Many people who major in sociology had never heard of it before they came to Princeton. These students learn that we offer a cutting edge undergraduate major for people interested in the social dimensions of politics, economics, history, international relations, psychology, and demography.
If you are a sociologist at Princeton, the world is your oyster. This a department where you can integrate different approaches to knowledge. Sociology was founded in the 19th Century by a Frenchman, Auguste Comte, who said we were destined to be the Queen of the Sciences. He believed that this new field could produce a knowledge of society based on scientific evidence. He regarded sociology as the last science to be developed—following physics, chemistry, and biology—but sociology, he believed, should contribute to the welfare of humanity by using science to understand and therefore control and predict human behavior.
Indeed, if there is one common characteristic you will find in the sociology professors at Princeton, it is that they are working on important topics of concern in the "real world" inside and outside the university. This fall, for example, Professor Paul Starr (a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the co-founder of the American Prospect magazine) is teaching his popular course on the big issues of American Society and Politics. And Douglas Massey (former President of the American Sociological Association and a member of the National Academy of Sciences) is teaching his popular class on race and public policy. In addition, this semester alone our professors are offering courses that deal with such issues as the way that information technology is changing our daily lives, the so-called red state-blue state division in American politics, the dilemmas surrounding diversity in higher education, and how to understand poverty and inequality in America.
Recent books by professors in the department include studies of the immigrant experience and immigration policy, the 21st century corporate firm, religious diversity, the mass media, school shootings, affirmative action, and growing up with a single parent. Our sociological perspective on all of these subjects tends to look at things from below, rather than from above. We are interested in revealing the exercise of power when none appears to be operating. We’re interested in the social experience of groups that have, until recently, largely been invisible. We emphasize the careful use of evidence to develop and enrich our understanding of social processes, and we use a wide variety of statistical, ethnographic, and historical methods.
People often ask me how practical a sociology degree is, and they are surprised to learn that our majors go into a wide range of fields from investment banking to law to medicine to education to political activism and the non-profit sector. I myself attended law school and worked for Chief Judge A. Leon Higginbotham of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where I found my sociology background extremely helpful.
Our students benefit from a smaller major where they get more individual attention from faculty than they reasonably can expect in the larger concentrations. It is also the most diverse major in the university, attracting students committed to an environment of respect and acceptance. Although most of our professors are progressive thinking, we encourage intellectual rigor rather than political correctness.
If such an atmosphere is appealing to you, feel free to set up an appointment with me to discuss the major.
Graduates from Princeton's Sociology program have successfully pursued careers in the non-profit and private sectors, government, and academia. Some examples follow:
LEGROME D. DAVIS ‘73
Judge, United States District Court
Legrome D. Davis was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He entered as a member of the pioneer generation of African American students who were for the first time admitted to the University in substantial numbers in the late sixties. He says that even as an undergraduate he exhibited a commitment to a balanced version of cultural pluralism that avoided the extremes of ethnocentrism or the loss of identity. He graduated with a B.A degree in Sociology in 1973, earned a J.D. from the Rutgers University School of Law in 1976 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar a year later. During the subsequent decade, Judge David served as an Assistant District Attorney and later as Assistant Deputy District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. He joined the General Counsel’s Office of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 where he acquired first hand knowledge of the changing problems confronting American higher education.
Judge Davis sat in the Court of Commom Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (1987-2002) and was endorsed by the American Bar Association and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in April 2002 for the federal judiciary in his present position as a judge in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Among his other honors Judge Davis received an award (2004) from the prestigious Foundation for Improvement of Justice, Inc. for improving Philadelphia’s criminal court system by implementing many changes including treatment for offenders with drug programs and new pretrial release guidelines.
Judge, United States District Court
Legrome D. Davis was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He entered as a member of the pioneer generation of African American students who were for the first time admitted to the University in substantial numbers in the late sixties. He says that even as an undergraduate he exhibited a commitment to a balanced version of cultural pluralism that avoided the extremes of ethnocentrism or the loss of identity. He graduated with a B.A degree in Sociology in 1973, earned a J.D. from the Rutgers University School of Law in 1976 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar a year later. During the subsequent decade, Judge David served as an Assistant District Attorney and later as Assistant Deputy District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. He joined the General Counsel’s Office of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 where he acquired first hand knowledge of the changing problems confronting American higher education.
Judge Davis sat in the Court of Commom Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (1987-2002) and was endorsed by the American Bar Association and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in April 2002 for the federal judiciary in his present position as a judge in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Among his other honors Judge Davis received an award (2004) from the prestigious Foundation for Improvement of Justice, Inc. for improving Philadelphia’s criminal court system by implementing many changes including treatment for offenders with drug programs and new pretrial release guidelines.
SYLVIA HURTADOProfessor and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA
Sylvia Hurtado has published numerous articles and books related to her primary interest in student educational outcomes, campus climates, college impact on student development, and diversity in higher education. She has served on numerous editorial boards for journals in education and served on the boards for the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE), the Higher Learning Commission and is president-elect of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Black Issues In Higher Education named her among the top 15 influential faculty whose work has had an impact on the academy. After receiving her B.A from Princeton, Hurtado received her masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. has coordinated several national research projects, including a U.S. Department of Education-sponsored project on how colleges are preparing students to achieve the cognitive, social, and democratic skills to participate in a diverse democracy. She is launching a National Institutes of Health project on the preparation of underrepresented students for biomedical and behavioral science research careers. She has also studied assessment, reform, and innovation in undergraduate education on a project through the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement.
DAVID VAN ZANDT ‘75Dean and Professor, Northwestern University School of Law
When David Van Zandt graduated from Princeton’s sociology department in 1975, he was awarded the Isidore Brown Thesis Prize and went on to study for his doctorate at the London School of Economics as well as his J.D. at the Yale Law School. At Yale, he became Managing Editor of the Yale Law Journal and then went on to become a clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Professor Van Zandt became dean of the Northwestern University School of Law in 1995. He is an expert in corporate law and international finance. He has published articles on the regulation of international financial markets, the sociology of religon and deviance, social theory, and the economics of common sense. He is a director of the American Bar Foundation and several private companies.
MICHELLE OBAMAVice President at the University of Chicago Hospitals
Michelle Obama has had an interesting life. She grew up in a working class family on the South Side of Chicago before entering Princeton. After completing the sociology major, she went on to Harvard Law School. Later, she returned to her native city and had a successful career practicing law at the corporate firm of Sidley and Austin.
It is not uncommon for people who study sociology to develop a social conscience: Michele ultimately decided to leave corporate law, and to bring her legal and advocacy skills to bear on community and urban problems in her local neighborhood of Hyde Park. She took a job at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she works on community and external affairs. While raising two children, she also has become an important force in democratic politics, particularly on the campaign trail for her husband Senator Barack Obama and other candidates.
