BA Social Anthropology

What motivates so many people to migrate from their own societies to others? Why are some cultures so different from each other? Our course combines sociological and anthropological approaches to the study of society, exploring how humans understand their social worlds in different ways.

At Essex we investigate what connects people with each other, as well as what divides them. We consider every aspect of our daily lives, from how we relate to politicians, celebrities and friends, to how we define ourselves, our families, and others. You study topics including:

• Witchcraft, potlatch ceremonies in North America, and the aesthetics of Nomadic people
• Anthropological approaches to gender, ethnicity, race and kinship
• Sociology of migration, religion belief, and multinational corporations
• Birth, sex and death

You also receive training in sociological methods – how to design a survey, conduct an interview, and use quantitative analysis from basic statistic to big data – in order to ask the difficult questions, and can complete a supervised dissertation on a topic that inspires you.

We are 2nd in UK for research power in sociology (Times Higher Education research power measure, Research Excellence Framework 2021) and ranked 9th in the UK for Sociology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (2022).