College of Letters and Science
A316 Murphy Hall
Box 951430
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1430
Social Thought
310-267-5430
Minor Adviser
The Social Thought minor helps students to think better: to think more deeply and more critically, drawing on the intellectual resources of major thinkers from around the world. Emphasizing social and political thought from the 17th century to today, students read widely to develop an original argument about social life, culminating in a thesis project that is an original contribution to scholarship.
The minor builds on lower-division introductory exposure to the history of modern ideas as embodied in a number of key texts by significant thinkers such as Darwin, Descartes, de Beauvoir, Du Bois, Freud, Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Said, Smith, Weber, and Wollstonecraft. Building upon these foundations, students are encouraged to read widely and make connections to intellectuals who are not traditionally considered part of the canon of North Atlantic thought, especially thinkers from the Global South, indigenous communities, and historically marginalized groups.
Insisting that the best way to develop your thoughts is to write about them, the minor culminates in a two-term capstone project, a thesis of at least 5,000 words, under the direction of a UCLA faculty mentor. Students from all majors are encouraged to join the Social Thought minor. The Social Thought minor is about asking big questions about big ideas, and writing answers to those questions.
