What can I do with a Sociology degree?

December 21, 2005 12:00 PM

What can I do with a degree in Sociology?

I am majoring in Sociology because I find it interesting, and I believe it is important. The problem is I don't know what I am going to specifically do with a degree in Sociology. My friends and family are down on it because they don't believe I will get a good job. Im sticking with Sociology no matter what, mostly because I think more people should understand and be able to effect change on society. What can I say to quell the doubters about jobs?

posted by pwally to society & culture (26 comments total)

Social work.

Urban planning.

United Nations.

Non-governmental organizations of all kinds.
posted by frogan at 12:02 PM on December 21, 2005

Law school?
posted by thirteenkiller at 12:03 PM on December 21, 2005

Law enforcement?
posted by jmgorman at 12:04 PM on December 21, 2005

Oh, and if you want to get all business-like and shit, there's always high-end marketing research.
posted by frogan at 12:04 PM on December 21, 2005

Would you like fries with that?

All kidding aside, most people (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) end up in jobs that have relatively little to do with their major. The idea is that working towards a degree teaches you how to think, not what to think.
posted by JMOZ at 12:09 PM on December 21, 2005

Yeah - I went and got a degree in computer engineering and now I spend all my time reading books on constructing ethnographies for doing market research.
posted by GuyZero at 12:11 PM on December 21, 2005

Try thinking about a job search more in terms of the skills you'll have learned while earning this degree. For example, Sociology involves research skills, task prioritization, some working with numbers (statistically speaking, I think), and a deep understanding of interpersonal communications, to name a few.

It might help to try applying for an internship doing something tangentially related to your Sociology study. Nothing says career advancement like interning and getting to know how to actually use those things you're learning, and networking with others who were once in your situation.
posted by salsamander at 12:14 PM on December 21, 2005

What can I say to quell the doubters about jobs?

Not much. This thread may generate a bunch of suggestions about what you could do with a sociology degree, but let's assume your family isn't stupid and they could brainstorm the same list. Their point, I would guess, is that a sociology degree is perceived as low-hanging fruit -- and like most stereotypes, that one didn't spring from thin air. They have a point: You're going to be one among thousands, and your sociology degree will be worth less than if you had chosen a different major.

The only worthwhile rebuttal is that there are two ways to choose a major: Choose something that will make you happy, or choose something that will make you rich. If you're doing the first one, so be it.
posted by cribcage at 12:15 PM on December 21, 2005

JMOZ is correct about the lack of correlation between major and career. Fewer than 25% of alumni of my own university, in a ten-years-after-graduation survey, were employed in a field related to their undergraduate major.

There's a good "What Can I Do With a Major in...?" page at the Univ. of North Carolina website; this is their list for Sociology, with the caveat that "it represents some, but certainly not all, of the careers you might consider."

Really, sociology is one of the most widely applicable/adaptable BA degrees out there. What can you do with it? Pretty much what you have the interest and ability to do, which is also what you can do with most liberal arts degrees.
posted by Kat Allison at 12:15 PM on December 21, 2005

If you think it's important, then you need to figure out why it is important because that's what you're training to do, right? A field can't be important without recognizing the applications that makes it so.
posted by kcm at 12:15 PM on December 21, 2005

I know the "its how you think not what to think" argument, and thats also why I chose something that is good to think about. So if a degree in anything leads to a job in anything I guess i'm fine with that. I would still like to know what kind of jobs strictly require degrees in sociolgy.
posted by pwally at 12:16 PM on December 21, 2005

The positive answer: ANYTHING YOU WANT!

The less positive answer: research.

I was a Sociology major, now I'm a teacher. It prepared me well for that. I consider Sociology like most other Liberal Arts degrees....history, english, poli sci, etc. What do you do with any of them?

For you specifically, I think the clues lie in your question...you think it's important. You seem to want to help people. Roll with that. You should get a job that has a positive impact on society, which could be many many things. I would simply tell people that Sociology is your major because you care about it, and any job you take would reflect the same values. Maybe you don't know what exactly it is yet, but that's okay.


Or, the next time someone asks what you are going to do with your sociology major, just say, "I'm gonna kick you in the head!"
posted by jetskiaccidents at 12:16 PM on December 21, 2005

Also I dont have dreams of making millions of dollars, or working for large corporations.
posted by pwally at 12:17 PM on December 21, 2005

Oh, and if you want to get all business-like and shit, there's always high-end marketing research.

That's what my dad does, and before that he was a college sociology professor, which he really enjoyed as well. However, he has a masters and PhD in sociology. Have you considered continuing with your education after you earn your undergrad degree?
posted by amro at 12:18 PM on December 21, 2005

I graduated with a degree in Sociology in May, and all that talk is so stupid. You can get a job doing anything you want with a degree in Sociology, just like you can get a job doing anything you want with a degree in (almost) anything. What matters more in the job search is your work experience, your GPA, and your writing skills (your cover letter, resume, etc). Don't let 'em get you down, pwally- like I said, I graduated with a sociology degree, and now I work in financial data management for a start-up, and I'm very happy/successful.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:21 PM on December 21, 2005 [1 favorite]

Arts and humanities degrees can serve as a springboard for work in a variety of fields. Above, you will see some examples of those fields and your transferable skills. However, you should work at getting relevant career experience while you are still in school. Volunteer. Do co-op or internships. Get a part-time job related to your career interests. You need to come up with your own career path. You don't want to be stuck working as a clerk or receptionist when you graduate. You want to aim for sustainable income in a sustainable, interesting career.

