Program Overview

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Sociology BA

About the Program

Sociology investigates how communities are formed and maintained and how people resist social conventions and inequalities. The Sociology major at Drexel University has three components: theory, methods, and substantive coursework. It also features specialized coursework relating to social justice issues.

Sociology is the systematic study of societies. Society is the sum total of individual and group interactions and relations from small groups and families to global networks and complex social organizations. The discipline covers a wide variety of fields of inquiry. Sociologists examine structural relations and are committed to developing a critical understanding of these relationships. Thus, the Sociology major stresses theory, research methods, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. These are then applied to a wide variety of substantive areas including, but not limited to, social inequality, political power, gender, sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, family, health, cities and neighborhoods, technology and environmental change, as well as social and political movements connected with social change. The stress on critical understanding means that Sociology majors will strive not only to develop strong analytic abilities but an intellectual and ethical engagement reflected in sociologically informed thinking and action. The research and analytical skills developed in our program are sought after by a wide variety of professions.

Specialized social justice coursework is typically carried out in connection with community groups and organizations. It is a way the Sociology Program and Drexel University as a whole seek to become practically engaged with the wider community while promoting social justice.

Drexel Co-op for Sociology Majors

Sociology majors at Drexel embark on up to three, six-month periods of employment — exploring their career options, strengthening their résumés and building a professional network in the process. Students have the opportunity to earn a salary while gaining practical skills, making them competitive applicants when entering the job market.

Degree Requirements

• CIVC 101: Introduction to Civic Engagement (1.0)
• COOP 101: Career Management and Professional Development (1.0)
• ENGL 101 or 111: Composition and Rhetoric I: Inquiry and Exploratory Research (3.0)
• ENGL 102 or 112: Composition and Rhetoric II: Advanced Research and Evidence-Based Writing (3.0)
• ENGL 103 or 113: Composition and Rhetoric III: Themes and Genres (3.0)
• UNIV H101: The Drexel Experience (1.0)
• UNIV H201: Looking Forward: Academics and Careers (1.0)
• Two Consecutive Foreign Language Courses (8.0)
• College of Arts and Sciences Core Curriculum
  • Developing Quantitative Reasoning (6.0-8.0)
  • Engaging the Natural World (6.0-8.0)
  • Analyzing Cultures & Histories (6.0-8.0)
  • Understanding Society & Human Behavior (6.0-8.0)
  • Cultivating Global Competence (6.0-8.0)
  • Perspectives in Diversity (3.0-4.0)
• Sociology Core Requirements
  • SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology (3.0)
  • Required Major Capstone (4.0)
  • SOC 450: Capstone in Sociology
  • Theory Sequence (8.0)
    • SOC 355: Classical Social Theory
    • SOC 356: Contemporary Social Theory
  • Methods Sequence (8.0)
    • SOC 241: Research Design: Qualitative Methods
    • SOC 242: Research Design: Quantitative Methods
  • Required Sociology Electives (40.0)
    • Select at least 10 of the following:
      • SOC 115: Social Problems
      • SOC 207: Medicine and Society
      • SOC 210: Race, Ethnicity and Social Inequality
      • SOC 215: Sociology of Work
      • SOC 220: Wealth and Power
      • SOC 221: Sociology of the Family
      • SOC 222: Sex and Society
      • SOC 230: Gender and Society
      • SOC 235: Sociology of Health and Illness
      • SOC 238: Sociology of Health Professions
      • SOC 240: Urban Sociology
      • SOC 244: Sociology of the Environment
      • SOC 261: Sex and The City
      • SOC 268: Sociology of Sport
      • SOC 271: Sociology of Aging
      • SOC 278: Global Climate Change and Society
      • SOC 281: Gentrification and Neighborhood Change
      • SOC 313: Sociology of Global Health
      • SOC 318: Social Networks and Health
      • SOC 320: Sociology of Deviance
      • SOC 330: Development and Underdevelopment in the Global South
      • SOC 335: Sociology of Education
      • SOC 340: Globalization
      • SOC 346: Environmental Justice
      • SOC 349: Sociology of Disasters
      • SOC 370: Practicum in Applied and Community Sociology
      • SOC 405: Medicine, Technology and Science
      • SOC 406: Housing and Homelessness
      • SOC 410: Imagining Multiple Democracies
      • SOC 420: Love, Rage & Debt: The Debt Society
      • SOC 430: Politics of Life
      • SOC 444: Social Movements
      • SOC 490: Sociology Research Seminar I: Research Design
      • SOC 491: Sociology Research Seminar II: Data Acquisition and Analysis
      • SOC 492: Sociology Research Seminar III: Practicum in Sociological Research
      • SOC T380: Special Topics in Sociology
• Free Electives (63.0)
• Total Credits (180.0-191.0)

