Social and Public Policy

Social and public policy with a focus on ethics and justice asks not just how societies address social problems, but whether they are doing so fairly and what moral frameworks should guide those responses. Poverty, inequality, discrimination, health, housing, education, crime and welfare are all areas where policy choices have real consequences for real people, and the discipline equips you to analyse those choices with both empirical rigour and ethical seriousness. It is a subject for people who care about what kind of society we live in and want the analytical tools to improve it.

At the University of York, this four-year full-time programme includes a year in industry, which is built into the degree structure and gives you the opportunity to work in a policy, research or public sector organisation before returning to complete your final year. This kind of structured professional experience is increasingly valued by employers in the public and voluntary sectors, where understanding how organisations work from the inside is as important as academic knowledge. The typical entry tariff is 136 points.

You will examine social problems and the policy responses to them at national and international levels, developing skills in policy analysis, social research methods, ethical reasoning and the evaluation of evidence. The ethics and justice strand asks deeper normative questions: on what grounds do we make policy choices, whose interests are counted, and how should we weigh competing values such as freedom, equality and welfare? This combination of empirical social science and moral philosophy is unusual and genuinely valuable.

Graduates from social and public policy programmes work across the public, voluntary and private sectors in roles ranging from policy analysis and social research to community development, social work, public administration, international development and campaigning. The year in industry gives graduates a direct route into professional networks relevant to their interests. Further study at postgraduate level in social policy, public administration, ethics, or social research methods is another common route for those wishing to specialise or move into research.