What is sociology exactly?

[Anonymous]

It seems like the generalist social science degree, hard to narrow down. You don't seem to hear as much from sociologists as from political scientists, historians or economists. What is this degree?

[Anonymous]

It's the study of different groups of people.

[Anonymous]

The more specific career trajectory would be to grad school for a masters in social work and then onto being a social worker. This is a low-paying field.

Mostly, people get jobs in other fields just as with any other college degree that's unrelated to business. Occasionally, there may be type of job that asks for various humanities degrees like applied psych, anthropology, and sociology, though the sociology degree seems to be not much of an asset beyond simply a nonspecific college degree.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of sociologists doing important research at various think tanks, advocacy organizations and the government, in addition to academia, of course. While you may not think you hear much from sociologists, you probably do see many quoted if you read articles about fertility rate, parenting, the culture of work, protest movements, inequality, etc. You just don't realize it (but now you may start noticing them more!).

Sociology is also the type of degree that can be used as a springboard for a variety of other things - sales, HR, marketing, etc. Like other social sciences these days, sociology majors graduate with some knowledge of stats/data analysis, as well as critical thinking skills.

It's a good degree for a student who may not be sure what they want to do after graduation but who is interested in current affairs/broader societal issues.

[Anonymous]

I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

I don’t remember anything from any 101 level class that I’ve ever taken. I went to a t10 university too. It was all intro and boring.

[Anonymous]

Sociology is a mix of things. Occasionally, you’ll see sociologists working with economists or more technical academics. This is quantitative sociology and it often deals with big statistical questions: are black people more likely to be convicted of a crime, is there a relationship between k-12 students under the poverty line and dropping out, etc.

There’s also qualitatively sociologists- who’ve historically asked questions of culture. A famous example is WEB Dubois. Anthropology is very similar to sociology but has a lengthy history as a colonial tool; and, the more quantitative anthropologist tends to be an archeologist of some sorts depending on the program.

So, put easily, sociologists are people who study deeply about how we relate to and differ between one another and how we decide to associate ourselves economically, socially, politically, and culturally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

I don’t remember anything from any 101 level class that I’ve ever taken. I went to a t10 university too. It was all intro and boring.

I remember plenty of things from econ 101 and anthro 101, and I went to a t10 too. I must have gone to a better t10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sociology is a mix of things. Occasionally, you’ll see sociologists working with economists or more technical academics. This is quantitative sociology and it often deals with big statistical questions: are black people more likely to be convicted of a crime, is there a relationship between k-12 students under the poverty line and dropping out, etc.

There’s also qualitatively sociologists- who’ve historically asked questions of culture. A famous example is WEB Dubois. Anthropology is very similar to sociology but has a lengthy history as a colonial tool; and, the more quantitative anthropologist tends to be an archeologist of some sorts depending on the program.

So, put easily, sociologists are people who study deeply about how we relate to and differ between one another and how we decide to associate ourselves economically, socially, politically, and culturally.

Also historically* anthropologists have dealt with clean societies- remote typically indigenous communities that didn’t interact with civil society. Anthropology used to rarely deal with questions that involved America or the West specifically.

[Anonymous]

It is a very easy, useless major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

And I remember nothing from the required calculus class I took freshman year. What’s your point?

[Anonymous]

As one way to think of sociology, consider it as the relationship of particular phenomena to that of the general characteristics of human societies. As an example, a sociologist might research how health and illness are related to income disparities or cultural differences within American society. I also would consider broad political and social theory to fall within the scope of sociology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

This is a joke, right?

You “remember nothing” from an into class you took over a decade ago, so the rest of us should believe the entire field has “no substance”??? 🙄

Clearly you should have paid a more attention in college. You lack basic knowledge of both logic and persuasive writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took Sociology 101 as an elective. I remember nothing from it. No substance to it at all.

I also took it. We studied Eskimos and Amish people. Our teacher had just moved to NY from the Deep South and was struggling with massive culture shock. She was SHOCKED to find out we weren't all super religious church-goers for instance. We collectively very quickly figured out that if we tied ANY answer whether verbal or written, to Jesus, that she was pleased.

[Anonymous]

Malcom Gladwell is a sociologist if that helps.