Office & Contact Information

The Major Programs

The Organizational Studies (OS) major is designed to provide a broad understanding of the political, social, and economic organizations that make up modern society. Whether thinking about the structure of government bureaucracies, legal systems, economic markets, educational systems, or workplaces, OS offers an interdisciplinary view from which to understand the contemporary world in which complex and formal organizations are ubiquitous. Formal organizations influence how we feel, what we think, and what we can accomplish. As such, the OS major provides both a basic understanding of the field as well as enhances your ability to pursue their more specialized career interests.

At the upper division level, you can choose one of four specialized tracks, any one of which will help to better identify and inform your career goals—whether that be in postgraduate education or a specific type of job—and pursue them after graduation. Whether you select the “Business & Society,” “Public Policy & Social Welfare,” “Nonprofit & Social Movement Organizations” or the “Student-Initiated Theme” track, once completed you will have a unique and valuable area of expertise.

Students who plan to enroll in graduate programs in business, public policy, public administration, and education are advised to develop proficiencies in statistics and calculus (such as the MAT 016 series).

Track 1: Business & Society (BAS)

The Business and Society track is for students who hold an interest in or wish to pursue careers in management or corporate professions and who are interested in economic institutions and commerce, management and administration, work and workplaces, and labor markets. Courses in this cluster analyze businesses, firms, corporations, and markets—nationally and globally—and their place in society, historically and in the present, from a critical perspective. The BAS track examines the origins of business corporations and economic markets (and relations); the power relations, inequalities, and stratification associated with contemporary business organizations (firms and corporations); why business organizations rely on particular organizational structures to increase their efficiencies and effectiveness; and overviews of the role business and regulatory organizations play in the economy.

Career & Postgraduate Alternatives for the Business & Society Track:

• Professional training: MBA programs; mediation programs; law; public policy.
• Graduate training: sociology; economics; Ph.D. business school programs (with concentrations in organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, industrial relations, economic analysis, policy analysis, and labor relations).
• Career paths: managers, human resources professionals, project managers, diversity personnel, corporate social responsibility personnel, lobbyists, business entrepreneur, labor relations specialists, creative professionals, research staff at policy institutes such as Economic Policy Institute, Urban Institute or E2.

Track 2: Public Policy & Social Welfare (PPSW)

The PPSW track is for students who hold an interest in or plan to pursue careers in government and/or social welfare organizations. Courses in this track emphasize how formal organizations and institutions emerge to address key social problems and the policies they generate and utilize to solve them; the unique challenges that government and other policy-oriented organizations confront in addressing and managing public problems and promoting the common good; and the dynamics and special circumstances that specific organizational/institutional policy fields such as education, health care, and social welfare confront in seeking to fulfill their charge.

Career and Postgraduate Alternatives for the Public Policy & Social Welfare Track

• Professional training: programs in public policy, public administration, government, social welfare, counseling, public affairs, law, leadership institutes, and community psychology.
• Graduate training: Ph.D. programs in sociology, political science, public administration, education, and educational leadership.
• Career paths: consultants, social service workers and administrators, staff at policy institutes and think tanks, program evaluation and development, nonprofit administrators, lawyers, teachers, research staff at policy institutes and think tanks, leadership positions in education, including higher education and counselors.

Track 3: Nonprofit & Social Movement Organizations (NSMO)

The NSMO track is for students who wish to contribute to local, national, and global transformation(s), to social justice, and/or who plan to pursue a career in the non-profit sector focusing on addressing specific causes and fulfilling social agendas. Students in this cluster may have particular interest in understanding the role that informal and formal organizations—from well-organized and mature non-profits to emergent social movement organizations—play in responding to and affecting social change. This cluster familiarizes students with the unique capacity of organizations to change the world but simultaneously, the barriers, limitations, and challenges to doing so.

