Our departments and programmes

People generally think that social anthropology is an extremely niche subject, but the converse is true. We explore various broad topics such as gender and sexuality, human nature, race and culture, and witchcraft. The Anthropology Department is a tight-knit community of dedicated teachers, enthusiastic seniors and fun-loving peers who bring the subject to life.

Berenice Low, BA Social Anthropology

Welcome to the Department of Anthropology. Here you can meet our students and staff virtually and find out more about the Department and our programmes. Take your time to browse through the information and follow the links to our Department webpages to really get to know us.

Visit the Department webpages

Virtual Undergraduate Open Day Anthropology — An introduction to studying anthropology at LSE

Learn from the best – the most recent REF rated us the best anthropology department in the UK for the quality of our research outputs.
Our courses offer a truly comprehensive overview of how social life is shaped by religious, political, legal, economic, kinship and gender systems.
Take optional courses with world-renowned experts in the anthropology of childhood, activism, health and welfare, migration, development and revolution.

For even more reasons why you should pick anthropology at LSE, read on here.

Anthropology is the comparative study of culture, society and human experience. The discipline examines the influence of the social and cultural worlds we live in on individual beliefs, values and practices. Students will examine the variable and universal aspects of human culture and society through the exploration of political, economic, family, and religious systems.

Students can select whether they wish to graduate with a BA or BSc title - the programme content is the same.

For detailed information regarding entry requirements, programme content, preliminary reading and accreditation please visit our BA Social Anthropology and BSc Social Anthropology programme pages.

This is a qualifying law degree that enables students to combine their interest in the legal system with the study of what it means to be human.

For detailed information regarding entry requirements, programme content, preliminary reading and accreditation please visit our BA Anthropology and Law programme page.

In addition to the School wide exchanges, students taking the BA/BSc Social Anthropology or BA Anthropology and Law programme can apply to participate in year long exchanges with the following institutions:

University of Melbourne, Australia
Fudan University, China
University of Tokyo, Japan
University of Cape Town, South Africa

The study abroad year takes place after the second year of study. Students will return to LSE after their study abroad year to complete their degree, making the total study duration four years. You can find more information about study abroad opportunities on our study abroad page and hear about the experiences of previous anthropology exchange participants here.

As a Department we are always busy. Explore our research, as well as the events and seminars we put on below.

Take a look at our interactive digital ethnography research overview and presentation summarising this.

Explore our research

Take a look at our events