Sociology Degree?

A sociology degree is the study of people and their behaviors and how it all fits together in society. The careers fields for sociology majors is wide open with opportunities being present in anything from the Business World, where a sociology major could help predict trends and demographics for certain products and services, to law enforcement, where a sociology major could help solve crimes by helping to predict a criminal’s next move.

There’s also the field of Government, where sociology majors can be involved in urban planning, community planning and also the social services fields, where they become advocates in jobs such a child welfare, elderly advocate, youth services, and more. It’s a degree that offers a wide range of flexibility because the study of people and how they interact is something that can benefit almost every sector in the world.

If you’re wondering if this field is for you, asking yourself a few questions can help you narrow it down. Do you like people? This is a big one, as in the sociology field, you may well be dealing with people a LOT, and will need to like being around them. Also do you like to observe people? Studying human behavior is a big part of what sociology is all about, and if you like to watch people and then take it further to figure out why they do what they do, sociology is on the right track for you for a major.

The famous and important people list in Sociology is pretty expansive: One of the most notorious being Sigmund Freud. He was interested in how the mind works, and there are many theories and studies based on his work that has been around for decades.

Another famous sociologist is Jean Piaget who was truly a pioneer in child psychology. His research on how children learn and process things changed the views on education, showing educators that children learn best when they can actively explore their worlds and come up with their own feelings about what they observe.

Howard Becker and William Chambliss had similar contributions to the world of sociology when it came to labels and how they affected how people turn out. Becker felt that the labels a person received in society directly affected what they did behaviorally. Almost like a self fulfilling prophecy but by society rather than themselves doing the prophesying. Chambliss is known for the Saints and Roughnecks study, and his findings helped him ascertain just how much a label early in life can affect the outcome of one’s life later on.

These are just a few of the many, many important Sociologists who have conducted studies that we still, to this day, refer to and know about. It is a field that has a lot of importance, in that it gives a lot of insight to the people of our world and how we all fit together, or even DON’T fit together and the best ways to bring about change that can benefit us all.