Sociology explores how someone's background—class, gender, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality—influences their experiences and shapes their behaviours.

DISCOVERING SOCIOLOGY
Sociologists study how human societies work. We ask how your social background, your social class, gender ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and nationality affect your experiences and opportunities in life. We examine how social institutions such as the family, the education system, religion, or the legal system operate. We study specific aspects of society such as health, deviance, or rural life. We examine a wide range of topics, from something as intimate as how we make music together to phenomena a transnational migration or worldwide social protests.

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN STUDYING SOCIOLOGY IF...
• You want to use knowledge to address social inequality and make change
• You want to understand how social forces shape perceptions of ourselves and our interactions with others

CRITICAL AND TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
By studying Sociology, you learn the shared humanities and social science skills of writing clear and effective papers and reports, analyzing issues carefully using reason and facts, and reading and analyzing written texts. Sociology specifically teaches us how to analyze any number of contemporary social issues such as unemployment, crime, sexual harassment, gender in popular culture, inequality between the 1% and the 99%, and so on. You learn specific research techniques such as observation and participant, survey research, the analysis of historical documents and evidence, the use of official statistics, and the analysis of how language and images in the media and popular culture depict such important topics as how women are portrayed, how men are portrayed, or how ethnic minorities are portrayed.

Our graduates move on to careers in social work, market research, non-profit organizations, policy analysis, government, public relations, and counselling. Sociology graduates are also well prepared for work in health care, international aid, human resources, publishing, urban planning, and other fields that consider the various aspects of local, national, and international activities.