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students studying
students smiling
Engaging classroom lectures
Classroom learning
Looking up at the tower of Ira Allen chapel
Kathy Fox
Charis Jones with a overhead view of a Middle Eastern city
Working in the fields in Nepal
Katrinell Davis

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. Whether you want to change society radically, modify it, preserve it as it is, or restore it to a bygone era, you must first understand what the structure of system is, how social order is maintained, and how social change can be affected. Sociology can give you some of that knowledge and can further help you acquire the analytic tools to develop it on your own. 

Sociology majors generally leave with solid research skills, people skills, and presentation skills, which helps prepares them for many fields of work. Some of our students go on to get PhDs in sociology or related fields, many work in human service agencies, or go on to masters in social work programs or law school.

Requirements for students who enrolled at UVM in Fall 2017 or later:

  • Soc 001
  • Stat 051 (or higher)
  • Soc 100 (a 4-credit course)
  • Soc 101
  • Nine additional credits at the 100-level 
  • Nine additional credits at the 200-level
  • Three additional credits at any level 

Only three credit hours of TA (188/288) may count toward the major. At least three of the 200 level credits must come from courses 202-281 or 295-296.
Get the current major requirements worksheet (PDF).View the past major requirements worksheet (PDF).

Major requirements

Sociology major requirements UVM catalogue

Concentrations

Social Gerontology Concentration

The Department of Sociology offers an optional twelve credit concentration in Social Gerontology for Sociology Majors only, including SOC 020 and SOC 120; either SOC 220 or SOC 222; and at least one course from SOC 154, SOC 254, or SOC 255. Students interested in completing the Social Gerontology concentration are encouraged to consult their faculty advisor early in their program.

Crime and Criminal Justice Concentration 

The Concentration in Crime and Criminal Justice within the Major in Sociology requires that of the courses taken for the major 12 credits/four courses must be chosen from the list below (at least two of which must be at the 100 level or above and at least one of which must be at the 200 level.) Courses that count toward the concentration (and thus also toward the major) may also include a relevant internship (Sociology 285 or 286), a relevant variable content course (e.g., SOC 096 – Urban Inequality and Crime, “The Wire”) a relevant HCOL course (e.g., HCOL 186 – Gender, Race and Crime), or a relevant course from another department. These will be considered for approval on a case-by-case basis. Students who took courses before Spring 2017 that now count toward the concentration before the concentration was approved may have them count. Professor Eleanor Miller will be adviser to students in the concentration and can be reached at Eleanor.Miller@uvm.edu with questions.

Courses that Count toward the Concentration within the Sociology Major in Crime and Criminal Justice:

SOC 014 - Deviance and Social Control
SOC 114 - Sociology of Punishment
SOC 115 - Crime
SOC 118 - Race, Crime and Criminal Justice
SOC 214 - Delinquency
SOC 216 - Criminal Justice
SOC 217 - Corrections
SOC 258 - Sociology of Law
SOC 285 or 286 (with relevant placement)

Additional courses, and internships and research experience taken for a grade will be considered for credit as appropriate.

Beyond the classroom

"Collaboration" and "involvement" are key words in the UVM sociology department. Students in our department have a variety of opportunities to do independent research, gaining valuable opportunities to present and publish academic work. We offer an upper-level research seminar in which students design and implement their own study, a senior honors thesis in which a student works with a faculty advisor on a project chosen by the student, and readings and research courses in which a student and a faculty member explore a specific topic of mutual interest. 


Careers

  • Educator
  • Entrepreneur
  • Hospital/Higher Education Administration
  • Human Resources Representative
  • Lawyer
  • Policy Analyst
  • Social Worker
  • Sociologist
  • Youth Advocate

Where alumni work

  • Armistead, Inc.
  • Dartmouth College
  • Hunter College CUNY
  • Stanford Graduate School of Business
  • Teach for America
  • Wake Robin Corp.
  • White & Burke Real Estate Investors

Related Information

Minors

Sociology Minor

Gerontology Minor in Sociology

Law and Society Minor

Minor Requirements

Current Minor:

  • Stat 51 or higher, and Soc 001
  • Soc 100 or 101
  • Three additional Sociology credits at the 100 level or above
  • Three additional Sociology credits at the 200 level or above
  • Three additional Sociology credits at any level.

PDF iconMinor Advising Form (PDF)

For students who enrolled at UVM before Fall, 2017:
If you have already taken Soc 90:

  • Soc 001, and Soc 090
  • Nine credits at the 100-level (or above)
  • Three additional credits at any level

If you have NOT taken Soc 090:

OPTION A: Requirements OPTION B: Requirements
  • Soc 001; Soc 101
  • Plus 9 hours at 100 level
  • Plus 3 hours at any level                 
  • Soc 001; STAT 051 or higher; Soc 100
  • Plus 6 hours at the 100 level
  • Plus 3 hours at any level

 

Similar Majors

  • Anthropology
  • Psychology

Popular Courses

Related Fields

Sociology is similar to other liberal arts degrees, such as philosophy and history, insofar as the skills you acquire are "transferrable" to many fields. Our students go into a variety of fields because a liberal arts degree equips students 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. Often, sociology serves as a pre-professional background.

 

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing the major in sociology at UVM, students will be able to: View the world through a sociological lens such that

  • they are able to observe how human social/cultural structures shape personal lives and how they, in turn, individually and collectively, can alter these structures.
  • they possess a high degree of awareness of how one’s race, gender, age, social class, ethnicity, nationality, and other stamps of identity enhance or constrain one’s life chances.
  • And construct a sociological argument and communicate it effectively in written form.