You may also want to consider further training or professional education. Depending on your electives, you could go on to train to be a nurse, doctor, teacher, lawyer, MBA, accountant, dentist, podiatrist, optometrist, college instructor or something else.

Consider taking a minor or extended minor that will prepare you for work in other "back up" fields. You might even consider doing two extended minors (instead of a major in sociology) or making sociology your minor. This expands your options.

I wanted to do my degree in journalism. However, I considered that journalism prepared me for narrow careers. So then I wanted to do communication (which, in many ways, is similar to sociology). But, again, I was unsure of how wide this field would be. So I majored in English. Why English? I knew I could always come back and spend one year in school and become a high school English teacher -- a decent-paying profession in Canada. I also did co-op and worked at other relevant jobs and volunteer positions. When I graduated, I had lots of relevant experience and went on to work in marketing, even though I didn't have a business degree. I was actually better at market research and planning than the business majors in my company. I was soon promoted. I went on to become a marketing manager by age 26. Then I got into an MBA program. Six years later, I'm running a consulting business and also writing freelance articles and teaching one night a week. I never would have guessed at this career path when I was 20. And, although I never became an English teacher, at least I had a bit of security if marketing didn't work out.

So, do what you love but make sure you build a future. Because most people who love what they do also love having some sense of security. It's important to define for yourself what that security means.
posted by acoutu at 12:30 PM on December 21, 2005

Oh, and I did minor in communication. I loved it. And it does tie in to the work I do now.
posted by acoutu at 12:32 PM on December 21, 2005

I have a good friend who found herself asking that same question toward the end of her senior year. She went to a little college in the midwest, and now, a year later, she has a job doing social work in New York City and absolutely loves it. So I guess there's that option (and I know it's been mentioned).
posted by dead_ at 12:48 PM on December 21, 2005

I love to tell people who are really interested in sociology that at many schools a Ph.D. in Management is really an applied sociology Ph.D. but with much higher pay at the end. Business schools love people with sociology undergrads and some of the elite schools, also love Management scholars who approach research regarding organizations from a sociological perspective.
posted by bove at 12:50 PM on December 21, 2005

The only worthwhile rebuttal is that there are two ways to choose a major: Choose something that will make you happy, or choose something that will make you rich. If you're doing the first one, so be it.

Another worthwhile rebuttal is that you might be better off, even for crass money reasons, pursuing a major that you find interesting enough to really excel at so that you have something you can show off a bit upon graduation, and will have really developed the how-to-think skills that people have been touting, etc.

I would still like to know what kind of jobs strictly require degrees in sociolgy.

Probably none, as in literally exactly zero. I would say that teaching sociology at the university level strictly requires a soc PhD, but I'd be willing to bet that you can find people teaching in soc departments with anthro, polisci, econ, or statistics PhDs, and you can almost certainly find lots of soc PhDs whose undergraduate degrees were in something else.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:31 PM on December 21, 2005

Work for the Federal, State or local Government. Woman next to me: music major. Guy across the aisle: PoliSci. Me: Mass Communications. You get the idea.
posted by fixedgear at 1:54 PM on December 21, 2005

You can get me a Big Mac and some Large Fries please.
posted by seanyboy at 12:33 AM on December 22, 2005

My advice would be to work out a list of things that you *want* to do, for each job figure out what parts of the job you currently have the skills for - this can be skills you have picked up within your sociology degree and others from other aspects of your life. Start coming up with ways to address the holes you have in your skillset for the jobs you want to go after.

In this context, *want* can mean personal vocational fulfillment, big cash or whatever, to suit you as an individual.
posted by biffa at 4:56 AM on December 22, 2005

Major in a foreign language, especially one in demand, like Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, and especially Arabic (*****!). Top most wanted from this list are Mandarin and Arabic (Ever wanted to work for The Company?). A lot of the people from countries that speak these languages can not speak English. Plus, you will (may) have a marketable skill in addition to a "well-rounded" education--(read: thinking in circles and navel-gazing). And especially then study abroad, to learn the 'real' language, as it is actually spoken. Otherwise it is not a skill, it is an interest. Academia mostly sucks, but the lifestyle rocks. Get paid to read! Awesome.

A brief note: I majored in psychology, but I wanted to become a psychotherapist from the outset. I also managed to pick up Spanish along the way (many relatives in Spain). I am now in medical school, 4th year, getting ready to start my internship, and then it's on to psychiatry residency. So I am using my degree--I know a lot more about psychology than many of my colleagues, and its a field directly related to psychology. And I'm happy about it. And I won't starve. Downsides: its a lot of work. (what isn't) I've had a LOT of help from relatives ($$$). I'm 27, and I haven't really started my career yet. I have to wake up tomorrow at 4:30 and work 12 hours tomorrow. I'm going to stop now.

I have a buddy who majored in Spanish, and got a job as a translator/localization dude at Microsoft. Starting salary was $45,000, which is how much I'll make 3 years from now as a resident. And he speaks spanish really well.

Speaking from my experience in psychology (which includes graduate work), I have to say that real-world (not academic) applications of psychology have very little to do with the intro classes. Yeah, they sound great, but currently, Real Psychology = Statistics. Lots of statistics. That said, there are lots of NGO's hiring graduates like you may be some day
posted by gilgul at 6:08 PM on December 22, 2005

gilgul thanks for the most irrelevant answer imaginable.
posted by pwally at 9:59 PM on December 24, 2005

I don't know what year of school you're in, but is it too late to consider a double major or a minor?
posted by mr.dan at 10:15 PM on February 8, 2006