Economic and Social History MPhil (Econ)

<strong>The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.</strong> <br/><br/>The MPhil/MSc in Economic and Social History is a taught two-year/one-year course at Oxford. It combines core training in historical methods and quantitative analysis with options in economic history, social history, and historical demography. <br/><br/>Economic and Social History is the study of economic activities, institutional change, and social organisation in the historical past. It encompasses a range of methods and topics but typically studies the past using social scientific rather than humanities-focused approaches. <br/><br/>The MPhil/MSc in Economics and History offers a wide range of options and allows you to specialise in economic and/or social history, or historical demography, although the boundaries between these areas are deliberately permeable. It is intended to introduce you to the wide variety of methods used in the study of economic and social history, as well as to the subject itself. <br/><br/>The explicitly interdisciplinary nature of the MPhil/MSc means that the History Faculty collaborates with other divisions and departments within the University. The MSc in Economic and Social History is a joint enterprise involving both the Faculty of History and the Department of Economics.<br/><br/>History research at Oxford stretches from around c. 300 to the present and embraces an exceptionally broad geographical range. It comprises an active research community of up to 800 academics and graduate students.<br/><br/>The MPhil/MSc in Economic and Social History can be taken as a free-standing degree or used as a springboard to doctoral study. If you wish to apply for the DPhil following the MSc, you will be encouraged to develop your doctoral proposal during the first few months of the course, so that you will be well placed to make doctoral applications. <br/><br/>Course structure<br/>The MPhil course comprises two core courses, four option courses, and a research project.<br/><br/>The MPhil/MSc courses comprise of two compulsory core courses, four/two option courses, and a research project. <br/><br/>The two core courses provide an opportunity to evaluate a range of different qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches; they impart a common language, and create a close and friendly community, in which ideas are shared, and strong personal ties are forged, developing a community that provides a base from which to venture out and experience the intellectual, social and cultural rewards of Oxford.<br/><br/>For the option courses, you will take advanced papers, usually taught in small classes, mostly during Hilary and/or Trinity terms. <br/><br/>You will work on an original research project on a topic of your choice, approved by your supervisor. <br/><br/>The faculty’s research is organised around historical periods, research centres, or in collaborative and individual research projects, and graduates are key participants in the wide range of seminars, workshops and conferences run by the History Faculty.<br/><br/>Further opportunities for exchange are provided by the interdisciplinary communities fostered within individual colleges, which also offer dedicated support for graduates by means of personal advisors. The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (TORCH) offers a stimulating range of interdisciplinary activities. You are also encouraged to join the Oxford History Graduate Network (OHGN), which fosters friendships, conversations and collaboration.