Practitioners – Sociology at Work

Sociology in the News

In the Metro of North Korea, a group of men read a bulletin board, with people walking in the background

We look back at some examples of public sociology from the past year, and news of sociologists forging social change around the world.

Sociological Record

Painting of a self-portrait of Zofia Rydet. She is a young white woman with short light curly hair, wearing a white top and a long necklace, as she looks into a camera. A man is hazy in the background

Zofia Rydet is a Polish photographer who spent 20 years documenting the ‘Sociological Record.’ We review her work, and then take a look at visual sociology as an applied practice.

Sociology of Disaster Recovery

Two Black women face away, looking at a flattened house and debris, beside fallen trees

We examine why a sociological understanding of emergency planning is necessary for the recovery process following Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica.

Visual Sociology of Digital Gender Gap

A Chinese woman wearing sunglasses and earphones smiles as she looks at her mobile

The Digital Gender Gaps project provides a free online data dashboard to track gender inequity in internet and mobile phone use.

Visual Sociology of Housing Crisis

Three sets of tall, crowded buildings in Hong Kong with little sunlight, with hundreds of balconies

A new exhibition uses visual sociology to tackle the social stigma of living in subdivided units, bedspace and ‘coffin home’ apartments in Hong Kong.

Sociology of Disaster Planning

Aerial view of a large hilly area flattened by the Palisades Fire, California, n 15 January 2025. Around half the homes are reduced to rubble, while the other half still stand

Two show how sociology can inform disaster planning, and why public policy must invest in better strategies and community education.

Sociology of Economics

Professors Herbert Gans and Michèle Lamont have been interviewed by The New York Times, about what social policy might look like if sociologists had as much influence as economists.

Doing Interdisciplinary Work in Applied Sociology

An Asian woman and white man sit at a table looking to the side, with their laptops in front of them

Interdisciplinary research is highly valued outside academia. In applied contexts, the end product is not a research report, but a new product, model, software, or some other practical outcome.

Applied Sociology and Economic Consulting

Small figurine of a white man reading a newspaper with one leg crossed over another, as he sits atop a pile of giant coins

A new article argues economics is best position to influence social policy because they out-earn other disciplines.

So Social Science Degrees are in Decline? How Applied Sociology Can Help

An Asian man, a white woman, and a Black man huddle together for a selfie next to a tree, with a university in the background

New data show social science and history degrees have gone down from around 18% of Bachelor’s degrees conferred in 1970-1971, to around 10% in 2011-2012. Let’s dive into how applied sociology trends may help to interpret these data.