MA Sociology/Theology & Religious Studies

About this course

Sociology and theology and religious studies is a pairing that illuminates some of the most enduring and pressing questions about how human societies are organised and what people believe. Sociology examines how social structures, institutions, inequalities, and cultural norms shape the conditions in which people live, using empirical research and theoretical analysis to understand patterns of power and social change. Theology and religious studies engages with the beliefs, practices, texts, and institutions of the world's religious traditions, examining them historically, philosophically, and comparatively. Together, these disciplines ask how religion and society interact: how religious belief shapes social behaviour, how societies regulate and respond to religious diversity, and how both religion and social life are changing in the contemporary world. At the University of Glasgow, you will study both disciplines together as a part-time joint programme, developing skills in sociological analysis and religious studies alongside the broader critical and research skills that both fields require. The theology and religious studies strand engages with religion not as a world apart but as it relates to politics, history, literature, philosophy, art, and culture, as well as to personal belief and practice. The sociology strand develops your capacity for empirical and theoretical analysis of social life. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution in a different country. Graduates from this combination go on to work in a wide range of roles where understanding social dynamics and religious or cultural diversity is valuable. Social research, community development, education, charity and NGO work, journalism, public policy, and work with faith communities are all common paths. The analytical and communication skills developed across both disciplines are broadly transferable, and the combination is particularly relevant to roles concerned with social cohesion, interfaith dialogue, and community relations.

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