Sociology Department
How is social life possible? What do patterns of social life tell us about the world? What is the relationship of the individual to the social order?
In the Sociology Department, you’ll learn to recognize individual issues as the issues of the larger society, exercising what sociologist C. Wright Mills calls “sociological imagination.” In that way, sociology is deeply personal. We seek to understand society, but in doing so we learn much about ourselves.
Sociology addresses the most pressing social issues in contemporary society: racial and ethnic tensions, gender inequality, poverty, health and illness, social movements, crime and deviance, educational inequality, immigration, and problems in urban environments, just to name a few.
Our devoted faculty will provide you with a theoretical framework with which to help make sense of an increasingly complex world and the place of the individual within that world. We will equip you with the tools to investigate the social world we live in, prepping you for future careers in teaching, social work, criminal justice, journalism, and beyond.
Academic Programs
New Nonprofit and NGO Studies Minor
Make an Impact
Learn how nonprofits and NGOs work.
Build skills in leadership and outreach.
Advocate for justice, sustainability and equity.
Open to All Students!
"SOC 329: Global Change Makers" is the anchor course for the Minor. Enroll for Spring 2026.
Nicole Brown celebrates female activists
Sociology Professor Nicole Brown looks back at her own experiences growing up in Chicago in her book We Are Each Other's Business. She celebrates the accomplishments of Black women activists especially those behind the Chicago Welfare Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Hollywood Goes to High School
Professor Robert Bulman connects pop culture with sociology theory by showing the differences in how low-income and middle-class high school students are depicted in Hollywood films,
School Information and Department Information
Contact Us:
Lori Erokan, Administrative Assistant
le6@stmarys-ca.edu
925-631-4048