About Us
The Department of Sociology prepares students to understand the social forces shaping our lives – and to change them – through rigorous research, close mentorship and a commitment to social justice.
Explore Comprehensive Programs
The Department of Sociology offers comprehensive programs spanning diversity and inequality, the sociology of culture, and health, medicine and well-being. We emphasize ethical research, critical thinking and hands-on community engagement – developing the skills to design and carry out research, evaluate evidence and communicate persuasively – and preparing students for careers across the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
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History & Mission
The Department of Sociology's history is inseparable from one of the University of Louisville's most important stories. Charles H. Parrish, Jr. – UofL's first Black faculty member – joined the department in 1951 after the closure of Louisville Municipal College and chaired Sociology from 1959 to 1964. His legacy lives on across campus: Parrish Court was dedicated in his honor in 1977, Freedom Park on Cardinal Boulevard bears his name, and he was inducted into the College of Arts & Sciences Hall of Honor in 2007.
That commitment to understanding – and confronting – social inequality still defines the department. Today our faculty and students study diversity and inequality, the sociology of culture, and health, medicine and well-being, pairing rigorous research methods with engagement in the Louisville community. From fully online bachelor's degrees to a doctoral program in applied sociology, the department prepares students at every level to study the social world scientifically – and to put that knowledge to work.
Who we serve
Our students include undergraduate majors and minors along with students completing Cardinal Core requirements and social science electives. At the graduate level we serve master's and doctoral students in sociology – some attending full-time, others working professionals (including several UofL employees) attending part-time – as well as graduate students from across campus taking our statistics, methods and content seminars. However you arrive, you'll find small classes, accessible faculty and a department that knows your name.
The Parrish Legacy
Charles H. Parrish, Jr. (1899–1989) was the only Louisville Municipal College faculty member offered an appointment at UofL when the university integrated, becoming its first Black educator – and a member of this department, which he chaired from 1959 to 1964. His story, and that of his father, Simmons University president Charles H. Parrish, Sr., is preserved in the Ekstrom Library's African American Oral History Collection, in Parrish Court on Belknap Campus, and in the Charles H. Parrish, Jr. Freedom Park on Cardinal Boulevard. To study sociology at UofL is to inherit that legacy of scholarship in the service of justice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. Its scope is far-reaching: sociologists study a wide range of topics, from individual interactions to community processes to global issues.
Sociology and psychology both study human behavior scientifically – but sociology examines the social (external) forces and structures that shape behavior, while psychology examines the individual (internal) ones. And where social work prepares students to become practitioners connecting people with services, sociology builds the skills to examine our social world through scientific study.
Curiosity, mostly – about how social factors shape who we are, our attitudes and actions, and the opportunities and challenges we experience. Many students also come to sociology wanting to effect change, and leave with the analytical skills to do it.
Yes – both the BA and BS in sociology can be completed fully online, as can all four of our minors. In-person students can also mix in online courses as their schedules demand.
Both degrees build from Introduction to Sociology through Social Statistics, Research Methods, Social Theory, and Diversity and Inequality, plus upper-level electives in areas like social institutions, culture, and health and medicine. Students can also concentrate in a track: diversity and inequality or sociology of culture (BA), or health, medicine and well-being (BS).
Nearly anything involving people. Our graduates build careers in business, community services, criminal justice, education, health care, human resources, law, public health, public policy, social work and urban planning – fields that prize the research, analysis and communication skills sociology develops.
Ready to transform social understanding into meaningful impact?
Explore Sociology at the University of Louisville — where critical research skills, community engagement, and tracks in Health and Well-Being, Relationships and Inequality, and Urban Studies prepare graduates for careers in social work, public health, policy, education, and beyond.