Social class, race, and gender are of central concern, as are institutions such as the media, the law, the family, religion, medicine, education, the military, business, nonprofit organizations, science, and the arts. Our research and teaching strengths are in three broad areas: media, culture, and society; social inequalities and social change; and immigration, transnational communities, and globalization.

Our students learn theories and research techniques that are useful for understanding social structures and solving social problems. Critical and comparative analysis and the imagination of alternative visions of society are fostered. Sociology majors graduate with highly developed research and critical thinking skills that suit them well for graduate and professional school and for careers in government, nonprofit organizations, business, the law, communications, and research.