A sociology professor with advanced degrees may be titled professor or doctor, depending on their research or teaching focus. They teach classes, supervise students, and participate in research projects for publication. Job duties vary depending on the institution’s emphasis on publishing.
A sociology professor is a person who has earned advanced degrees in sociology. If a doctorate was obtained, professor or doctor may be an appropriate title. Most of the time, the title of doctor is preferred by those who work in research areas; while a teacher is more common for people who teach, and therefore profess, what they know for other people. The term professor is sometimes used by people with a master’s degree in sociology but who teach at a junior or community college or four-year university. Given the number of places a sociology professor can teach, the job description can vary.
At four-year colleges and those offering advanced degrees, a sociology professor is at least partially focused on teaching classes in his field. This can include introductory classes and can also involve junior/senior level courses and graduate level work. When there is a large graduate department on campus, part of the professor’s job may be to work with students in the graduate program, who might act as section leaders in very large classes or as teachers of smaller classes.
Depending on your interest, sociology professors can make themselves available to those who are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in sociology agree to advise them on the courses to be taken and to supervise senior, master’s or doctoral theses. The courses taught each term may vary, and some professors have the luxury of creating their own classes in the field, or they may be experts in one area of sociology and always teach in that area. Some people prefer to teach beginning or introductory sociology courses, while other times a sociology professor is more comfortable in much smaller undergraduate or high school seminar classes.
Many colleges, particularly with undergraduate and doctoral programs, have a strong emphasis on publishing. The constant emergence of new materials accepted in the academic community can increase the pool of knowledge on a specific subject and the reputation of the school. Therefore, a professor of sociology employed in this environment knows that part of that employment is contributing to the scholarly literature of his subject. In sociology, this usually means creating research projects or going back in time to study the sociological aspects of some historical or cultural feature. When actual research is involved, faculty may invite participation from students who could work as assistants in data collection or collection.
In a college with a strong publishing/perishing environment, the sociology professor tends to teach fewer than five classes and may only teach three or four. When significant research is underway, the faculty may not assign classes to the professor, but teaching resumes when the project is completed. This differs greatly from the professor of sociology on a college campus, who, full-time if possible, teaches five classes each term. There is less emphasis on publishing in this environment and more emphasis on helping students take general education courses.
A sociology professor might do the following:
Design and teach classes, preparing all tests, materials and grading some or all of the material.
Supervise students by advising or advising them on studying subjects, becoming thesis advisors or being direct employers of section professors or researchers.
Actively participate in research and academic projects for publication.
Other activities a sociology professor might do are consulting or advising the general public or think tanks on issues related to the field, working with a university to develop curriculum standards for the sociology department, or working as a department chair and representing the concerns from the department to the University.
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