THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2025/2026

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.
University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : DPTs :  School of Social and Political Science DPTs

Degree Programme Table: Sociology and Social Anthropology (MA Hons) (UTSCYSA)

Jump to: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4

Year 1 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: September

Compulsory courses

You must take these courses
Social Anthropology 1A: The Life Course

Must be passed

SCAN08013 20 credits
Social Anthropology 1B: Anthropology Matters

Must be passed

SCAN08012 20 credits
Sociology 1a: The Sociological Imagination

Must be passed

SCIL08016 20 credits
Sociology 1b: Individuals and Society

Must be passed

SCIL08018 20 credits

Course options

Group A

Select exactly 40 credits in this group.

Introduction to Statistics for Social Science

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Students should consider whether to take Introduction to Statistics for Social Science or another 20 credit optional course. Passing Introduction to Statistics for Social Science will exempt students from taking Doing Survey Research in year 3.
Introduction to Statistics for Social Science
SSPS08008 20 credits
AND

Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A to Q, S, T, W and Y

Select between 0 and 40 credits from Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A to Q, S, T, W and Y
AND

Challenge Courses: Engaging with complex problems through interdisciplinary collaboration

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Challenge Courses are designed to bring together students from different degree programmes to explore the complex issues facing the world today through interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking.

Working with each other and expert academics, students will gain new perspectives and develop important life skills highly valued by employers, such as teamwork, problem-solving and adaptability.
Our Changing World
BIME08006 20 credits
Sustainability and Social Responsibility (UG)
EDUA08116 20 credits
Wicked problems: Reason and Rhetoric
EDUA08126 20 credits
Sustainable Development Goals: History, Progress and Beyond 2030
EFIE08008 20 credits
Living in the Anthropocene
GESC08004 20 credits
Understanding Gender in the Contemporary World
SSPS08012 20 credits
Healthy Eating for People and Planet
VETS08016 20 credits

Year 2 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: August

Notes:
Students who are planning on spending their Junior Year Abroad must successfully progress to honours before they can proceed on their JYA.

Compulsory courses

You must take these courses
Sociology 2a: Thinking Sociologically

Must be passed

SCIL08012 20 credits
Sociology 2b: Researching Social Life

Must be passed

SCIL08013 20 credits
Ethnography: Theory and Practice

Must be passed

SCAN08005 20 credits
Social Anthropology 2: Key Concepts

Must be passed

SCAN08011 20 credits

Course options

Group A

Select exactly 40 credits in this group.

Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A to Q, S, T, W and Y

Select between 20 and 40 credits from Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A to Q, S, T, W and Y
AND

Challenge Courses: Engaging with complex problems through interdisciplinary collaboration

Select between 0 and 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Challenge Courses are designed to bring together students from different degree programmes to explore the complex issues facing the world today through interdisciplinary collaboration and creative thinking.

Working with each other and expert academics, students will gain new perspectives and develop important life skills highly valued by employers, such as teamwork, problem-solving and adaptability.
Our Changing World
BIME08006 20 credits
Sustainability and Social Responsibility (UG)
EDUA08116 20 credits
Wicked problems: Reason and Rhetoric
EDUA08126 20 credits
Sustainable Development Goals: History, Progress and Beyond 2030
EFIE08008 20 credits
Living in the Anthropocene
GESC08004 20 credits
Understanding Gender in the Contemporary World
SSPS08012 20 credits
Healthy Eating for People and Planet
VETS08016 20 credits

Year 3 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: August

Notes:
Students who have passed either Introduction to Statistics for Social Science (SSPS08008) or Doing Social Research with Statistics (SSPS08007) are not required to take Doing Survey Research (SCIL10063) and should take a Sociology Honours Option course instead. Students who have not taken Introduction to Statistics (SSPS08008) or Doing Social Research with Statistics (SSSPS08007) must take Doing Survey Research (SCIL10063) as compulsory course.

Students who are planning on spending their Junior Year Abroad must successfully progress to honours before they can proceed on their JYA.

Imagining Anthropological Research (SCAN10037) must be taken in Year 3 (even if on a year abroad) by students planning to undertake the Social Anthropology Dissertation.

Junior Year Abroad Students will be expected to find suitable equivalent courses for Doing Survey Research, Designing and Doing Social Research and Social Theory that have been approved and signed by the Sociology Exchange Co-ordinator on their Learning Agreements. In cases where students have been unable to find equivalent courses, they must take at least ONE of these in year 4.

