Social Studies offers an interdisciplinary Major upholding the twin promises of modern social theory: to understand the nature of social realities and to intervene in the world to make it a better place. Our focus is to study the social by deconstructing the term into several concepts and frameworks. The intellectual and moral imperatives of studying the social are realised by offering an interwoven umbrella that accommodates multiple perspectives. Anchored in Sociology and Social Anthropology, the Social Studies Major investigates the systemic and the structural on one hand and the experiential and the everyday on the other. To navigate across the individual-collective binary, the programme is unfolded in a state-market-community triad through which we look at theories, practices, institutions and agencies. The triad captures the way social fabric weaves its constituent elements viz the political, economic, historical, technological, cultural and environmental realities. Consequently, for studying the interactions between land, communities and the environment, we derive from Human Geography and Ecological Studies; we engage with Critical Race and Ethnic Studies to explore the making and functioning of racial, ethnic, national and diasporic identities; Global Studies alerts us to the production of inequities as well as radical possibilities of globalising processes; Science and Technology Studies inquire into the nature of scientific research and technological innovation as well as their impact on society and polity; and finally, Urban Studies draws attention to the rapid urbanisation globally and the ecological as well as the social consequences.