Everyday Sociology Talk: More about being a sociologist

Karen Sternheimer and Sally Raskoff talk about different jobs for sociologists. For more information, see the American Sociological Association's website.

Comments

[Jay Bennett]

Great blog, great video. I was looking for some copyright information, I did not see a creative commons license anywhere. I teach an online high school sociology class and would like to embed this video in my course. It fits perfectly with an assignment that I have where the students create a classified ad for a job that you need a background in sociology in order to qualify. I use this blog as the basis for several assignments and I find myself using it more and more all the time. A creative commons license would provide me some guidance on the use of materials and videos from this site. Thanks!

[Brendan O'Connor]

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for putting this video up, it's a lot of what i was personally wondering about in asking for more information with my comment on your "How Great is being a Sociologist" post, for sure. As an eventual follow-up, it'd be great if there could be some video profiles of various sociology professionals up here (though i will have to dig into that ASA website some to see what they have on that front too). Thanks again for the helpful video!

[Janis Prince Inniss]

Hi Brendan,

I saw your note that you’ve seen the video, but wanted to add my thoughts on the question you asked. Sociologists can work in a very wide variety of arenas. If you are a well trained researcher, you gain skills that are highly transferable and fairly marketable. For example, among other topics, I have conducted research or evaluation on child fatalities, attorneys, service learning, home visitors, mental health disparities, the use of psychotropic medications and out of home placements with children in the child welfare system, mental health needs assessments…See? Because of my training and the research experience I started to gain, even as an undergraduate, I can ‘count’ anything. Kidding…but the ability to ask questions, get (some) answers, analyze data, think critically and write a report are what all those jobs have in common. And those are skills that are honed in a good graduate program in sociology. I have worked for a department of health, a state organization for attorneys, and in a variety of departments and research centers in different universities. My work in these jobs has been used to influence policy, affect services, change the way some jobs are performed, and provide information about what does and does not work regarding any number of outcomes.

[email domain names]

Hi Brendan,

I saw your note that you’ve seen the video, but wanted to add my thoughts on the question you asked. Sociologists can work in a very wide variety of arenas. If you are a well trained researcher, you gain skills that are highly transferable and fairly marketable. For example, among other topics, I have conducted research or evaluation on child fatalities, attorneys, service learning, home visitors, mental health disparities, the use of psychotropic medications and out of home placements with children in the child welfare system, mental health needs assessments…See? Because of my training and the research experience I started to gain, even as an undergraduate, I can ‘count’ anything. Kidding…but the ability to ask questions, get (some) answers, analyze data, think critically and write a report are what all those jobs have in common. And those are skills that are honed in a good graduate program in sociology. I have worked for a department of health, a state organization for attorneys, and in a variety of departments and research centers in different universities. My work in these jobs has been used to influence policy, affect services, change the way some jobs are performed, and provide information about what does and does not work regarding any number of outcomes.

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