Overview

Sociology is the study of group life -- its characteristics, causes, and consequences. "The sociological imagination," C. Wright Mills observed, "enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two in society. That is its task and promise."

A sociology major prepares students for fields requiring knowledge of social science and human services as well as for graduate training in the social sciences, urban planning, law, business, social work, and other professional fields. Most importantly, though, a sociology major prepares students to think critically and to act intelligently as they create their lives.

Skidmore's sociology program began in 1930. The sociology major emphasizes social issues and analyses of both small-scale social interaction and large-scale social institutions. Students elect courses in such areas as social psychology, social inequality, family, medical sociology, and criminology. The sociology major includes rigorous course work both in social theory and in research methods and statistics. Seniors carry out social scientific research projects, including data analyses, in a Senior Seminar offered each fall

Click on Program Goals for a statement of the objectives of Skidmore's sociology program.