Bachelor of Arts in Social Thought and Political Economy
Cross disciplinary boundaries in the only program of its kind in New England
The Social Thought and Political Economy (STPEC) program is an interdisciplinary undergraduate major that encourages you to engage in a critical examination of society and to develop your own capacities for critical reading, writing, and thinking.
At UMass Amherst, you’ll cross disciplinary lines — such as Afro-American Studies, Anthropology, Communication, Economics, History, Legal Studies, Sociology, and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies — to confront fundamental questions often ignored or neglected by traditional academic thought.
Your courses will cover a range of issues and perspectives, including freedom and the state, structural inequality in the economy, work and work relations, the relationship of Western to non-Western cultures, the interrelationship of racism, sexism, and class oppression, the psychodynamics of politics, and theories of social change.
The STPEC major is a hands-on field, so you’ll put theory into practice and develop your skills through internships in the community, playing a role in university and/or campus community affairs, and assuming active responsibility for the shape of your own education within the program.