The UVM Sociology Department includes preeminent sociology scholars and teachers working in the fore of their fields.

Our department is known on campus for strong teaching and a stimulating variety of courses in which we use the sociological perspective to analyze current social issues, including wealth and poverty, crime, deviance, gender, the social organization of the family, race relations, health care, and disasters. Several of our courses offer hands-on field experience with government and social service agencies.

If you are actively concerned about the world you live in and want to do something constructive and useful in it--whether in law, business, education, medicine, urban or rural planning—sociology provides our best means for understanding how "the system" works. Learn more about sociology at UVM.

A degree with multiple applications

A degree in sociology can take you anywhere. Our students go into a variety of fields because a liberal arts degree equips them to do research, write and read critically and analytically so they can be trained for any kind of work. Many public or nonprofit agencies, governmental bureaus, and community programs hire sociology majors, as do organizations that need people with skills in sociological methodology and social statistics. Learn about the B.A. in Sociology.

Here in the real world

Committed sociology majors at UVM can participate in sociological research that plays a real-life role. The department offers an advanced service learning based internship seminar, and several other courses have directly involved students in the community. A recent two-year project taught research skills and hands-on involvement while producing a report for the Vermont Department of Corrections. In 2011, when Tropical Storm Irene devastated Vermont with destructive flash floods, a Sociology of Disasters class helped clean up debris and rebuild homes. Learn about department research.

Think, Learn and Socialize

Do you ever wonder why people behave differently in crowds than in small groups?
Or how different you might be if you were born to another set of parents? If your answers are “yes,” congratulations: you’re a sociologist! The study of sociology develops skills in critical thinking, writing and research skills that provide our students with training that is important in any field. Meet some faculty, students and alumni from sociology here.