Page 6 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 3
P. 6
And What Can
You Do With It?
While it’s all-well-and-good understanding what sociology is, but the
key question on every student’s lips is what can you do with it?
According to the venerable British Sociological
Association “Studying sociology…equips you Sociology, as many sociologists are starting to
with the skills for many careers”. understand, is almost uniquely-placed to take
st
advantage of the changing 21 century
And while this is nice to know, it’s a bit vague.
This is because Sociology is a subject whose
And to compound matters, digging deeper into knowledge and skills can be applied to the needs
what the BSA considers a career fit for a and requirements of widely-different
sociologist is, how shall we put it, a little organisations and industries.
disappointing?
While some types of work clearly require specific
While Police Officer, Voluntary Worker, Social academic skills, an increasing number require
Worker and Teacher are all, in their own something softer: a more-general set of focused
inimitable ways, worthwhile and fulfilling skills that can be applied to a wide range of
careers (so I’m reliably informed), they’re different occupations.
unlikely, with the best will in the world, careers
to set the pulse racing. Any business that involves understanding things
like the group behaviours and dynamics of both
This is perhaps compounded by the thought that customers and employees, or how to create and
“learning about sociology is handy for maintain order and manage change a sociological
subsequently teaching other people about background is a distinct advantage.
sociology” probably isn’t a great advert for the
subject. Which means the occupational horizons for
sociologists have both expanded exponentially
It doesn’t, however, have to be this way. over the past few years - and will continue to
expand into the foreseeable future - around the
And increasingly it’s not, as both sociology and idea of the non-academic sociologist embedded
putative sociologists break-out of both the into public and private organisations.
“public sector silo” and the tyranny of
particular types of job.
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