Sample Plan of Study

4 year, no co-op

• First Year
  • Fall: ENGL 101 or 111, SOC 101, UNIV H101, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Foreign Language course
  • Winter: CIVC 101, ENGL 102 or 112, Foreign Language course, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: ENGL 103 or 113, Free electives, Perspectives in Diversity
  • Summer: VACATION
• Second Year
  • Fall: SOC 241, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Sociology required electives, Analyzing Cultures & Histories
  • Winter: SOC 242, Engaging the Natural World, Free electives, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: SOC 355, Analyzing Cultures & Histories, Free electives
  • Summer: VACATION
• Third Year
  • Fall: SOC 356, UNIV H201, Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective, Cultivating Global Competence
  • Spring: Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
  • Summer: VACATION
• Fourth Year
  • Fall: Cultivating Global Competence, Free electives, Engaging the Natural World
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective (400-level)
  • Spring: SOC 450, Free electives

4 year, 1 co-op

• First Year
  • Fall: ENGL 101 or 111, SOC 101, UNIV H101, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Foreign Language course
  • Winter: CIVC 101, ENGL 102 or 112, Foreign Language course, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: COOP 101, ENGL 103 or 113, Free electives, Perspectives in Diversity
  • Summer: VACATION
• Second Year
  • Fall: SOC 241, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Sociology required electives, Analyzing Cultures & Histories
  • Winter: SOC 242, Engaging the Natural World, Free electives, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: SOC 355, Analyzing Cultures & Histories, Free electives, SOC 356
  • Summer: Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
• Third Year
  • Fall: UNIV H201, Free electives, Sociology required elective, Cultivating Global Competence
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
  • Spring: COOP EXPERIENCE
  • Summer: COOP EXPERIENCE
• Fourth Year
  • Fall: Cultivating Global Competence, Free electives, Engaging the Natural World
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective (400-level)
  • Spring: SOC 450, Free electives

5 year, 3 co-op

• First Year
  • Fall: ENGL 101 or 111, SOC 101, UNIV H101, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Foreign Language course
  • Winter: CIVC 101, ENGL 102 or 112, Foreign Language course, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: COOP 101, ENGL 103 or 113, Free electives, Perspectives in Diversity
  • Summer: VACATION
• Second Year
  • Fall: SOC 241, Developing Quantitative Reasoning, Sociology required electives, Analyzing Cultures & Histories
  • Winter: SOC 242, Engaging the Natural World, Free electives, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Spring: COOP EXPERIENCE
  • Summer: COOP EXPERIENCE
• Third Year
  • Fall: SOC 355, Analyzing Cultures & Histories, Free electives, Understanding Society & Human Behavior
  • Winter: SOC 356, Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
  • Spring: COOP EXPERIENCE
  • Summer: COOP EXPERIENCE
• Fourth Year
  • Fall: UNIV H201, Free electives, Sociology required elective, Cultivating Global Competence
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective (300-level)
  • Spring: COOP EXPERIENCE
  • Summer: COOP EXPERIENCE
• Fifth Year
  • Fall: Cultivating Global Competence, Free electives, Engaging the Natural World
  • Winter: Free electives, Sociology required elective (400-level)
  • Spring: SOC 450, Free electives

Co-op/Career Opportunities

Sociology majors at Drexel embark on up to three, six-month periods of employment — exploring their career options, strengthening their résumés and building a professional network in the process. Students have the opportunity to earn a salary while gaining practical skills, making them competitive applicants when entering the job market.

