Sociology—Organizational Studies, Bachelor of Arts College of Letters & Science

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.

Postgraduate training and careers that follow from this cluster:

  • 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.

Postgraduate training and careers that follow from this 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.

Postgraduate training and careers that follow from this 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. In addition to meeting the standard major requirements, students are encouraged to take a 199 course with their sponsor in the spring of their third year, prior to the seminar courses. 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.

Preparatory Subject Matter
Sociology
SOC 001Introduction to Sociology5
SOC 002Self & Society4
Choose one:4
Immigration & Opportunity
Global Social Change: An Introduction to Macrosociology
Health & Illness
Race & Ethnicity
Sociology of Labor & Employment
SOC 046Introduction to Social Research Methods4
SOC 056Introduction to Social Statistics5
or SOC 056Y Introduction to Social Statistics
Economics
ECN 001APrinciples of Microeconomics4
or ECN 001AV Principles of Microeconomics
or ECN 001AY Principles of Microeconomics
ECN 001BPrinciples of Macroeconomics4
or ECN 001BV Principles of Macroeconomics
Preparatory Subject Matter Subtotal30
Depth Subject Matter
Sociology
SOC 100Origins of Modern Sociological Theory4
SOC 180AComplex Organizations4
Choose one:
SOC 106Intermediate Social Statistics4-5
or STA 103 Applied Statistics for Business & Economics
Choose one:4
Interpersonal Communication
Group Communication
Organizational Communication
Digital Technology & Social Change
Digital Technology & Social Change
Interpersonal Technologies
Social Interaction
Social Relationships
Choose five from one of the following tracks; at least three of the five must be from Sociology:20
Choose one:4
Interracial Interpersonal Dynamics
Race Relations
The Sociology of Gender
Social Stratification
Sociology of Third World Development
Gender & Rural Development in the Third World
Choose one additional elective upper division Sociology course not already used to fulfill other major requirements 14
Depth Subject Matter Subtotal44-45
Total Units74-75
1

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

Track 1: Business & Society

ARE 112Fundamentals of Organization Management4
ARE 130Agricultural Markets4
ARE 132Cooperative Business Enterprises4
AMS 125Corporate Cultures4
CRD 118Technology & Society4
CRD 141Organization of Economic Space4
CRD 156Community Economic Development5
CRD 162People, Work & Technology5
ECN 110BWorld Economic History Since the Industrial Revolution4
ECN 111BEconomics History4
ECN/ARE 115AEconomic Development4
ECN 116Comparative Economic Systems4
ECN 121AIndustrial Organization4
ECN 151AEconomics of the Labor Market4
ECN 151BEconomics of Human Resources4
HIS 185BHistory of Technology in America4
HIS 194DBusiness & Labor in Modern Japan4
MGT 150Technology Management4
POL 180Bureaucracy in Modern Society4
POL 187Administrative Theory4
SOC 103Evaluation Research Methods4
SOC 138Economic Sociology4
SOC 139Corporations & Society4
SOC 141Industrialization & Social Change4
SOC 159Work, Employment, & Careers in the 21st Century4
SOC 160Sociology of the Environment4
SOC 188Markets, Culture & Inequality in China4

Track 2: Public Policy & Social Welfare

ARE 147Resource & Environment Policy Analysis2-3
or ARE 147M Resource & Environmental Policy Analysis
CRD 142Rural Change in the Industrialized World4
CRD 151Community Field Research: Theory & Analysis5
CRD 152Community Development4
CRD 154Social Theory & Community Change4
CRD 158Community Governance4
CRD 164Theories of Organizations & Their Role in Community Change5
CRD 171Housing & Social Policy4
CRD 172Social Inequality: Issues & Innovations4
ECN/ARE 115AEconomic Development4
ECN 116Comparative Economic Systems4
POL 107Environmental Politics & Administration4
POL 118AHistory of Political Theory: Ancient4
POL 118BHistory of Political Theory: Early Modern4
POL 118CHistory of Political Theory: Late Modern4
POL 180Bureaucracy in Modern Society4
POL 187Administrative Theory4
SOC 103Evaluation Research Methods4
SOC/IRE 104The Political Economy of International Migration4
SOC 124Education & Inequality in the U.S.4
SOC 162Society, Culture, & Health4
SOC 163Population Health: Social Determinants & Disparities in Health4
SOC 164Health Policy & Politics4
CRD 149Community Development Perspectives on Environmental Justice4
SOC 185Social Policy4
or SOC 185Y Social Policy (Hybrid Version)

Track 3: Nonprofit & Social Movement Organizations

CHI 132Political Economy of Chicana/o Communities4
CRD 140Dynamics of Regional Development4
CRD 147Community Youth Development4
CRD 149Community Development Perspectives on Environmental Justice4
CRD 152Community Development4
CRD 154Social Theory & Community Change4
CRD 156Community Economic Development5
CRD 158Community Governance4
CRD 164Theories of Organizations & Their Role in Community Change5
ECN 111BEconomics History4
ECN/ARE 115AEconomic Development4
ECN 116Comparative Economic Systems4
HIS 185BHistory of Technology in America4
HIS 194DBusiness & Labor in Modern Japan4
POL 180Bureaucracy in Modern Society4
POL 187Administrative Theory4
SOC 103Evaluation Research Methods4
SOC 140Social Stratification4
SOC 156Social Movements4
SOC 160Sociology of the Environment4
SOC 163Population Health: Social Determinants & Disparities in Health4
SOC 164Health Policy & Politics4
WMS 187Gender & Public Policy4

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.