Sociology

Overview

The Sociology program of University of Pennsylvania offers our top-ranked major, three minors, comprehensive advising, extensive interdisciplinary collaboration, and significant research and independent study opportunities. Our program fosters a community that provides space for our majors and minors to grow academically and professionally, contributing to the College of Arts & Science’s goal of “providing the best liberal arts education available at any research university in the world.”

Key facts:

• We help students identify and explain patterns of social life and human behavior by emphasizing how large-scale social phenomena (such as class, race and gender inequality) affect the everyday experiences of individuals, and vice versa. While doing so, our program also introduces students to the conceptual and methodological tools of social science research, including ethnography, social statistics, and demographic methods.
• Our major prepares students for a broad array of careers in fields such as law, medicine and health care, marketing, consulting, technology, education, scholarly and applied social research, social work, demography, journalism and media, management in the public and private sectors, administration, and government.