Prof Paul Apostolidis

This course is available on the MSc in Inequalities and Social Science and MSc in Political Theory. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: To apply for a place on this course, please submit a short statement of no more than 200 words via LfY. Your statement should outline your reasons for applying and explain how the course will support your academic and/or career goals. If applicable, you should also demonstrate how you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide. If the course is compulsory for your programme, no written statement is required.

Priority for places on Government (GV) courses will be given first to students for whom the course is compulsory. Where applicable, priority will then be given to students on the Department of Government programmes listed in the ‘Availability’ section of the course guide, followed by students on other programmes listed in that section. Students on all other programmes will be considered next, where a course is available as an outside option. You should ensure that you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide before applying. Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed. Where a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on programme priority and the written statement.

Deadline for applications: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

The course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and priority will be given to students on the MSc in Political Theory programme.

This course engages students in the study of ‘critical theory’ in a broad and inclusive sense, with a special interest in exploring how theory can inform and be shaped by political practises. Students first will consider formative texts and ideas in twentieth-century critical theory from Gramsci and the early Frankfurt School, confronting issues such as the relation between advanced capitalism and popular thought-forms, the critique of positivism, and philosophy’s entanglement with material, cultural and political history. Next, we turn our attention to late twentieth-century and twenty-first century writings that attune critical theory to dynamics of race, gender, sexuality, and the intellectual agency of dominated groups. We take up the Birmingham School’s critical development of Gramscian theory to analyse racial power and resistance in Britain as well as Paulo Freire’s theory of popular education. We also examine more recent writings in Marxism, feminism, and critical race theory. We explore relations between capitalism and racial domination, gender power, and sexual norms, and we consider the implications for political action that arise from critically investigating these relations. The course also highlights questions of method related to the task of placing theory and practical politics in dialogue, thus inquiring how to generate grounded and engaged critical theory.

20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

There will be a 2-hour seminar each week, with a combined lecture and discussion in that time-block.

Essay in Autumn Term Week 8.

One 1,500-word formative essay will be due in AT Week 8. The essay will mainly provide preliminary examination of a question or debate in critical theory but also will include a brief proposal for a contemporary political phenomenon to analyse in the summative research essay.

Essential readings typically include the following texts:

• Gramsci, Antonio. 2001. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. Edited and translated by Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. London: Electric Book Company.
• Adorno, Theodor W. 1973. Negative Dialectics. Translated by E. B. Ashton. New York: Continuum.
• Hall, Stuart. 1988. The Hard Road to Renewal: Thatcherism and the Crisis of the Left. London: Verso.
• Freire, Paulo. 2000. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum.
• Weeks, Kathi. 2011. The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press.
• Davis, Angela. 1998. The Angela Y. Davis Reader. Edited by Joy James. Oxford: Blackwell.

Essay (100%, 4000 words) in Winter Term Week 1.

One 4,000-word essay due after the term’s completion (i.e., in January, WT Week 1, given that this is an AT course). The essay will analyse a contemporary or historical political practise, phenomenon, or movement, chosen by the student, using key concepts drawn from the course’s main readings. The summative essay will account for 100% of the course mark.