Sociology
Academic Program in Sociology
Program Requirements
Overview
We offer coursework for both a major and minor. The department reflects the breadth and rigor of the discipline, teaching courses in the core areas of social organizations and institutions; social inequality and stratification; micro-sociology: individuals and society; and the historical and comparative study of social change.
We offer students diverse opportunities to participate in independent research, field internships, study away, and private readings. Students may apply for the Jerome Davis Research Award designed to defray research costs of field projects in the social sciences.
Our curriculum prepares students to pursue graduate study, apply sociology in such professional areas as law or urban planning, apply the coursework to public policy or social service agency work; and enhance study in other disciplines as psychology, anthropology, history, and political science.
The skills that sociology majors master support these diverse goals, including logic and analysis, research design, quantitative and qualitative methods, and cross-cultural communication.
Sociology Department Learning Goals:
Subject matter: Majors will grasp the central issues of sociological theory and method, as well as substantive knowledge of the main areas of sociology; social organizations and institutions; social inequality and stratification; micro-sociology—the individual and society; historical and comparative social change.
Competence Objective: Majors will comprehend and draw on multiple perspectives within sociology. They also will apply their sociological knowledge to everyday life and think critically about existing social institutions.
Competence Objective: Majors will be able to analyze quantitative and qualitative empirical information with the help of abstract sociological concepts.
Competence Objective: Majors will acquire the necessary research skills that enable them to link theory to empirical problems by applying appropriate methods, research techniques, and comparative analysis.
Competence Objective: Majors will be acquainted with and be able to use different theoretical and methodological perspectives in order to explain concrete social phenomena, as well as to present their research findings in a clear and objective fashion, both verbally and in writing with a command of the logic of sociological argumentation and standards of evidence.
Competence Objective: Majors will be able to present theories, critically analyze theories as well as compare and contrast various theoretical approaches.
Career Objective: Majors will be able to enter graduate programs of study in sociology as well as related social science and humanities disciplines such as anthropology, political science, and history, should they wish to do so. In addition, sociology majors will be able to enter graduate school and/or obtain employment in a number of related fields such as social work, public policy, and law.
Students who transfer from other institutions into Oberlin’s sociology program, may, with the approval of the department, apply certain courses toward the major or minor.
However, no transfer courses will substitute for required sociology methods and theory courses, which must be completed at Oberlin College. These include:
- Sociology 301 Social Research Methods
- Sociology 302 Social Research Methods Lab
- Sociology 303 Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory
The transfer of credits may be subject to the transfer of credit fee. Requests to transfer courses taken at other institutions are evaluated on an individual basis.
Refer to the course catalog for additional details.