Program Description
Do you want to create a better world? Are you fascinated by such topics as race, social class, gender, globalization, the environment, education, social work, or social change? These subjects and others that deal with social relationships, culture, and the nature of society comprise the discipline of sociology. As a broad and eclectic field of inquiry, sociology uses many different approaches, ranging from cultural and historical studies to survey research.
The sociology major at Purchase College is designed to give students maximum exposure to the breadth of the field. Optional concentrations —Globalization, Communities, Social Change; Social and Health Advocacy; and Education and Society— allow students to focus on a particular area of interest.
What can you do with a degree in sociology? Opportunities exist in both the private and public sectors in the fields of social advocacy, social work, human service, education, business, law, criminal justice, social science research, and community relations. (For more detailed information about career opportunities, visit the American Sociological Association.)
Requirements for the Major
All students majoring in sociology take the following courses, plus an additional four to five courses in the student’s chosen concentration:
Concentration 1: Sociology (general major)
At least four sociology electives, chosen from specified courses in the following three groups: Sociological Perspectives on Individual Behavior, Social Institutions, and Inequality and Change
Concentration 2: Globalization, Communities, Social Change
Concentration 3: Social and Health Advocacy
Concentration 4: Education and Society
Representative Elective Courses
Birth and Death
Communities, Ethnicities, and Exclusion
Conflict Management and Mediation
Critical Disability Studies
Cultural Activism in Latin America
Environmental Sociology
Families, Communities, Cultures
Global Social Movements
Globalization, Culture, Social Change: Latin America
International Migration Today
Introduction to Teaching
Personal Transformation and Social Change
Religion, Culture, and Society
Science, Medicine, Culture
Science, Technology, and Queer Theory
Sex, Politics, and Health
Society and Public Policy
Social Entrepreneurship
Social Organizations
Sociology of Education
Sociology of the Body and Embodiment
Surveillance, Technology, and Society
The Arts for Social Change
Urban Sociology
Representative Alumni
For more information, please visit the sociology program site.
Updated Dec. 12, 2012
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