Career and Postgraduate Alternatives for the Public Policy & Social Welfare Track:

• Professional training: programs in community development, regional development, urban development, public policy, public administration, Master’s programs in social change, law and social change, and business programs with a concentration in corporate responsibility.
• Graduate training: programs sociology, history, labor studies, development, international relations, and political science.
• Career paths: working in nongovernmental organizations around the world (NGO’s), joining the Peace Corps or Teach America; teaching in other countries; jobs in any number of areas that are the focus of social change and social justice efforts (energy, housing, labor, community and regional development, health, corporate social responsibility); working in for-profit companies in the areas of energy, corporate social responsibility, work/family support programs, research staff at policy institutes and think tanks.

Track 4: Student-Initiated Track

Select a combination of five courses from any of the above 3 themes (at least three courses should be from SOC). Students choosing this track must meet with a SOC undergraduate advisor to obtain approval of selected courses.

Major Advisor

Consult the Departmental Advising office in 1282 Social Sciences & Humanities Building or see the SOC Advising Office.

Honors Program

An Honors Program is available to Sociology & Sociology-Organizational Studies majors who have demonstrated excellence in their field of study. To be eligible for the program, students must have a grade-point average of 3.500 in the major and the recommendation of a faculty sponsor familiar with their work.  Honors students write an honors thesis and take two quarters (8 units) of Honors coursework (SOC 194HA & SOC 194HB). Successful completion of the Honors Program, when combined with College GPA requirements, enables the student to graduate with High or Highest Honors. Students should apply for the program before they begin their fourth year.

The major requirements below are in addition to meeting University Degree Requirements & College Degree Requirements; unless otherwise noted. Respective of the Emphasis, the minimum number of units required for the Sociology—Organizational Studies Bachelor of Arts is 74.

Course List

Code	Title	Units
Preparatory Subject Matter
Sociology
SOC 001	Introduction to Sociology	5
or SOC 001V	Introduction to Sociology
SOC 002	Self & Society	4
Choose one:		4
SOC 004	Immigration & Opportunity
SOC 005	Global Social Change: An Introduction to Macrosociology
SOC 006	Health & Illness
SOC 007	Race & Ethnicity
SOC 011	Sociology of Labor & Employment
SOC 046	Introduction to Social Research Methods	4
SOC 056	Introduction to Social Statistics	5
or SOC 056Y	Introduction to Social Statistics
Economics
ECN 001A	Principles of Microeconomics	4
or ECN 001AV	Principles of Microeconomics
or ECN 001AY	Principles of Microeconomics
ECN 001B	Principles of Macroeconomics	4
or ECN 001BV	Principles of Macroeconomics
Preparatory Subject Matter Subtotal		30
Depth Subject Matter
Sociology
SOC 100	Origins of Modern Sociological Theory	4
SOC 180A	Complex Organizations	4
Choose one:
SOC 106	Intermediate Social Statistics	4-5
or STA 103	Applied Statistics for Business & Economics
Choose one:		4
CMN 120	Interpersonal Communication
or CMN 120V	Interpersonal Communication
CMN 130	Group Communication
CMN 136	Organizational Communication
or CMN 136V	Organizational Communication
CMN 170	Digital Technology & Social Change
or CMN 170V	Digital Technology & Social Change
CMN 172	Interpersonal Technologies
SOC 126	Social Interaction
SOC 135	Social Relationships
Choose five from one of the following tracks; at least three of the five must be from Sociology:		20
Track 1: Business & Society
Track 2: Public Policy & Social Welfare
Track 3: Nonprofit & Social Movement Organizations
Track 4: Student-Initiated Track
Choose one:		4
SOC 128	Interracial Interpersonal Dynamics
SOC 130	Race Relations
SOC 132	The Sociology of Gender
SOC 140	Social Stratification
SOC 145A	Sociology of Third World Development
SOC 145B	Gender & Rural Development in the Third World
Choose one additional elective upper division Sociology course not already used to fulfill other major requirements 1		4
Depth Subject Matter Subtotal		44-45
Total Units		74-75

¹

May use 4 units of 192, 194HA, 195, or 199.

