Sociology
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the scientific study of human social relationships with a focus on the causes and consequences of human group behavior. Sociologists are concerned with the divisions of society regarding culturally shared and learned beliefs and behavior patterns. Sociology involves the gathering of information about society that is used to make generalizations and predictions about causes and consequences of social behavior.
Sociology majors must complete a minimum of thirty credit hours in sociology, in addition to general education requirements in science, language and humanities. Typically, the course of study includes an introductory course followed by courses in research methods and statistics, social psychology, sociological theory, and a senior seminar which serves as our capstone course.
Students select their advanced courses from a broad range of topic offerings including juvenile delinquency, the family, medical sociology, race and ethnic relations, human sexuality, aging and religion.
Facilities/Resources
Sociology students have access to a variety of resources at Indiana University Southeast. We take great pride in the human resources we offer. In addition to the close mentoring relationship developed between the faculty and the student, a close relationship with the community is fostered. This is accomplished by internships in the social services, law enforcement and medical communities.
The microcomputing facilities available to our students are among the best in the nation. The students have at their disposal top line statistical software packages and access to an extensive library of national and international data and to one of the finest research library collections in the world.
In the spring of 2007, the sociology department added a new gender studies track for students who want to focus on gender roles and gender issues.
Recommended Preparation
Since the mainstream of sociology is quantitative, math skills are important in dealing with statistics. A healthy curiosity about the nature of human groups is essential as is a willingness to explore alternative explanations concerning these groups.
Sociology is also offered as a Minor.
