Cultural Studies

Entry requirements

You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject.

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The MA Cultural Studies offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of contemporary culture, politics and society.

This Masters programme in Cultural Studies offers you the opportunity to engage with some of the key theorists and the significant debates in Cultural Studies, spanning from its inception in Britain in the mid-1970s to the present day.

Cultural Studies has developed a distinctive set of concepts and methodologies to help better understand social institutions and practices, objects, items, and their circulation in consumer culture. Cultural theory permits close analysis of topics including race, youth, music, fashion, and the creative economy, and embraces the history of sexuality, emotions and effects.

This course will consider current permutations on key topics such as music, sound and technology, national identity, the rise of ‘public feelings’, the cultural dynamics of precarity and austerity, art, and cultural expression for the new feminist activism.

• Explore the impact and influence Cultural Studies has on a wide range of research interests, not only in the English-speaking world but also internationally. The programme will teach you about a range of Cultural Studies methodologies that you can then apply in your own writing and research. It will also include a Critical Ethnography Afternoon where students explore the place of this kind of research in the cultural studies tradition.

• Examine the effect media technologies have on the cultural practices of production and consumption. As the course has a strong focus on new developments in sonic technology, this might include, for example, emerging local music scenes. This might also involve a focus on changes in fashion consumption, such as platform providers, and the role of influencers.

• You will have the opportunity to submit a five-minute iPhone film as part of your assessment.

• Media, Communications and Cultural Studies is a large and highly interdisciplinary department, and the themes of cultural studies run through the research interests of many academics within it. These span the fields of music, film, digital media, aesthetics, cultural industries, gender and queer studies, postcolonialism, journalism, political economy, critical race studies, and critical theory.

• Discover your own path through the fields of Cultural Studies, and apply what you have learned to your own research in the form of your dissertation on which every student receives appropriate guidance and support. Media, Communications and Cultural Studies (MCCS) is an extremely broad and open-minded department – even by Goldsmiths' standards – and we are committed to making your interests as welcome as possible.

• Immerse yourself in a postgraduate environment shared by numerous creative practice-based MA programmes, such as MA Filmmaking, MA Radio, MA Journalism, and MA Script Writing. You will also share interests and activities with students from several sister programmes, such as MA Race, Media and Social Justice, MA Post-Colonial Culture & Global Policy, and MA Cultural Industries.

• Access extra-curricular activities with field trips, and Sound System Outernational (SSO) events offering opportunities to meet up with students on other programmes, and become involved in Lewisham’s local music scene. Students interested in the fashion industry will have the chance to visit exhibitions and design studios.

• Study in one of London’s liveliest and most diverse communities. You will study in a stimulating critical and creative research-led environment, which will prepare you for employment in a range of culture-related professions.

• The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked 2nd in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 12th in the world (2nd in the UK) in the 2022 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies.

Information for international students

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees and funding

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.