BA/BS in Sociology

Sociology at Bates investigates how groups and institutions organize everyday existence. Attention runs from small-scale encounters on the street to transnational forces that reshape whole populations. Courses ask why patterns of inequality persist and how collective action can alter them. Students gain practice in formulating research questions, gathering evidence and interpreting results with rigor. Methods range from questionnaires to interviews and archival work. Instructors also encourage students to weigh competing explanations and to situate their evidence within broader debates. The curriculum also tracks how social theories have been shaped by the eras that produced them. Majors complete a senior thesis that brings these competencies together in an original study. Graduates carry sociological skills into fields such as social research, public policy, community organizing, human resources and education.