Religion, Politics and Society

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline, such as religious studies, theology, sociology or politics.
Relevant professional experience will also be considered/taken into consideration.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This course focuses on how religious traditions encourage, contest, facilitate, disrupt, or otherwise influence political and social change. You’ll learn about the importance of religions to phenomena such as social movements, revolutions, terrorism, global development, gender, sexuality and race discrimination, climate change, migration and diaspora.

You’ll also critically interrogate the concept of ‘religion’ in the context of different theories of politics, policy and social change, engaging with hotly debated and contested topics such secularisation and ‘post-secularism’, religious identity and representation, religion and the public sphere.

The course draws on academic expertise across the School including theological, philosophical, sociological and anthropological approaches to the topic. You’ll have the option of choosing a specialised pathway in one of two areas – ‘development’ or ‘gender’ – and also of taking the external placement module, The Civic Researcher: Engaging the Modern City.

Leeds’ Centre for Religion and Public Life is a unique centre for the engaged and critical study of contemporary religion in society, in its diverse contexts and across disciplinary boundaries. As a Leeds MA student you will be part of this research centre.

This course can be used for preparing for further research or to develop within any sector where religion is relevant (for example the voluntary, advocacy, NGO, or policy sectors); or simply to further your interest in this fascinating area.

Information for international students

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).

If you need to study for longer than 10 weeks, read more about our postgraduate pre-sessional English course.