Major Concentrations

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Why is it that African-Americans experienced higher death rates from COVID-19? How are health and illness defined across time and place? And how do health care systems work in the U.S. and around the world? The Health, Medicine, and Well-Being concentration focuses on the connections between health, illness, health care, and society. It illuminates the cultural and structural factors that influence the practice of medicine, scientific institutions, as well as the social causes of illness and mortality.

Birth, Sex, Death: Population and Society (SOCL 311), The Politics of Global Health (SOCL 314), Families and Health (SOCL 332), Medical Sociology (SOCL 362), Sociology of Aging (SOCL 405), Food and Society (SOCL 410), Social Inequality and Health (SOCL 412), Political Ecology of Health & Disease (SOCL 420), and Sociology of Mental Illness (SOCL 426).

Students will learn about qualitative and quantitative approaches to health. Drawing on a range of theoretically-informed empirical work, students will assess various cases about health, medicine, and wellbeing. Students will learn to think critically about health outcomes and health disparities, using a sociological lens to identify structural determinants of health and wellbeing.

This concentration is ideal for students interested in careers in public health, health care, health policy, social work, and health care administration.

Talk to your major advisor about options to pursue graduate degrees related to this Concentration. Students may consider advanced degrees, such as a Masters of Public Health or Masters in Health Administration.

In addition, several advanced Masters and PhD degree programs focus on medical sociology, such as:

Keep up with the latest academic research related to health, medicine, and wellbeing in these journals:

Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Social Science & Medicine
Sociology of Health & Illness
University of Chicago books on medical sociology

Amber Bowman (’21) pursued a pre-med track through Sociology. She was named an Edward W. Hook Scholar at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine. This position allows Amber to bring her major in Sociology to bear on pressing questions in the field of medicine as she trains to be a doctor. As a Hook Scholar at the Center for Health Humanities and Ethics (CHHE), Amber will pursue a research project that integrates the humanities and humanistic social sciences into her medical school experience. While at W&M, Amber served as a Research Fellow at the Social Justice Policy Initiative. She studied the structural and historical determinants of food insecurity and health disparities in the greater Williamsburg area with Dr. Travis Harris and Professor Amy Quark.

Consider an internship at the Lackey Clinic, funded through the Charles Center City Research Scholars. Applications for Summer 2025 will open November 1, 2024 and close December 1, 2024.

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The Social Problems, Policy, and Justice concentration equips sociology majors with a strong understanding of the sources and consequences of pressing social problems, and diverse approaches to enacting social change. Courses in the concentration investigate how social issues come to be identified and understood as social problems; media; the generation of inequalities related to race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, immigration status and class; urban and spatial inequalities; the relationship between humans and the environment; and how social activism, social policy, and other sources of social change may affect these pressing concerns.

Institutions and Inequality (SOCL 203), Gender in Society (SOCL 304), Urban Sociology (SOCL 306), Sociology of Education Credits (SOCL 307), Environmental Sociology (SOCL 308), Wealth, Power, and Inequality (SOCL 310), "Economic Justice: VA Eviction Crisis" (SOCL331); Immigration, Assimilation and Ethnicity (SOCL 337), Social Movements and Social Change (SOCL 361), Sociology of Work (SOCL 364), Environmental Justice (SOCL 370), and Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Studies (SOCL 409).

Students in this concentration develop critical thinking skills to analyze the root causes and impacts of social problems, particularly in relation to inequalities of race, class, gender, and environment. They gain expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, enabling them to assess the effectiveness of social policies and activism in addressing these issues, and to develop evidence-based solutions for enacting social change.

The concentration equips students for roles in social activism, legal advocacy, and public service. Many find careers in education, journalism, media, and communications. Additionally, the training in urban sociology and environmental justice opens doors to careers in urban planning, housing policy, and environmental advocacy, helping to shape more equitable and sustainable communities. For those interested in further education, the concentration provides a solid foundation for city and regional planning, as well as graduate studies in sociology, public policy, law, and social work.

Talk to your major advisor about options to pursue graduate degrees related to this Concentration.

Sarah Joyce ('23) started her career working at the Urban Land Institute's Terwilliger Center for Housing.

Phoebe Linnell ('24) applied the skills she learned working at the Local Black Histories Project by serving as an oral history interviewer with the Social Justice Oral History Conversations at the National Museum of African American History & Culture.

