Twenty-seven hours will fulfill the requirements for a major in sociology. An advisor in the department will meet with the student each semester. The student is given considerable flexibility to choose courses closest to his or her interests. The remaining 15 hours in sociology are selected from such courses as Social Problems, Social Inequality, Marriage and the Family, Criminology, American Minority Groups, Social Psychology, Media, Self and Society, Juvenile Delinquency, Men, Women and Society, Sociology of Aging, and Health, Illness and Medicine. The student may pursue a traditional course or may pursue emphases in Law, Justice, and Society, or Social Inequality, or Health and Well-Being.
Related courses depend on the individual's career goals and interests.
Most students select a second major or minor in another social science such as economics or political science, or in one of the humanities such as religion studies. Psychology is also a frequent choice. Courses in business and computer science are useful for some careers. Sociologists seek to understand human behavior in the social context. Students of sociology are inquisitive people who want to know how and why social phenomena such as poverty and affluence, deviance and conformity, and prejudice and tolerance co-exist.