Best Sociology colleges in Los Angeles 2024

The UCLA Department of Sociology was founded in 1948, and boasts a faculty of internationally renowned scholars and award-winning instructors who are addressing a wide range of topics from the dynamics of social interaction to the impact of globalization. The Student Research Program (SRP) gives students the opportunity to do research and work individually with participating faculty members. Juniors and seniors are able to participate in the Social Enterprise Academy (SEA) a two-quarter course offered by the Division of Social Sciences that mentors non-profit organizations in developing new social ventures to create earned income opportunities.

In addition to non-profit experience the SEA provides students with market research, consulting, teamwork, networking, and public speaking skills. Not sure what you want to do after graduation? The upper division Careers in Sociology course helps students learn about the many career opportunities available to sociology majors and teaches students to use their interests, needs and skills to make effective career choices. The department accepts applications for the PhD program only, however students may be awarded an M.A. on the way to being awarded a PhD.

Founded in 1959, the Department of Sociology at California State University, Fullerton boasts an impressive student to teacher ratio of 18-to-1. Sociology majors examine individual, community-based, institutional, and ideological causes, consequences and intersections of various social inequalities and social stratification systems. While sociology undergraduate majors are not required to select a concentration, there are three available: social inequalities, sociology of deviance and crime, and health and social welfare.

The faculty of nationally and internationally recognized scholars conduct academic research on a wide variety of subjects including race and ethnic relations, education, demography, gender and sexualities, crime and deviance, health and illness, economic sociology, political sociology, religion, and migration and globalization. CSUF also accepts graduate applications for a Master of Arts in sociology that offers an opportunity to broaden one's knowledge of society, strengthen skills of sociological analysis and conduct research in depth in an area of particular interest. Degrees are awarded through either a project, thesis or comprehensive exam track, and while the university does not offer a PhD program, it is recommended that those who want to pursue a doctoral degree choose the thesis option.

Students looking to get their Bachelor of Arts in sociology from California State University, Long Beach have four different concentrations available to them: deviance and social control, interaction and group relations, sociology of health and medicine, and social change and global issues. “Through coursework, internships and faculty mentoring of student research the Department encourages a commitment to social change and social justice based on an appreciation of social and intellectual diversity and an awareness of social inequality,” explains the Department of Sociology Chairperson, Dr. Kristine Zentgraf, on the CSULB website. While there is no PhD program available at CSULB, there is a Master of Arts program in applied sociology that is structured around two concentrations, the sociology of health and medicine or community development and social change, along with a community-based scholar internship which gives students the opportunity to use their classroom knowledge and skills in the real-world setting of a local or regional community organization.