Faculty interests

Research interests are briefly described below.  For more detailed information, visit the Centre for Social and Political Thought website. 

The main research areas of our faculty include: 

  • Marx, Hegel, normative foundations of social criticism, recognition theory 
  • intellectual history, philosophy of history, historiography 
  • Italian political theory and history, history of the left 
  • German social theory, critical social theory 
  • Habermas, Adorno, discourse ethics, moral theory 
  • poststructuralism 
  • philosophy of social science 
  • civil society and contemporary politics 
  • cosmopolitan theory, globalisation 
  • cultural and historical sociology of modernity 
  • the European cultural and political heritage. 

Dr Andrew Chitty Political and legal philosophy, Hegel, German Idealism, Marx. 

Professor Gerard Delanty Social and political theory, philosophy of social science, identity. 

Dr Gordon Finlayson German Idealism, 20th-century German philosophy, the Frankfurt School, Adorno, Horkheimer, Habermas. 

Professor Robert Iliffe The history of science and the Newton Project (www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk). 

Dr Tarik Kochi International security; war, terror and violence; legal and political theory. 

Dr Darrow Schecter Gramsci, industrial democracy, theories of socialism, civil society. 

Dr Kenneth Veitch Critical and theoretical approaches to medical law, and health. 

Professor Richard Whatmore 18th- and 19th-century French and British intellectual history, British radicalism in the 1790s. 

Careers and profiles

Many of our graduates have gone on to have successful careers in law, the media, non-governmental organisations, government and administration, and to further research and teaching. It is the interdisciplinarity of this course that makes it such a good springboard to employment in a range of different areas. Over the last 30 years, a substantial number of leading academics in the UK and elsewhere have graduated from the degree. Among our alumni we count professors of sociology, philosophy and politics, currently working at the Universities of Warwick, Kingston and Cardiff, and at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as at other universities beyond the UK.

Rebecca's student perspective

Rebecca Robbins

‘The prestigious MA in Social and Political Thought has a worldwide reputation as a leading programme in contemporary social and political theory. It offers a wide range of challenging and relevant courses, marrying historical academic traditions with progressive and current social issues, and inspired me to engage in a demanding, but thoroughly enjoyable, analysis of contemporary society.

‘One of the main draws of the MA is the wide variety of different courses on offer and the freedom to choose courses from other postgraduate programmes. This allowed me to tailor my MA to meet my personal interests. With my career path in mind, I took a course in international law. Throughout the programme I was able to gain in confidence, awareness and understanding of the major issues of law, knowing this would lay the necessary foundations for future success in the field.

‘Since completing my MA, I’ve begun my legal training at the College of Law and, on completion, plan to begin my practical training for a firm specialising in Environmental Law. I am also about to embark on a programme of pro bono legal work for Liberty, an organisation that campaigns to protect civil liberties and human rights in England and Wales. The skills I gained from my MA are invaluable in my chosen career, which requires clear thought, skilled analysis and a confident and direct approach to both theoretical and practical problems.’

Rebecca Robbins
Social and political thought graduate

For more information, visit Careers and alumni.

School and contacts

School of History, Art History and Philosophy

The School of History, Art History and Philosophy brings together staff and students from some of the University's most vibrant and successful departments, each of which is a locus of world-leading research and outstanding teaching. Our outlook places a premium on intellectual flexibility and the power of the imagination.

Dr Gordon Finlayson, Arts A029,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9QN, UK
T +44 (0)1273 876629
E j.g.finlayson@sussex.ac.uk
Centre for Social and Political Thought

Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions

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Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.

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