World-Leading Research
At the LSE, you’ll be taught by internationally renowned lecturers. Both our Anthropology and Law Departments were ranked the very best in the UK for the quality of its research publications in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. In Anthropology, more of our work was judged ‘world-leading’ than at any other institution.
We bring that sensibility into the classroom. Study with us, and you won’t just get a world-class grounding in anthropology and law. You’ll also get to engage with the newest, most innovative, and most controversial developments in the two disciplines.
Outstanding Teaching
We’re also top for student satisfaction. The 2015 National Student Survey saw our anthropology department ranked higher than any other in the Russell Group, with an impressive overall score of 4.7 out of 5, while our law department scored consistently highly in terms of satisfaction with teaching, assessment, and academic support.
Students praised the passion and enthusiasm with which we teach, our clarity when explaining difficult concepts, and the excellent staff to student ratio. At less than 7:1, this is the lowest in the UK, and means that you’ll get to be known and supported as a unique individual during your time with us.
Amazing Opportunities
Our degree offers you full training in anthropological research methods. You’ll do your own in-depth ethnographic study during your second year, and we even have a Summer Fieldwork Placements scheme that offers £16,000 funding for projects during the long vacation.
And the opportunities don’t end when you graduate. An LSE Anthropology and Law degree opens doors. See the ‘Careers’ tab for further details.
Your First Year
This consists of five compulsory papers.
An Introduction to Social Anthropology introduces you to a broad range of themes and debates that run through the whole course, opening up what it means to have an anthropological perspective on issues such as love, war, politics or religion.
Ethnography and Theory introduces you to the history of social theory, and the way it has been applied to, and challenged by, findings gathered via ethnographic fieldwork. The emphasis is on deciding which (combinations of) theories you find most illuminating – and why!
Public Law covers the conceptual framework of public law; central government and the executive; parliament; multi-layered government (the European Union, devolution and local government); judicial review; and civil liberties and human rights.
Property 1 (a half-unit) introduces you to the role of property concepts in legal and social thought. Particular attention is paid to the context, development and function of property forms in contemporary legal systems.
Introduction to the Legal System (a half-unit) is a foundational course which explores the basic characteristics and functioning of legal systems – handy for your future career as a lawyer!
Your Second Year
You study three compulsory units:
Political and Legal Anthropology explores life under a range of different political and legal systems, as well as investigating issues such as why people go to war with each other; what affects social movements’ success in securing change, and the legacies of colonialism on legal and political cultures.
Criminal Law examines the 'general part' of criminal law and selected areas of the special part of criminal law in the context of theories of the aims and functions of criminalisation. Topics include: justifying criminal law - what are the limits to criminalisation?; the conceptual framework of criminal liability (conduct, responsibility, capacity, defences); homicide; sexual offences; non-fatal violence against the person; and secondary participation in crime.
Law of Obligations offers an introduction to the law of contract, including formation of contracts, express and implied terms, misrepresentation, exclusion clauses, and remedies for breach of contract. Introduction to the principles of the law of restitution. It also introduces you to the law of torts: negligence and other specific torts, causation, defences, and remedies for torts.
For your fourth course you can choose a full unit’s worth any of our anthropology papers, ranging from papers on human rights and kinship, to the study of selected world regions, development, and globalisation.
Your Third Year:
You study two compulsory units:
Law and Institutions of the European Union covers both the institutional and constitutional structure of the European Union. It then looks at the central policies of the European Union, notably the single market, the area of freedom, security and justice, and EU social policy as well as those fields which have generated most conflict, most notably the euro area crisis. Finally, it considers not simply how the Union binds those living within it but how it would affect those who would leave it.
Property 2 completes your requirements for Qualification, by introducing Land Law and the Law of Trusts. The Land Law component of Property II is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of the law of real property (i.e. land). The Trusts component of the course focuses on general principles of trusts law and examines the circumstances in which trusts arise, the obligations of trustees, and the remedies available to beneficiaries when these obligations are breached.
You then take one unit’s worth of options in law – options available include anything from medical law and family law to corporate insolvency, modern criminology, and legal philosophy (jurisprudence).
Finally, you take one unit’s worth of options in anthropology. This includes the possibility of doing a dissertation and completing your own anthropological research project.
Our BA Anthropology and Law graduates have proven very employable both inside and outside the legal profession. Recent leavers have secured training contracts at world renowned law-firms, including Linklaters, Allen & Overy, and DLA Piper, whilst others have been taken on as analysts and consultants by employers ranging from PriceWaterhouse Coopers to Business Monitor International and OxAID. Others still have used the legal and social insights gained in their degree to set up their own NGOs or start their own businesses.
Many graduates also go on to further study. The joint honours programme offers a perfect foundation for research in critical legal studies, or vocationally-oriented training in fields such as policy and planning.
“I would definitely recommend anthropology at LSE to friends. The staff are enthusiastic about anthropology and their fieldwork is fascinating and inspiring. I've learnt so much and developed a love for the discipline.”
“The course aspires for a high level of excellence which is very positive. The weekly coffee mornings, etc. in the Seligman are great. I have really loved the community the Anthropology Department has. The courses covered are fantastic.”
“The particularly low student to staff ratio makes engaging with class teachers and lecturers much easier and we find it easy to contact them and have lengthy discussions outside of class. Furthermore, the focus on reading Social Anthropology through academic-level journals and books means that by the end of the degree you are thoroughly versed in the subject…
The system of having an Academic Advisor is great… My experience with these advisors has been that they are willing to invest a lot of time into your development and anxieties, as and how you need it. Finally, the selected readings are some of the most engrossing pieces of critical debate I have ever read.”
“Extremely eye-opening / perspective-changing subject matter. Close-knit department and access to professors whose work you are reading!”
The standard offer for our Anthropology and Law programme is AAB at A-Level, or 37 points in the International Baccalaureate with 6,6,6 at Higher Level.
For details of alternative qualifications, and preferred subjects, please click here
Successful applicants have a strong personal statement that demonstrates their potential to flourish on our degree programme. For our Anthropology and Law programme, we are looking for applicants who will really make the most of the opportunity to study the two disciplines alongside each other, and who can demonstrate a capacity for imaginative, original, and critical thought.
While a strong track record at GCSE and AS-Level is helpful, we recognise that such exams do not always reflect a student’s full potential and are committed to assessing each application on its individual merits.
For some suggested introductory readings, please click here
We are thrilled to announce that we have established a Departmental exchange arrangement with the University of Melbourne, offering undergraduate students reading Social Anthropology or Anthropology and Law the opportunity to spend a Year Abroad in Australia as part of their degree. This is in addition to the School-wide exchanges with Sciences-Po and the University of California, Berkeley.
The Melbourne anthropology department is widely recognised as amongst the best in the world, with particular expertise in anthropology of migration, the body and the environment. Students taking a Year Abroad at Melbourne will also be able to select from a wide range of outside options, including in subjects not available at the LSE. We're very excited about this addition to our programme.