Cultural, Social, and Political Thought (MA)

Please note this is not a Political Science program. Applicants who are looking for our MA in Political Science program, please visit our MA Political Science program page.

The Cultural, Social, and Political Thought major in the Master of Arts (MA) program is interdisciplinary within the humanities and social sciences. It is based on a cohort learning model that fosters an environment of interdisciplinary engagement and exchange, research, peer mentoring, and collaboration. The overall academic aims of the major are to emphasize a breadth and depth of social, cultural, and political thought and to install the intellectual and practical tools to work successfully with community partners and agencies to facilitate social change. Students graduating from the Cultural, Social, and Political Thought major will demonstrate a range of professional skills (e.g., peer review, public presentations, critical thinking) and research competencies. Graduates are capable of producing novel, relevant, and rigorous research that makes significant contributions to interdisciplinary knowledge.

This major is thesis-based and requires students to complete 9.0 to 18.0 credit hours of graduate semester courses and a thesis. A list of the required courses for this major is outlined below.

This program is highly theoretical and interdisciplinary in nature and intended to ground students in a body of cognate critical theories and methodologies. Across disciplinary boundaries, the Cultural, Social, and Political Thought major emphasizes the critical engagement of ideas and their manifestation in shifting cultural, social, and political contexts.

In case of discrepancies between this page and the Graduate Studies Calendar and Course Catalogue, the Graduate Studies Calendar and Course Catalogue shall prevail.

Finding a supervisor

Students are required to secure a potential supervisor prior to submitting an application for this program.

Faculty members from various departments can supervise in this area; you should contact a supervisor who shares your research interests within the framework of the CSPT major. For further information on securing a supervisor, please visit our Search Supervisors page.

Career pathways

Students in this program have the opportunity to develop mastery of:

theoretical frameworks related to cultural, social and political thought such as Feminism, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, Settler Colonialism & Postcolonialism, Critical Theory, and Culture & History;
substantive knowledge in the interdisciplinary area of cultural, social and political thought. Research topics are not constrained but may include such problems, issues, and concepts as gender, race, class, age, disability, sexuality, equality, nation, citizenship, justice, power and resistance;
relevant methodological approaches pertinent to cultural, social and political thought such as Discourse Analysis, Ethnography, and Qualitative Interviewing; and
the ability to propose, design, present, and disseminate novel and applicable research in the interdisciplinary area of cultural, social and political thought.

Additional information

Required Courses

Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5101- Research Methodology (1.5 credit hours)
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5701 - Professional Skills Seminar (1.5 credit hours)

One of (1.5 credit hours):

Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5103 - Qualitative Interviewing
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5105 - Ethnographic Methods
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5107 - Discourse Analysis

Three of (4.5 credit hours):

Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5201- Feminism, Gender, and Sovereignty
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5205 - Structuralism/ Functionalism
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5207 - Culture and History
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5301 - Queering Feminism, Gender, and Power
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5303 - Critical Theory
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5305 - Postmodernism/ Poststructuralism
Cultural, Social, and Political Thought 5307 - Settler Colonialism & Postcolonialism

Up to 9.0 additional credit hours must be chosen in consultation with the supervisor. These courses may include independent study courses or other graduate courses offered in other Faculties/Schools or Departments on campus. Course descriptions of courses offered at the University of Lethbridge are available in the course catalogue.