DEGREE
Bachelor of Arts
CAREER IDEAS
Archaeologist, Clinical Sociologist, Forensic Psychologist, Human Resources Management Advisor, Marketing Analyst, Museum Curator, Nonprofit Manager, Public Relations Practitioner, Social & Community Service Manager, Social & Human Service Assistant, Social Psychologist, Social Service Volunteer, Social Worker, Sociologist, Sociology Professor, Substance Abuse Counselor, Survey Researcher
Sociologists and anthropologists study culture, social structure, and the relationships between individuals and society. The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Manhattanville College aims to develop a critical awareness of this relationship between the individual and the larger society in both a contemporary and historical context. Our department seeks to develop students’ awareness and understanding of global forces, and we encourage students to work for social justice and social change. Our sociology and anthropology courses are designed to enhance students’ personal development by examining the major social forces that influence our lives. By understanding the social roots of personal concerns and social issues, we are better able to construct a more just society.
Faculty in the department conduct research and teach in urban sociology, historical sociology, globalization, contemporary China, work and occupations, media, gender, women’s studies, political sociology, social movements, culture, environmental sociology, and animals and society, among other areas.
Our majors receive rigorous training in social theory and in social science research methods. All majors complete a senior thesis on a topic of their choosing, under the close mentorship of faculty in the department. Many of our majors have presented their research at Manhattanville College’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Fair, as well as at regional and national conferences.
Our sociology and anthropology students frequently volunteer with nonprofit agencies and other social justice organizations, and we design our courses to include experiential learning. Environmental Sociology students work in the community garden every year, and major Claudia Calascione '15 says: “It is one thing to sit in class and talk about how people are both harming and helping the environment, but it is an entirely different thing to go outdoors and actually work with nature alongside your classmates. It makes everything in class real and also helps build relationships between peers.”
The research and analytic skills students learn in our courses serve them well in a wide variety of careers after graduation. Recent alumni from the department have gone on to work in nonprofit agencies, as teachers, and as social workers, and many of them have gone to graduate school for sociology, anthropology, education, and social work.