Sociology is all about diving deep into how humans come together in groups and societies and how these connections shape the way we behave. Sociologists do not just focus on individuals, current events, or what happens behind closed doors. Instead, we explore how social institutions like families, schools, and the economy influence people and how these social setups are formed, kept going, or transformed. This means sociologists study a wide range of things, from families, cultures, religions, and crimes, to social classes, industries, communities, organizations, city life, nature, and social support systems. They gather knowledge by investigating the real world, using scientific methods to build up a solid body of proven facts. So, when you are learning sociology, you are basically figuring out how personal experiences connect to the bigger picture of society and getting the hang of how sociologists scientifically study our world.

Students of Sociology Program must earn a total of 140 credits, including 30 credits in liberal education, with a minimum of 75 credits in Sociology major, and possibly some credits of electives from other programs.

Introduction to Sociology
Introduces sociology as a discipline and as an approach to knowledge. Designed to equip students with a basic understanding of Korean society.

History of Sociology
Introduces the history of sociology from the establishment of sociology as a discipline up to the 1930s. Focuses on various theoretical perspectives to understand social phenomena.

Social Statistics
Introduces quantitative analysis in social research, including principles of statistics and hypothesis testing, the use of empirical evidence, particularly from social surveys. Includes descriptive and inferential statistics, contingency table analysis, and regression analysis.

Food and Rural Sociology
The food system and network from nature, agriculture, and labor that produce food to consumption from daily meals are approached through sociological imagination.

Sociology of the Family
Explores the structure and functions of the family and kinship in relation to the totality of social structure, and examines how and why Korean families have changed and the problems faced by the family in the process.

Sociology of Industrial and Labor
Deals with the formation and development of division of labor, various aspects of modern management, especially the relationship between organizations within individual enterprises on the micro level and industrial organizations on the macro level in contemporary society.

Sociology of Communication
Introduces basic concepts of communication and its functions in society. The interrelationship between social structure and forms of communication is also examined. And thereby enhances students' understanding of the nature of social communication.

Sociology of Crime
Introduces sociological theories of criminal phenomena, typology of crime, and social control mechanisms. Key actors in the legal system, such as police, courts, and prisons are discussed and the role of these institutions in crime prevention are assessed.

Practice in Social Statistics
Explores individual motivations and principles in the formation of social groups and examines the relationship between the role behavior of individuals and the macro social structure. Special attentions are paid to functions and dysfunctions of bureaucratic organizations in relations to the social whole.

Social Stratification and Inequality
Explores causes and consequences of social inequality. Focuses on the social meanings, functions, and typology of social classes and social mobility as is applied to contemporary Korean society.

Information and Society
Examines specificities of information society in relations to changes in the modern society. By focusing on the causes of the societal transformation we sensitize students to the directions of future social changes and enhance students' adaptability to the future.

Thinking Sociologically
Improve reading comprehension skills and learn the basic concepts of sociology through the introductory documents of sociology.

Sociology of Environments
Familiarizes students with global environmental crisis and social ecological theories and ethics.

Sociology of Gender and Sexuality
Familiarizes students with central issues and theoretical perspectives regarding gender inequality in contemporary society.

Social Research Methods
Guides students through the process of social survey and of producing an original research paper of high quality. Topics include theoretical logic of social survey, identification of research problems, methods of data collection, processing, analysis, and writing-up. Also introduces qualitative methods of social research.

Welfare State and Social Policy
Explore the concepts, institutions, types, historical changes, and current issues of the welfare state and social policy.

Urban Sociology
Introduces the formation and multiphasic development patterns of the city in history from sociological perspectives and thereby enhances students' understanding of modern cities.

Civil Society and Social Movements
Examines the relationship between the state and civil society and explores social movements in civil societies from perspectives of new social movements. Also included is the comparison with traditional social movements such as labor movement.

Writing Sociological Essays
Trains students basic skills in writing essays in general and sociological essays in particular. Subjects range from composition of a paragraph, logical deployment of ideas, and to the style and format of essay. This is a preparatory course for writing a thesis, a requirement for graduation.

Sociology of Organization
The class aims to understand the basic principles of modern organizations and examine the issue of organizational management from various theoretical perspectives.

Sociology of Culture
Cultural phenomena are analyzed and discussed in relation to social structure. Topics include science, knowledge, religion, media, mass culture and arts.

