The Sociology Department offers three undergraduate majors leading to the BA degree: Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Psychology. We also offer two programs at the Master's level. Our two-year program leading to the MA in Applied Sociology is for students who have already obtained their undergraduate degrees. Our five-year accelerated BA/MA is designed for current UMass Boston undergraduates who are enrolled in one of our three department majors.

Of the three undergraduate majors, the Sociology major offers students the broadest scope of curriculum options. Students may take courses about core institutions in American society, including the workplace, family, the media, health care and the criminal justice system. Other courses focus on the dynamic social forces that impact culture and individuals, including immigration, social inequality, globalization, population diversity and cultural differences. Faculty advisors help students plan the major so that the elective coursework component reflects their interests and career directions. In addition to required courses in sociological theory and research methods, students may take a six-credit internship course to complete the 30-credit major, or they may instead take a senior-level seminar as their final major requirement.

The Criminal Justice major provides a social scientific grounding to issues of crime and criminal justice. Through classes, internships and special projects, majors explore the nature of criminal behavior, its causes, and society’s responses. This 39-credit major includes required courses in policing, sociology of law, corrections, racial/ethnic diversity, and research methods.  These and other courses also focus on issues central to criminal justice policies and practices, including mental illness, substance use and abuse, immigration, and gender. A required component of the major is a six-credit internship in a criminal justice agency that the student chooses. Our department's internship coordinator assists students in selecting and applying for their internship. The criminal justice major is approved by the Commonwealth’s Board of Higher Education for Quinn Bill benefits.

The joint major in Social Psychology focuses on areas where the fields of sociology and psychology overlap. It is one of the oldest subfields of both disciplines. Drawing on the rich history of research in both sociology and psychology, social psychology students explore important and wide-ranging issues such as power and status inequalities, mental, emotional and physical health, deviance and conformity, and interpersonal communication. Such issues occur across the course of human development, in both small groups and larger contexts. Social psychology majors typically seek careers in social services, education, health and medicine, business and other fields where the dynamics of individual functioning and interpersonal behavior are critical to success. This major is offered jointly with the Psychology department, and program requirements include coursework in both disciplines. For their senior capstone requirement, social psychology majors complete either a supervised internship or an advanced course in either department.