The Social Justice Policy Initiative (SJPI) offers students a unique opportunity to collaborate with faculty and external partners on research and advocacy addressing critical social issues. As a Research Fellow, you will engage in interdisciplinary projects that support community organizations and inform policy on topics such as education, housing, immigration, and food justice. This is an excellent chance to apply your research skills and make a meaningful impact beyond the university.

The Community Fellows program at the SJPI

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This concentration provides majors with an in-depth study of the social theories and research methodologies that build understanding of law, crime, and criminal legal systems. Courses investigate how varied structures in society, including systems of racial, gender and social class inequality, affect the creation of laws, definitions and causes of crime, and the societal responses to law-violation such as policing, courts and carceral systems. The concentration prepares students for careers in law, social justice and policy analysis and research.

Self Help and Therapeutic Culture (COLL 100), Criminology (SOCL 302), Gender, Sexuality and the State (SOCL 315), Asian American Demography and Law (SOCL 366), Deviance and Social Control (SOCL 429), Crime and Justice in America (SOCL 433), Race and Crime (SOCL 434), and Crime and the Life Course (SOCL 435).

Students in this concentration develop a strong foundation in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, enabling them to critically analyze crime, law, and justice systems. They gain a deep understanding of how inequalities based on race, gender, and class shape legal structures, criminal behavior, and societal responses, and learn to apply sociological theories to real-world issues in criminal justice and social policy.

This concentration opens opportunities to work on the development of social policy, criminal justice reform, and community-based initiatives. Additionally, students are well-prepared for further studies in law school or advanced degrees in sociology, criminology, or public policy.

Talk to your major advisor about options to pursue graduate degrees related to this Concentration.

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In this concentration, students master core theoretical approaches to understanding the political-economic, social, and cultural dimensions of globalization. Courses analyze pressing global issues including development and inequality, immigration, health, the environment, work, gender, and sexuality.

Global Social Problems (SOCL 205), Globalization and International Development (SOCL 313), The Politics of Global Health (SOCL 314), Gender and Global Human Rights (SOCL 318), Migration in a Global Context (SOCL 408), Energy, Environment, and Development (SOCL 427) and Comparative Race Relations (SOCL 431).

Students in this concentration gain analytical skills in comparative and transnational research methods, critical thinking about global inequalities, and the ability to assess the impact of global processes on diverse issues such as development, migration, health, and environmental sustainability.

This concentration prepares students for careers in globally-oriented organizations, including government agencies, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research and consulting firms, think tanks, and private firms.

Maya Farr-Henderson ('20 B.A.) has been hired as a Research Coordinator in the Behavioral Health and Performance Lab at NASA, after completing a Masters in Public Health at Emory University. As NASA is preparing for long duration space flight, she will help study the behavioral health and impact of astronauts experiencing extended isolation. Maya says ”I am so excited to use sociological tools in complement with biomedical research to study a little microcosm of society living and working together towards a specific goal in space and to contribute in any way I can to make their work easier.” After graduation, Maya also published research from her W&M senior honors thesis in Sociology of Development, a journal of the American Sociological Association (available here). Her research explored the tensions and contradictions of international volunteering.

Kibiriti Majuto ('21) was accepted to Yale University to start his studies in Climate Change Science and Solution. He will also work for the Congressional Research Service in the Middle East and Africa Section.

Study Abroad

Major Concentrations

Concentration Career Paths

Health, Medicine, and Wellbeing

Social Problems, Policy, and Justice

Criminology, Law, and Society Concentration

Globalization Concentration

Concentration Career Paths

Health, Medicine, and Wellbeing

Overview

Courses Offered

Skills Learned

Career Paths

Graduate Schools

Research

Faculty Point People

Interdisciplinarity and Campus Resources

Alum Spotlight

Internships

Social Problems, Policy, and Justice

Overview

Courses Offered

Skills Learned

Career Paths

Graduate Programs

Links to Relevant ASA Sections

Journals

Faculty Point People

Interdisciplinarity and Campus Resources

Alum Spotlight

Research

Internship

Criminology, Law, and Society Concentration

Overview

Courses Offered

Skills Learned

Career Paths

Faculty Point People

Graduate Programs

Links to relevant ASA Sections

Journals

Interdisciplinarity and Campus Resources

Globalization Concentration

Overview

Courses Offered

Skills Learned

Career Paths

Graduate Programs

Links to relevant ASA Sections

Journals

Faculty Point People

Interdisciplinarity and Campus Resources

Alum Spotlight

Other Opportunities