An undergraduate degree in sociology is excellent preparation for law school, medical school, or for graduate work in such fields as sociology, history, gerontology, or political science.

Outside of academics, sociologists work in a wide variety of settings. Some serve as statistical analysts for market research firms, health care agencies, and the government. Others are involved in urban planning, survey research, public relations, agency management, trend analysis, or criminal justice. There are sociologists of religion working for national church organizations, and sociologists specializing in gerontology who are engaged in research or administration for agencies concerned with the aged.

Co-op Experiences

Sociology students have held recent co-op positions at the following institutions:

• National Board of Medical Examiners
• Cradles to Crayons
• Food & Water Watch
• Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP
• The Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians
• HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society)
• SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority)
• Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts
• Pennsylvania Department of Health
• Comcast Corporation

Program Level Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, graduates will be prepared to:

• Demonstrate a basic knowledge of sociological theory
• Apply a basic knowledge of sociological research methods to sociological investigations
• Articulate a basic knowledge of substantive fields of study within sociology
• Be a critical reader of sociological research and scholarship
• Be a critical student of real world social issues and problems
• Design and carry out sociological research and data collection
• Analyze and communicate research findings

Sociology Faculty

• Jessica Cohen, PhD: Teaching Professor, Family demography
• Mary Ebeling, PhD: Professor, Science and technology studies; emerging technologies and biocapital; media and democratic cultures; radical social movements; sociology of markets; political sociology; and ethnographic methodologies
• Sarah Hosman, PhD: Assistant Teaching Professor, Urban sociology, Gentrification, Cultural sociology, Economic Sociology, Narratives of place, Ethnography
• Xiaorui Huang, PhD: Assistant Professor, Environmental Sociology; Human Drivers of Climate Change; Global Political Economy; Quantitative Methods
• Sonali Jain, PhD: Associate Teaching Professor, South Asia, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Transnationalism
• Emmanuel F. Koku, PhD: Professor, Social network analysis; qualitative/quantitative research; medical sociology; social epidemiology; social demography; sociology of development; communication and information technology; community and urban sociology
• Nada Matta, PhD: Assistant Professor, Political Economy, Social Movements, Middle East Studies, Gender Studies, Revolutions, Inequality
• Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick, PhD: Associate Professor, Sociology of Education; Educational Inequality; Social Networks; Organizational Sociology; Sociology of Disability
• Amanda McMillan Lequieu, PhD: Assistant Professor, Environmental sociology, political economy, place and space, rural-urban interface, qualitative and historical methodologies
• Brad Nabors, PhD: Assistant Teaching Professor, Cultural sociology; Sociology of religion; Social Theory
• Diane Sicotte, PhD: Professor, Environmental justice; environmental inequalities in Philadelphia; labor unions and climate change; solving the plastics proliferation crisis
• Kelly Underman, PhD: Associate Professor, Medical education, the social construction of bodies and emotions and the politics of scientific knowledge production

Emeritus Faculty

• Susan E. Bell, PhD: Professor Emerita, Sociology of health and illness; global and transnational health; reproductive health, rights, and justice; experience of illness; narrative; visual sociology
• Robert J. Brulle, PhD: Professor Emeritus, Environmental policy and politics, critical theory, marine risk, social movements, environmental sociology
• Arthur Shostak, PhD: Professor Emeritus, Futurism, race and ethnic relations, social implications of 20th century technology, urban sociology

Writing-intensive Requirements

In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid "clustering" these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.