College of the Pacific

What to do with a Sociology degree?

Rocci Jackson ’10, presenting “An Intentional Act with Unintentional Consequences: Japanese Internment in the United States” at the 36th Annual Western Sociology & Anthropology Undergraduate Research Conference at Santa Clara University.

Since sociology is such a broad field, there is really no end to what you can do with the degree.

Sociologists map out social structures, discovering the ways race, gender, power and economic worth configure society.

• We examine social processes like deviance, social mobility and community building.
• We explore alternatives and evaluate social solutions to problems like poverty, racism and crime.
• We try to figure out ways we all can more effectively and equitably interact with one another while maintaining social order or mapping social change.

Our majors enjoy challenging careers in areas as diverse as criminal justice, law, journalism, social services, urban planning, government, education and business.

Some students choose to prepare for graduate study and become professional researchers and teachers in our field.

Graduates from our program include:

• The first Latina Chief of Police in Northern California
• A disaster-response planning expert in Washington D.C.
• A social worker dealing with problems of aging populations in Los Angeles
• An advocate for the Cambodian League for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights

We are proud of them all!

Career Resource

Nationally, students who major in sociology say they do so to better understand the relationship between the individual and society, and some want to learn how to change society.

The American Sociological Association web site provides some interesting information on what to do with a sociology degree and trend data on who is earning sociology degrees.