Compulsory courses

You must take these courses
Social Theory
SCIL10018 20 credits
Designing and Doing Social Research
SCIL10062 20 credits
Doing Survey Research
SCIL10063 20 credits
Sociology Project Preparation Course
SCIL10091 0 credits

Course options

Dissertation Preparation

Select exactly 0 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Imagining Anthropological Research (SCAN10037) must be taken in Year 3 (even if on a year abroad) by students planning to undertake the Social Anthropology Dissertation.
Imagining Anthropological Research
SCAN10037 0 credits
AND

3rd Year Core Courses - Social Anthropology

Select exactly 40 credits of the following courses
Kinship: Structure and Process
SCAN10021 20 credits
Anthropological Theory
SCAN10022 20 credits
Ritual and Religion
SCAN10023 20 credits
Consumption, Exchange, Technology
SCAN10031 20 credits
AND

Group A

Select exactly 20 credits in this group.

Sociology Honours Electives

Select exactly 20 credits of the following courses
Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa
AFRI10003 20 credits
Muslims in Europe
IMES10098 20 credits
Muslim Societies in Southeast Asia
IMES10106 20 credits
International, Transnational and Globalised Dynamics of the Muslim World
IMES10108 20 credits
Unfolding Afghanistan in a Globalised Context
IMES10110 20 credits
Criminologies of Atrocity
LAWS10218 20 credits
South Asia: Culture, Politics and the Economy
SAST10001 20 credits
Sociology of the Environment and Risk
SCIL10024 20 credits
Social & Political Movements: Theory and Practice
SCIL10047 20 credits
Religion and Society
SCIL10058 20 credits
Popular Music, Technology and Society
SCIL10064 20 credits
Globalization
SCIL10067 20 credits
Migration: social origins and social consequences
SCIL10068 20 credits
Race And Ethnicity
SCIL10071 20 credits
Digital Culture
SCIL10079 20 credits
The social life of food
SCIL10081 20 credits
Sociology of Freedom
SCIL10093 20 credits
The Modern Self and Art
SCIL10094 20 credits
Media, AI and Memory
SCIL10100 20 credits
Race, Power, and Social Policy
SCPL10043 20 credits
Drug Policy and the Public Good
SHSS10011 20 credits
Contemporary Feminist Debates
SSPS10001 20 credits
Cases in Sustainable Development
SSPS10014 20 credits
The Internet and Society
STIS10001 20 credits
Energy Policy and Sustainability
STIS10008 20 credits
Controversies in Medicine, Technology and the Environment
STIS10009 20 credits
Sociology of Medicine
STIS10013 20 credits
OR

Social Anthropology Honours Electives - Level 10

Select exactly 20 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Students wishing to take Culture and Power (SCAN10030) are encouraged to do so in Year 4.
Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa
AFRI10003 20 credits
Contemporary Issues in International Development
AFRI10004 20 credits
South Asia: Culture, Politics and the Economy
SAST10001 20 credits
Kinship: Structure and Process
SCAN10021 20 credits
Anthropological Theory
SCAN10022 20 credits
Ritual and Religion
SCAN10023 20 credits
Culture and Power
SCAN10030 20 credits
Consumption, Exchange, Technology
SCAN10031 20 credits
Social Development
SCAN10044 20 credits
Anthropology of Health and Healing
SCAN10062 20 credits
Anthropology and Environment
SCAN10066 20 credits
Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction
SCAN10068 20 credits
Latin American Anthropology
SCAN10069 20 credits
Contagion
SCAN10070 20 credits
Ethnographies of the United States
SCAN10086 20 credits
Anthropology of East Asia
SCAN10087 20 credits
Anthropology and Africa
SCAN10088 20 credits
War and Peace: Anthropological Perspectives
SCAN10089 20 credits
Waste: Anthropologies of Pollution and Repair
SCAN10090 20 credits
Digital Global Development
SCAN10092 20 credits
Anthropology in Practice
SCAN10093 20 credits
Ethnography of the Supernatural
SCAN10096 20 credits
Health, Environment and Society
SCAN10101 20 credits
Collaborative Ethnography of Edinburgh
SCAN10102 20 credits
The Internet and Society
STIS10001 20 credits
Energy Policy and Sustainability
STIS10008 20 credits
Controversies in Medicine, Technology and the Environment
STIS10009 20 credits
Sociology of Medicine
STIS10013 20 credits

Year 4 Academic year: 2025/26, Starting in: August

Notes:
Students intending to take the Social Anthropology Dissertation must have taken Imagining Anthropological Research (SCAN10037) in Year 3.

