Undergraduate

When you take courses in Dartmouth's Sociology Department, you'll be introduced to a unique way of asking questions, examining problems, and viewing the world. Sociology is really about learning analytical thinking in the best tradition of the liberal arts.

Professor Kathryn Lively talks with students.

Curriculum and Perspective

Our curriculum focuses on current and important social problems and the theoretical and methodological tools needed to understand them. The world is constantly confronted with public policy issues that are essentially social in character. Sociological analyses provide a coherent, yet diverse framework for examining these issues and understanding the many perspectives involved in attempting to solve social problems.

We also provide students with a unique perspective to understand their day-to-day lives. Sociological questions concern not only interpersonal interaction and conflict, but also the behaviors of groups, organizations, institutions, industries, social movements, and nation states.

We have a standard major, three sociology minors and modified majors. Modifications can have Sociology be the primary or the secondary component. The modified majors are designed to fit the needs of students who have an interest in sociology and wish to study some specific problem or topic that resides at the nexus of sociology and a related field but are also interested in another discipline.

Educational Aims and Learning Outcomes

Students will gain an understanding of core sociological theories and how they apply to a wide range of real-world issues.
Students will acquire the methodological tools to design and conduct sociological research.
By the conclusion of the major, and as part of their culminating experience, students will interpret sociological theory and synthesize existing sociological research on a specific topic, conduct a novel observation or analysis of that topic, demonstrate how their observation/analysis adds value to pre-existing sociological knowledge, and communicate their conclusions to a wide audience.