Social Sciences

Social science is concerned with human behaviour, and with the ways in which it is organised in both simple and complex societies. The breadth of this agenda means that there are many different social science disciplines and subject areas, each focusing on particular areas of interest. In addition, social science research embraces many different approaches and methodologies, ranging from highly theoretical work focusing on fundamental issues concerning human existence and motivation, to applied, near to market, work dealing with immediate issues of social concern.

This diversity of subjects and methodologies is well represented at Reading. The Faculty of Social Science is home to four social science Schools, and it also helps to promote the research activities of other academic Schools and subject areas which include social science research. Research is undertaken both by individual scholars and by teams of researchers working both within and across School and disciplinary boundaries. Much of this research is externally funded, by the Research Councils, major charities, government departments, international organisations, and a range of large and small commercial firms.

To find out more about social science research at Reading within the Faculty, please follow the links below:

• Institute of Education
• School of Health and Social Care
• School of Law
• School of Politics & International Relations

Further social science research is undertaken by the following Schools:

Henley Business School

• ICMA
• Economics
• Management
• Real Estate and Planning

School of Agriculture Policy and Development

• Agricultural and Food Economics

School of Construction Management and Engineering

• Research Institute for the Built Environment

School of Human and Environmental Sciences

• Human Geography

School of Humanities

• History

School of Languages and European Studies

• Applied Linguistics

School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences

• Psychology

Training postgraduate researchers

An important part of our research activity is training future social science researchers. Postgraduate research students from most of the above Schools participate in our Graduate School for the Social Sciences, which organises generic research training and provides a range of other support for social science research students across the University.