Sociology Overview
Sociology examines how individuals, groups and institutions affect each other in a variety of social settings, from the most intimate setting to a global international setting. Societal inequities due to age, social class, disability, ethnicity, gender, race and sexual orientation are central issues in the discipline.
The discipline provides the student with the tools to evaluate theories and research about group behaviors and activities as well as how people behave in groups. The discipline also applies research findings to the development and assessment of social programs and policies.
The Department offers a special program that prepares students for social work licensing. The Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing has approved the curriculum for the Wisconsin Social Work Training Certificate. An extensive internship of 400 hours is required. This program can be taken by both sociology and psychology majors.
Undergraduates in sociology can also enter a variety of fields such as community service programs, health care, human resources, electronic media, leisure management, marketing and survey research, policing, public administration and urban planning.