Social and Cultural Anthropology

Overview

You’ll explore all these issues and more if you follow the Master's programme in Social and Cultural Anthropology at VU Amsterdam.

During this one-year Social and Cultural Anthropology MSc programme offered at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you’ll learn and apply anthropological theories to issues such as social inequality and cultural diversity. You’ll then immediately put that into practice during a three-month fieldwork research project.

Career prospects

The skills you’ll learn are applicable in a wide range of sectors and roles and there is not one specific "career" that anthropologists may pursue.

These skills include data processing and analysis, communication, ability to see the bigger picture, interpersonal interaction, ethnographic writing, problem solving, teamwork, empathy, time management, ability to construct an argument, critical thinking, and independent research/fieldwork.

The demand for anthropologists is increasing at large organisations: whether commercial, governmental or NGOs. They are seeking professional problem solvers to help them with their organisational challenges. Businesses are microcosms of society, each with its own culture and way of engaging with the outside world. Large companies hire anthropologists to observe their social environment, and determine how to make it function better.