Contemporary Sociological Theories
Reviews the currents of contemporary sociological theories since the 1930s including structural functionalism, conflict theory, system theory, symbolic interactionism, exchange theory, role theory, critical theory, and ethnomethodology. Emphasis is placed on adjudicating among competing explanations for complex social phenomena in contemporary society based on critical assessment of a theory‘s logic.

Political Sociology
Familiarizes students with classical political thoughts since Plato and contemporary theories of political sociology.

Sociology of Science and Technology
Helps students to understand characteristics of science and technology in the context of contemporary society. Topics include the relationship between science/technology and population, sociological research on science/technology, science debates and so on. Discussions on bio- and information technology in terms of their technical, social, and ethical dimensions are helpful for making decisions related to science and technology.

Sociology of Local Communities
Studies theoretical background of the power structure in regional societies and examines the characteristics of regional power structure in the period of regional autonomy in Korea.

Seminar in Sociology
By discussing selective topics drawn from contemporary social change this course encourages students to apply their sociological knowledge to social reality.

Sociology of Work and Occupations
This course pursues sociological investigation of occupations dealing with various aspects of them including social meanings of occupation, occupational choice, the process of work, occupational mobility and occupational satisfaction.

Social Economy
As an alternative to the capitalist market economy and the state, we learn social economy organization, institutions, policies, and social movements based on solidarity and participation of civil society.

Studies on Korean Society
Analyzes Korean society from sociological perspectives. The objects of the analysis are the family, class, population. the urban and rural. Also relates specificities and generalities of Korean society to the development of globalization.

Sociology of Visual Images
Introduces sociological perspectives to the analysis of visual images portrayed in commercial and documentary films. Also included is the utilization of visual images in sociological survey research.

Global migration and Social transformation
This class aims to explore the phenomena of global inequality and international migration in the context of neoliberalism and discuss major issues of social transformation resulting from migration. To this end, we first understand the basic terms and concepts related to migration, as well as various theories that interpret migration, and examine the paradigm of transnationalism that will be used as a major analysis framework for migration research in this class. Subsequently, we will discuss the impact of transnational migration on migrants and migrants' home and destination communities through detailed topics such as globalization, migration and development, migration and gender, transnational migration and the state, community, urban space, and identity.

Human rights and Society
This class aims to explore human rights theoretically and practically from a sociological point of view as an important area of ​​contemporary society. While academic approaches to understanding human rights based on law and philosophy focus on laws, political institutions, and the philosophical and normative concept questioning "what should be human rights?", this class will focus on the meaning that arises in the process of requesting and implementing human rights in society from a sociological perspective. In particular, we will discuss not only the process of improving and institutionalizing human rights “from top to bottom” , but also the empirical and practical activities based on social movements “from the bottom up”. To this end, we will first understand the concept of human rights, its history, and the debates surrounding it, and then discuss major human rights issues in contemporary society. Students in this class will be expected to participate in the activities of local human rights (social) organizations to increase their sensitivity to human rights and at the same time analyze actual cases of human rights activities they participated in with theories learned in class.

Sociology of Transition and Commons
This subject examines the social context in which the commons emerged as a solution beyond the dichotomy between the state and the market by reinterpreting social changes from the perspective of the commons. Specific cases will be discussed along with various theories about the commons.

Qualitative Research Methods
This class aims to study and discuss the theoretical traditions of qualitative research methodology and viewpoints, techniques, and ethnical issues in conducting research to understand and analyze the complex and diverse experience of people in society. Students participating in this class are expected to conduct field research including participatory observation and interview by selecting their own research topic and subject, to discuss the field research process together in class, and to write the result in an ethnographic paper.

Social Data Science
This course is designed to provide students without a strong mathematical background an accessible entry into the world of applied data science, focusing on practical Python programming. The course covers four main topics: (1) Python Introduction, (2) Data Preparation and Visualization, (3) Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms, and (4) Unsupervised Machine Learning Algorithm and Performance Assessment. While there are no prerequisites for mathematical or computer programming skills, prior completion of Social Statistics (5663011), Intermediate Social Statistics (5663018), and Social Research Methods (5663014) is strongly recommended.

Historical Sociology
The purpose of this course is to explore the outcomes and possibilities of historical sociology, which has attempted to combine sociological theories and historical methodologies. In particular, this course examines how the essential categories of sociology, such as the nation-state, society, national subjects, and citizens formed and have transformed in Korean society.