Environment and Social Change

Environment and social change addresses one of the defining challenges of the contemporary world: how do societies respond, or fail to respond, to the environmental crises that threaten their sustainability? Climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, and pollution are not purely technical problems with technical solutions; they are deeply social problems, shaped by the distribution of power and wealth, by political institutions and their failures, by cultural values and their contestation, and by the inequalities that determine who is most vulnerable to environmental harm and who has the least say in decisions that affect them.

At Goldsmiths' College, this three-year degree brings together sociology, politics, geography, and environmental studies in an interdisciplinary approach to these questions. Goldsmiths has a distinctive tradition of critical and radical social science, and the programme reflects that character, asking not just how environmental change happens but who benefits and who suffers, whose knowledge counts in environmental decision-making, and what kinds of social and political transformation would be needed to achieve genuinely sustainable futures. You will engage with environmental sociology, political ecology, social movements and activism, urban ecology, and the politics of climate governance, drawing on both theoretical frameworks and empirical case studies from across the world.

Graduates from this kind of programme move into roles across the environmental, policy, and social change sectors. Environmental charities, advocacy organisations, and campaign groups draw graduates who want to work for social and ecological transformation. Policy and research roles in local authorities, national government, and international organisations working on climate, sustainability, and environmental justice provide further destinations.

Journalism, communications, and documentary work focused on environmental issues draw others. Community development, grassroots organising, and social enterprise focused on sustainability are pathways for graduates who want to work at the local level. Some continue to postgraduate study in environmental studies, human geography, or sociology.