Sociology

Why choose sociology?

Sociology is about understanding and interpreting society and the people within it. Sociologists are concerned with the ways we organise our lives and institutions and the consequences of such activity. Central to the work of sociology are themes related to inequality, power, culture and identity and an investigation of how these are changing in contemporary life. The social world is explored with the help of theories about the structure of social life and a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.

Staff are highly trained in research methods and we have an excellent reputation for large-scale, longitudinal survey research, ethnomethodological studies of conversation analysis and qualitative research techniques. We are also affiliated with the University’s Institute of Social Science Research, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security (CEPS), the Australian Social Science Data Archives (ASSDA), the Australian Qualitative Data Archive (AQuA) and the Australian Research Council Network in Spatially Integrated Social Science.

Undergraduate students who study sociology at UQ develop a distinctive set of skills and experiences that are highly sought after by employers. These include rigorous training in research methods and an ability to apply critical thinking and evidence-based research to understand a broad range of phenomena such as social change, modern society and culture, contemporary social institutions, crime and its regulation and the relationship between people and the environment.