The Department of Sociology is dedicated toward creating competent and socially sensitive graduates through rigorous teaching/training programmes, outreach activities and a nurturing of critical consciousness along with thoughtful understanding of contemporary society. We motivate our students to think intensely about what it means to inhabit the world with others, and how these relations affect ourselves.

The curriculum lays emphasis on the teaching and learning of general concerns of Sociology as well as the issues of Sociological significance in India. A combination of participatory, experiential and creative pedagogy is used for transacting the curricula with a view to fostering dialogue, mutual learning and critical reflection. The pedagogical practices also utilise an inter-disciplinary framework combining classical approaches in conjunction with emerging areas of research. The students pursuing their Undergraduate and Master’s in the Department not only have to learn critical approaches and perspectives in the classroom but are also encouraged to participate in short field surveys as part of their mandatory project work . The Department exposes the students to the prevailing social realities through activities such as outreach programmes, regular film screening, seminars and other programmes in collaboration with other social organisations. The curriculum also inculcates critical writing skill through courses on Text reading, Book Review, Article writing and Report writing. Our vision in Sociology is "To become a leading centre of sociological learning in pursuit of a just and humane society." And our mission is "To provide theoretically sound, methodologically rigorous and empirically grounded education with an interdisciplinary perspective." The Department at the moment has three whole time Faculty and a few visiting Faculty.

Studying sociology at SNU will enable students to interpret their relationship with the community they exist in, as the curriculum focuses on how our daily life experiences are connected to others with whom we co-exist and how we shape and are shaped by our surrounding society. The curriculum disseminates knowledge on specific issues of sociological importance in India, with the goal of making young minds conscious about the history, potentials and possibilities of the country. Furthermore, a pivotal feature of the courses at SNU on Indian society and Sociological thinking in India highlight how Indian everything were reconstructed as traditional, backward, stagnant by hegemonic Orientalist European understanding especially from mid 18^th century (i.e. with Colonization) onwards. That is to say, how this has became integral part of our pedagogy and framework, and how we followed the framework of colonization of knowledge in Sociological analysis of Indian Society. Ergo, the courses bring to the fore what India was in reality through analysis of her original historical –Sociological sources and decolonize our knowledge and paradigms about Indian society maintaining a logical distinction between science and ideology.

We thus, emphasise on reading original texts to impart theoretically sound, empirically grounded and methodologically rigorous education with an interdisciplinary perspective to help producing competent graduates with in-depth knowledge and skills for application of the insights of the discipline to concerns of various fields and make them ready also to handle the new challenges in a changing job market scenario.

The combination of participatory, pragmatic and creative pedagogy used for executing the curricula with a view to fostering dialogue, mutual learning and critical reflection generally help students become aware of the living patterns they reinforce, create, challenge, change and recreate. Beyond the classroom, our students play an active role in all aspects of Departmental life, contributing to a dynamic and growing community of students and scholars of sociology at SNU.

At SNU, enhancement of skills for reading, critical learning, academic writing and oral presentation, are accompanied with a foreign language skill which not only empowers students to enhance intellectual enrichment alongside the demands of job market globally and locally.

At SNU, teaching sociology takes a qualitative shift to discourage rote learning and encourage student participation in lessons through in class interaction, mentored seminars, continuous assessments, interactive workshops, special lectures, film screenings, national and international seminars and webinars. Inculcating care and empathy, the pedagogy at SNU cultivates a student to be a reflexive and grounded individual with a deep and critical understanding of the world and our position in it. The curriculum at SNU thus, explores intersections, ruptures and continuities that form the essence of past, present and future life.

The Department exposes students to areas of Sociology with interdisciplinary focus such as science, technology and society, health, illness and society, childhood, Sociology of Childhood and Youth, Sociology of Environment, Sociology of Health and Illness, Information Society and Digital Sociology which are not offered in many Sociology Departments in India. In fact, we introduced interdisciplinary courses even before NEP 2020.

Areas of Focus: The vision of the Department is reflected in our research areas centred on Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Childhood and Youth, Sociology of Science, Technology and Society, Sociology of Health & Illness and Sociology of Environment.

Career Advising and Planning

A major in sociology provides an ideal background to pursue a range of careers:

• business careers  (management, marketing and advertising, personnel and human relations);
• criminal justice careers (law enforcement, courts, corrections; juvenile justice);
• social service careers (social work; counselling, administration, drug rehabilitation; health administration); family services; disability services);
• careers in social policy, politics and law (attorney, legal investigator, legal assistant, policy advocate, policy analysis, urban planning, philanthropy; public administration, polling, social research);
• educational careers (college professor; college administrator; university student services; social science teacher; school administrator.)

The Department of Sociology offers certificate courses on

1. Parenting and Child Rights.

2. Gender Sensitization &Gender Mainstreaming

Number of students and faculty (visiting and full-time)

• There are 3 Full time teachers and 4 visiting faculty (one is only for one semester)
• Total Number of Students:  B.A. (Hons.) Eighteen (18) and Five (5) in MA

Placements/internships/industrial visits (January 2021 onwards)

• UG AND PG Final year students are sent to organizations as interns.