I have modified the Oxford Maths LaTeX template to work for the social sciences. Â There are a lot of bells and whistles in this file, but I have tried to provide lots of comments to make the process of getting up and running with minimal effort.
I would also recommend perusing the LaTeX resources on the Maths website for lots of LaTeX tutorials and information.
You can find my thesis template folder here:Â Oxford LaTeX thesis
If you don’t have LaTeX installed yet, head over to CTAN.
[Update 22 May 2011] As for editors, I highly recommend Textmate (for Mac)