Welcome to Sociology at Union!
Whether you are a student, a prospective student or other visitor, we hope this website will give you a good introduction to Union Sociology. We are a small, but growing, department whose faculty's interests are wide-ranging. Please feel free to contact us, if you have questions about us that are not answered here.
What is Sociology?
The American Sociological Association [ASA] explains our discipline this way:
"Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts. Since human behavior is shaped by social factors, the subject matter of sociology ranges from the intimate family to the hostile mob; from organized crime to religious cults; from the divisions of race, gender and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture; and from the sociology of work to the sociology of sports. In fact, few fields have such broad scope and relevance for research, theory, and application of knowledge.
Sociology provides many distinctive perspectives on the world, generating new ideas and critiquing the old. The field also offers a range of research techniques that can be applied to virtually any aspect of social life: street crime and delinquency, corporate downsizing, how people express emotions, welfare or education reform, how families differ and flourish, or problems of peace and war. Because sociology addresses the most challenging issues of our time, it is a rapidly expanding field whose potential is increasingly tapped by those who craft policies and create programs. Sociologists understand social inequality, patterns of behavior, forces for social change and resistance, and how social systems work."
Our Department's Approach
While students need a rigorous intellectual path of academic study, sociology cannot be studied solely through books and lectures. Students must also have research and internship/field experiences that will increase their first-hand awareness of what shapes the lives of people throughout the world. In our nationally and internationally comparative "hands-on" major, our students develop a wide range of skills and knowledge that enables them to:
- critically analyze ideas and theories
- put ideas and theories into quantifiable contexts
- examine many points of view concurrently
- identify social patterns and changes close to home and far away
- systematically and courageously search for answers to common problems