Literary & Cultural studies (LCS) is often overlooked as a degree, frequently labelled as ‘useless’ or ‘impractical’. Ask around and you’ll inevitably receive the same reactions: Oh, so you’re learning…English? Or “I guess you could still work in translation at a corporate”. As if the only thing a literature major can do with language is use it to serve capitalism or other industries.
Meanwhile, business, medicine and tech are automatically labelled as ‘practical’ degrees – that supposedly guarantee life-long stability and bank-breaking success.
But here’s the thing, being labelled impractical is a misconception and has nothing to do with the actual practicality of the degree. It often reflects people’s lack of knowledge on the matter and sheer ignorance. So before we dive into the future of this field, let’s take a brief pause to understand what LCS really is in the first place.
what is literary & cultural studies?
Literary & Cultural studies, abbreviated as ‘LCS’, is an interdisciplinary field that combines Literature with Cultural Studies which are generally degrees in themselves. Their combination as one degree offers a broader scope wherein the tools of both are used to break down not just literature but culture at large. “So is it just reading useless stories and memorizing complicated grammar rules?” Absolutely not. It’s analyzing global literature, film, art, and culture to name a few — mediums that both reflect their time and shape each other. Its also tracing how politics, economics, science, and art intersect across history. Studying the role narrative plays in society and how humans create meaning, while learning to create meaning ourselves. And no, it isn’t just ‘subjective’. It trains you in core skills like critical thinking, analysis, & global literacy — and more importantly, in transferable skills such as persuasive communication, adaptability and cultural awareness. Now, in order to talk about the future, first we must first talk about the past.
THE PAST
When people say ‘the arts have no scope as a career’ they’re usually imagining art as a mere decoration that barely serves a purpose. However, here’s the truth that most people conveniently seem to forget – in the earliest stages of human life, language, storytelling, music and art were not luxuries…they were literally the only reason we survived.
Long before humans made sense of medicine and science, we developed language, our most complicated yet miraculously useful tool of the time. It was used to warn each other of danger, inform about food sources, hunting knowledge and migration routes among other functions. On the other hand, cave drawings are among the earliest forms of art known and were used as a tool to record knowledge. Storytelling was used to pass down generational knowledge and music was used to coordinate, signal and bond. Many people argue that it’s science and medicine that keeps us alive – true. But that doesn’t make it superior to the arts. Scientific discoveries stand meaningless without language to record, explain and transmit them. More importantly, the human race wouldn’t have survived long enough to discover science if the arts hadn’t kept us alive first.
What once ensured survival, now shapes every system and industry we call ‘practical’ today
THE PRESENT – THE MYTH OF THE PRACTICAL DEGREE
So, what really counts as a ‘practical degree’? To put it plainly, these are degrees that train you with a single specialised skillset for one stable path. But unfortunately, in today’s job market, a BBA or a science degree won’t guarantee stability any more than a literature degree will. A one track skill set is more likely to guarantee instability than stability, especially in the age of AI. Industries collapse, automation wipes out careers overnight and job candidates are too many. The only thing that can guarantee you safety is adaptability. Because, the minute the trend becomes irrelevant…so will your degree. Every industry today runs on narrative. That lipgloss you just bought? You didn’t buy it for the chemical formula, you bought it for the story they sold you. Politics? You didn’t vote after reading policy drafts word for word. You voted for the narrative. And yes, even science – that discovery that was just made? It needed language to record, publish and legitimize it. So no, nothing ‘practical’ works without the arts. ‘Practical’ degrees are a myth. Industries are shifting constantly, we are being sold politics under the guise of stories and businesses are thriving on narrative – The future demands skills that can bend, flex and outlast mere trends and shifting industries. Guess what? That’s exactly where LCS shines.
the future
If art and language carried us through our first test of survival, they’ll carry us forward even today – yes, even in the face of AI. Sure, AI can generate text but it can’t truly understand and experience the shared human condition- which is the foundation that narrative is built on. And even if AI learns to imitate emotion, it will always remain a mimicry without lived truth – and humans instinctively know the difference. Many ask, “But won’t AI replace everything’? No, certainly not everything. Machines are only better at tasks that can be reduced to measurable and outcome based patterns. The future may be unpredictable but transferable skills ensure you can never fully be replaced. AI will never be better at being human. LCS isn’t about outrunning machines, which is clearly a losing game. It’s about developing skills that can be transferred across any industry and staying human in a world where machines exist. The rise of AI brings the humanities to the forefront, highlighting it’s essence. “But isn’t technical mastery what changes the world”? No. History has been shaped by the humanists, writers, artists of every kind and cultural pioneers just as much. Whether we accept it or not, the most powerful way to influence the human race at large isn’t through code…it’s through narrative. If there’s one thing AI can’t do… it’s be human. You know who can do that, without even trying? You can.
For the longest time, humanities & arts degrees like LCS have been filed away as mere hobbies or ‘side interests’ that you indulge in after you’ve got your ‘real’ career figured out. But if history, culture, and even the current job market have taught us anything, it’s this – both survival and progress have always been running on human connection & narrative. By appealing to the human side of humanity – not reducing an individual to a number on a sales graph. In short, the world runs on stories.
conclusion
That’s the core of what LCS trains you in. Not a single fragile skill that can be automated overnight, but the art of thinking itself. It teaches us transferable skills that have stayed relevant over centuries. We learn how to question, communicate, and interpret what it means to be human in every era. It may not be a trendy degree, but that’s because it’s a timeless one. The arts aren’t here just to aid other fields – they’re the foundation.
Let me end on this note. If LCS really was useless, you wouldn’t still be reading an article written by an LCS major. But here you are. And no, that’s not an accident. You stayed because the story kept you here. That’s LCS at work.