Anyone considering Sociology as a major and the career choices should remember several important things before making this decision. The first is to understand what Sociology as a field really is. The second is to know in which careers today’s Sociologists are employed. Finally, people must be aware of the kinds of skills and education that are expected for Sociologists in these career choices.
Before deciding on Sociology as a field of study, students should know its definition. According to the American Sociological Association (ASA) website, Sociologists find job in an extremely wide range of fields. Sociology investigates and deals with all types of human social behavior, from social class, gender, and race to organized crime, family units, and religious traditions. However, as the ASA website notes, there is a difference between Sociology and many other courses of study that also investigate humanity: “While the humanities and the arts also frequently examine and reflect on the social world, sociology is distinct because it is a social science. It uses theoretical frameworks and scientific methods of research to investigate the social world and test hypotheses with empirical data” (“What is Sociology?” emphasis author’s). A person interested in Sociology, therefore, is going to be interested in dealing with the scientific aspects of human social behavior versus the less subjective areas.
According to a research article by Roberta Spalter-Roth and Nicole Van Vooren, “What Are They Doing With A Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology?” on the American Sociological Association website, the largest group (25.5%) of Sociologists find themselves working in non-profit social-service organizations in counseling and other helping-profession jobs (2). The next largest group of Sociologists (15.8%) were working in administrative support and management jobs (2). This data shows that it is highly likely that people with degrees in Sociology are very likely to select a job that is relevant to the major. A list of jobs relevant to Sociology majors that people in Spalter-Roth’s paper described themselves as having included Social Science researchers, Americorps Academic Mentor, a contract Forensic Interviewer for a child advocacy center, a caseworker for abused or neglected children, a resource and case management provider for HIV+ people, an educator for victims of domestic violence, and a funding coordinator for a disaster-relief fund (7). However, many former Sociology majors are employed in fields that are not related directly to sociology; for instance, some Sociologists are working as paralegals, IT consultants, payroll managers, human resources and hiring managers, library administratiors, police officers, marketing consultants, and magazine editors (8-9). This wide range of other fields that Sociologists are involved in suggests two things. First, during the course of their studies, Sociologists discover other skills and interests that lead them to apparently unrelated careers. Second, the skills and requirements of a Sociology major are applicable in many other fields. Additionally, because many Social Science students have the goal of “bringing about change by addressing social problems,” some jobs may simply require skills of both Sociology and another profession like Information Technology, such as being an IT person in a non-profit organization.
Understanding the skills and education for a Sociologist is also important before making this career choice. According to the ASA website, “Sociological methods include systematic observation, in-depth interviews and ethnography, conversational analysis, content analysis of both written and visual documents, survey research, and statistical analysis” (“What is Sociology?”). This includes “people who have multi-cultural and global understandings, strong math and science skills, and excellent written expression” (“Career Resources”).
Making a difference in people’s lives and finding constructive ways to do it is a major attraction of Sociology, and this is a big reason why I would enjoy a career in a Sociology-oriented field. Although many of the jobs Sociologists are employed in focus solely on helping people, such as counseling or other people-services types of jobs, there are many that also incorporate skills that do not initially seem as though they could be part of Sociology. For instance, for a person such as myself who has an interest in technology but also would like to help bring positive change to people’s lives, being a person with IT skills and a Sociologist could be an advantage because in today’s world, every organization uses computers. The variety of jobs in the list of careers Sociologists are involved in is very interesting. Reading through that list of careers shows that there not only a wide variety of jobs available to Sociologists, but also that there is a great need for them as well.
It seems like Sociology would be an excellent field for anyone who is both concerned with how to help people as well as in studying and constructing effective or better ways to accomplish that goal. Looking at the list, I would be very likely to choose a job as a person who could either deal directly with people in need or in working for an organization that deals with people in need. The perusal of the careers section of the ASA website does not show a lot of articles oriented to touting the high wages of Sociologists, but it does discuss a relatively high job satisfaction rate, which is very important. Sociology, it seems, is not where people whose goal is to have a high-paying career go, but I believe that the most important part of their jobs to Sociologists is that Sociology careers are high-reward in and can make the lives of other people better.
Works Cited
American Sociological Association. Career Resources. American Sociological Association (n.d.). Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014 from <http://www.asanet.org/employment/
careers.cfm>.
American Sociological Association. What is Sociology? American Sociological Association (n.d.). Web. Accessed 25 Jan 2014 from <http://www.asanet.org/employment/
careers21st_whatissociology.cfm>.
Spalter-Roth, Roberta and Van Booren, Nicole. What Are They Doing With A Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology? American Sociological Association (Jan. 2008). Web. <http://www.asanet.org/research/BachelorsinSociology.pdf >.
