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:
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the study of society
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a social science involving the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies
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the study of our behavior as social beings, covering everything from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes
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the scientific study of social aggregations, the entities through which humans move throughout their lives'
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an overarching unification of all studies of humankind, including history, psychology, and economics"
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
Winter 2013 Sociology Course Offerings
Click here to view the Senior Thesis Guidelines
2/7/13 News: Civil Rights Leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis to be 2013 Commencement Speaker
Watch this short interview with Sociology Prof. Deidre Hill-Butler and Congressman Lewis!