MA Media, Gender and Social Justice

As hashtag campaigns like #HeForShe indicate, the relationship between social inclusion, access to and participation in public life, and the tools and skills required to address inequalities in our major institutions are tightly tied to media and communication. Increasingly there is a need to not only examine how media represent and contribute to social inequalities, but also actively develop practical media tools for engaging in direct action leading to social change.

On the MA in Media, Gender, and Social Justice you will gain a comprehensive view of the theories, concepts, and approaches related to the use of media and communication for addressing inequalities and engaging in social justice work. This course is unique in the UK in that it provides an interdisciplinary, critical, and practical focus in the area of media, gender and social justice.

You will study the role of media and communication technology in shaping inequalities on a global level and in a range of specific sites and organisations. You will examine the ways in which media and communication play a key role in framing, representing, and extending inequalities related to gender as well as other identity markers. You will also investigate the conceptual and practical tools media and communication research can provide for making interventions into these inequalities, through grounded case studies as well as engagement with real-world problems, groups, and questions.

This course will provide rigorous and critical study of media, gender, and questions and of social justice issues within contemporary society. In the various modules, you will engage with a variety of international institutions, contexts, locales, and issues with an intersectional approach to gender that encompasses race, ethnicity, disability, class, citizenship and migration, language, and sexuality.

On completing this course, you will have developed a solid theoretical and methodological grounding in understanding the relationship between media and social inequalities as well as the opportunities for challenging these relations. This postgraduate degree provides an excellent basis for you to progress to a wide range of media and communication roles in an array of organisations and groups in the fields of social action, justice and change. You will also have a firm grounding in social sciences writing and research skills, allowing you to progress to further higher education.