Why Study Sociology?

Imagine being able to advise courts on gang-related crime, explore the impact of a major disaster on a community, track patterns of discrimination in housing, education or health, study how couples that live together before marriage change their behavior after they marry. Perhaps you are interested in what it means be a citizen in a global world. Or maybe you are intrigued by wine-making and its subtle relationships to geography and place. Maybe patterns of violence in different parts of the world or the complexity of environmental organizations pique your interest. How about the always shifting patterns of local politics? Sociology is the exploration of social change and its bearings on the human condition. From its vantage point, we can better understand the causes and consequences of this complex world we inhabit.

Sociology teaches students to think analytically about the societies we live in. Our students learn in a variety of settings —in the classroom, on internships, and as collaborators or research assistants with our faculty. They ask and think about contemporary questions, central to our faculty research interests and to the world around us: What is a good society? How can we reduce gender and racial inequality? Why do people commit crime? What happens when our legal systems fail and innocent people are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated? What is the relationship between democracy and international trade? How can one live authentically in a mediated world?