Sociology

Cultivate Your Sociological Imagination

We invite you to explore the world from a sociological perspective and to engage with new and thought-provoking ideas.

The study of sociology enables students to explore their familiar social environment anew from sociological perspectives and thereby broaden their minds and deepen their understanding of the “social structures” that shape the distribution of economic, political, and cultural power among social groups. The Sociology Department at Vassar offers a wide range of courses designed to nurture “sociological imagination,” critical awareness of social inequalities, and passion for social justice. Topics of our courses include the body, consumerism and capitalism, development and social change, deviance, education and schooling, food, gender/sexuality, globalization, health and illness, law/crime/prison, mass media and popular culture, public policy, race/ethnicity, social class, and urban issues. See the entire list on the Courses & Requirements page.

Sociology at Vassar is taught by a diverse group of faculty in terms of research interests and personal backgrounds. We welcome students of diverse intellectual and personal backgrounds.

News

Photo diptych with headshots of Chris Bjork and Bill Hoynes.

Christopher Bjork, Professor of Education, and William Hoynes, Professor of Sociology, Publish New Book

Christopher Bjork, Chair and Professor of Education on the Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. Chair and Coordinator of Teacher Education, and William Hoynes, Professor of Sociology on the Jane Baker Nord ’42 Chair in Media Studies, are the authors of the recently published More than Just a Game: How the Youth Sports Industry Is Changing the Way We Parent and What to Do About It, published by Central Recovery Press.

Diptych headshots of Erendira Rueda and Candice Lowe.

Candice Lowe-Swift and Erendira Rueda Received an AALAC Award for “Beyond Inclusion and Belonging”

Candice Lowe-Swift, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Erendira Rueda, Associate Professor of Sociology, received an Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges award for “Beyond Inclusion and Belonging: Telling Future Histories of Classrooms from 2050,” a multi-institution workshop animated by the question, “What more is needed, beyond current DEIB efforts, to make our colleges nurturing and supportive places to learn?”

Headshot of Catherine Tan.

Catherine Tan Publishes Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge

Catherine Tan, Assistant Professor of Sociology, is author of Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge, newly published by Columbia University Press (January 2024). Spaces on the Spectrum takes on the autistic rights and alternative biomedical movements, which approach autism either as a difference to be accepted or as a medical condition to be treated.