Track 1: Business & Society

Course List

Code	Title	Units
AMS 125	Corporate Cultures	4
ARE 112	Fundamentals of Organization Management	4
ARE 130	Agricultural Markets	4
ARE 132	Cooperative Business Enterprises	4
CRD 118	Technology & Society	4
CRD 141	Organization of Economic Space	4
CRD 156	Community Economic Development	5
CRD 162	People, Work & Technology	5
ECN 110B	World Economic History Since the Industrial Revolution	4
or ECN 110BY	World Economic History Since the Industrial Revolution
ECN 111B	Economics History	4
ECN/ARE 115A	Economic Development	4
ECN 116	Comparative Economic Systems	4
ECN 121A	Industrial Organization	4
ECN 151A	Economics of the Labor Market	4
ECN 151B	Economics of Human Resources	4
HIS 185B	History of Technology in America	4
HIS 194D	Business & Labor in Modern Japan	4
MGT 150	Technology Management	4
POL 180	Bureaucracy in Modern Society	4
POL 187	Administrative Theory	4
SOC 103	Evaluation Research Methods	4
SOC 138	Economic Sociology	4
SOC 139	Corporations & Society	4
SOC 141	Industrialization & Social Change	4
SOC 159	Work, Employment, & Careers in the 21st Century	4
SOC 160	Sociology of the Environment	4
SOC 188	Markets, Culture & Inequality in China	4

Track 2: Public Policy & Social Welfare

Course List

Code	Title	Units
ARE 147	Resource & Environment Policy Analysis	2-3
or ARE 147M	Resource & Environmental Policy Analysis
CRD 142	Rural Change in the Industrialized World	4
CRD 151	Community Field Research: Theory & Analysis	5
CRD 152	Community Development	4
CRD 154	Social Theory & Community Change	4
CRD 158	Community Governance	4
CRD 164	Theories of Organizations & Their Role in Community Change	5
CRD 171	Housing & Social Policy	4
CRD 172	Social Inequality: Issues & Innovations	4
ECN/ARE 115A	Economic Development	4
ECN 116	Comparative Economic Systems	4
POL 107	Environmental Politics & Administration	4
POL 118A	History of Political Theory: Ancient	4
POL 118B	History of Political Theory: Early Modern	4
POL 118C	History of Political Theory: Late Modern	4
POL 163	Group Politics	4
POL 180	Bureaucracy in Modern Society	4
POL 187	Administrative Theory	4
SOC 103	Evaluation Research Methods	4
SOC/IRE 104	The Political Economy of International Migration	4
SOC 118	Political Sociology	4
SOC 124	Education & Inequality in the U.S.	4
SOC 143A	Urban Society	4
SOC 143B	Sociology of City Life	4
SOC 162	Society, Culture, & Health	4
SOC 163	Population Health: Social Determinants & Disparities in Health	4
SOC 164	Health Policy & Politics	4
SOC 185	Social Policy	4
or SOC 185Y	Social Policy (Hybrid Version)

Track 3: Nonprofit & Social Movement Organizations

Course List

Code	Title	Units
CHI 132	Political Economy of Chicana/o Communities	4
CRD 140	Dynamics of Regional Development	4
CRD 147	Community Youth Development	4
CRD 149	Community Development Perspectives on Environmental Justice	4
CRD 152	Community Development	4
CRD 154	Social Theory & Community Change	4
CRD 156	Community Economic Development	5
CRD 158	Community Governance	4
CRD 164	Theories of Organizations & Their Role in Community Change	5
ECN 111B	Economics History	4
ECN/ARE 115A	Economic Development	4
ECN 116	Comparative Economic Systems	4
HIS 185B	History of Technology in America	4
HIS 194D	Business & Labor in Modern Japan	4
POL 180	Bureaucracy in Modern Society	4
POL 187	Administrative Theory	4
SOC 103	Evaluation Research Methods	4
SOC 140	Social Stratification	4
SOC 156	Social Movements	4
SOC 160	Sociology of the Environment	4
SOC 163	Population Health: Social Determinants & Disparities in Health	4
SOC 164	Health Policy & Politics	4
WMS 187	Gender & Public Policy	4

Track 4: Student-Initiated Track

Choose a combination of five courses from any of the above three themes; at least three courses should be from SOC. Students choosing this track must meet with a SOC undergraduate advisor to obtain approval of selected courses.