There are no compulsory courses in this year of this programme.

Course options

4TH YEAR DISSERTATIONS - Sociology and Social Anthropology (MA)-Level 10

Select exactly 40 credits of the following courses
Notes:
Whether taking the Sociology Project or the Social Anthropology Dissertation, students may choose to use part of their third-year summer vacation for research.
Dissertation (MA Social Anthropology)
SCAN10036 40 credits
Sociology Project
SCIL10045 40 credits
AND

Sociology Honours Electives

Select exactly 40 credits of the following courses
Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa
AFRI10003 20 credits
Muslims in Europe
IMES10098 20 credits
Muslim Societies in Southeast Asia
IMES10106 20 credits
International, Transnational and Globalised Dynamics of the Muslim World
IMES10108 20 credits
Unfolding Afghanistan in a Globalised Context
IMES10110 20 credits
Criminologies of Atrocity
LAWS10218 20 credits
South Asia: Culture, Politics and the Economy
SAST10001 20 credits
Sociology of the Environment and Risk
SCIL10024 20 credits
Social & Political Movements: Theory and Practice
SCIL10047 20 credits
Religion and Society
SCIL10058 20 credits
Popular Music, Technology and Society
SCIL10064 20 credits
Globalization
SCIL10067 20 credits
Migration: social origins and social consequences
SCIL10068 20 credits
Race And Ethnicity
SCIL10071 20 credits
Digital Culture
SCIL10079 20 credits
The social life of food
SCIL10081 20 credits
Sociology of Freedom
SCIL10093 20 credits
The Modern Self and Art
SCIL10094 20 credits
Media, AI and Memory
SCIL10100 20 credits
Race, Power, and Social Policy
SCPL10043 20 credits
Drug Policy and the Public Good
SHSS10011 20 credits
Contemporary Feminist Debates
SSPS10001 20 credits
Cases in Sustainable Development
SSPS10014 20 credits
The Internet and Society
STIS10001 20 credits
Energy Policy and Sustainability
STIS10008 20 credits
Controversies in Medicine, Technology and the Environment
STIS10009 20 credits
Sociology of Medicine
STIS10013 20 credits
AND

Social Anthropology Honours Electives - Level 10

Select exactly 40 credits of the following courses
Advanced Issues in the Making of Contemporary Africa
AFRI10003 20 credits
Contemporary Issues in International Development
AFRI10004 20 credits
South Asia: Culture, Politics and the Economy
SAST10001 20 credits
Kinship: Structure and Process
SCAN10021 20 credits
Anthropological Theory
SCAN10022 20 credits
Ritual and Religion
SCAN10023 20 credits
Culture and Power
SCAN10030 20 credits
Consumption, Exchange, Technology
SCAN10031 20 credits
Social Development
SCAN10044 20 credits
Anthropology of Health and Healing
SCAN10062 20 credits
Anthropology and Environment
SCAN10066 20 credits
Anthropology of Sex and Reproduction
SCAN10068 20 credits
Latin American Anthropology
SCAN10069 20 credits
Contagion
SCAN10070 20 credits
Ethnographies of the United States
SCAN10086 20 credits
Anthropology of East Asia
SCAN10087 20 credits
Anthropology and Africa
SCAN10088 20 credits
War and Peace: Anthropological Perspectives
SCAN10089 20 credits
Waste: Anthropologies of Pollution and Repair
SCAN10090 20 credits
Digital Global Development
SCAN10092 20 credits
Anthropology in Practice
SCAN10093 20 credits
Ethnography of the Supernatural
SCAN10096 20 credits
Health, Environment and Society
SCAN10101 20 credits
Collaborative Ethnography of Edinburgh
SCAN10102 20 credits
The Internet and Society
STIS10001 20 credits
Energy Policy and Sustainability
STIS10008 20 credits
Controversies in Medicine, Technology and the Environment
STIS10009 20 credits
Sociology of Medicine
STIS10013 20 credits
General Disclaimer
Privacy & cookies
© Copyright 2025 The University of Edinburgh - 20 May 2025 8:33 pm