Gaziantep University’s Sociology Department is relatively new. Yet, the Department of Sociology at Gaziantep has a proven track record in innovative, meticulous, and steadfast approach to empirical sociological research. Established in 1998 and accepted first undergraduate students in 2006, the department taught in Turkish up until 2019. Throughout its first decade and a half, the department consistently admitted students from the top quintile (upper %20). In 2019, our department started admissions only for the English taught sociology major. Gaziantep Sociology is the fifth fully English taught sociology undergraduate degree amidst the public universities in Turkey -the others are Bosphorus University, METU, Marmara University, and Ankara Social Sciences University. Besides, we are the only English taught sociology department in the wider geographical area.
What is Sociology?
To put it very briefly, sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and results of human interactions. We, as sociologists, purport to study and comprehend the structure of groups, organization, societies and how these structures and individual behaviors change over time.
Employment opportunities for sociology majors
A sociology major provides the necessary skills for employment in market research, nonprofit sector, international non-governmental organizations and foundations, international governmental organizations, advertisement, copywriting, creative industries, family counselors, and public sector jobs.
Gaziantep Sociology Course Curriculum
Our undergraduate program aims to provide a nurturing but challenging introduction to sociology as one of the best public university programs in Turkey. While developing our new curriculum, we set our objective to limit the number of compulsory courses and to expand academic horizons for the students employing an enriched curriculum. From the sophomore year onwards, sociology majors are encouraged to take most of their course load from a wide selection of elective courses. Our pedagogical approach puts the student at the helm of their sociological journey and since each individual’s interests and aptitudes vary widely, we expect our students to create their own learning path.
Why Sociology at Gaziantep?
Built into courses and the curriculum are opportunities for students to develop a sense of social responsibility by critically engaging the social world outside the classroom. The department seeks the active participation of students in sociological inquiry. To enable that, our curriculum encourages students to make their own discoveries about human social experiences. In their senior year, all undergraduate students are required to bring together and apply what they have learned in the completion of a faculty-mentored honor’s thesis, which is an independent research project in essence.
In the tradition of a liberal arts education, the sociology curriculum is designed to promote a sense of curiosity about the variegated ways humans create, transform and adapt to their surroundings, self-reflection, and appreciation of perspectives and experiences outside their own, and public intellectualism through attentive, creative, articulate engagement with social affairs and issues.
