College graduates with an Anthropology or Sociology degree pursue a range of occupations in education, law, business, public policy and government. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for graduates in both anthropology and sociology for 2012-2022 is growing at a “faster than average” pace.
Statistics on the career routes of the department’s alumni can be found here.
To continue your research on career prospects in our fields, consult the following sources:
- “An essay on careers” (with particular reference to Anthropology), Gary Ferraro, Wadsworth Publishing
- Careers page of the American Anthropological Association.
- Careers in Sociology, website of American Sociological Association
- Article from the New York Times, December 5, 2004: “Choosing a College Major: For Love or for the Money?” which includes interviews with students who majored in Sociology or Anthropology.
- Article from the New York Times, March 12, 2006, about the use of anthropological research techniques by the design firm IDEO.
For students contemplating a major in this department, it would be hard to find a better summary of why people are drawn to anthropological or sociological fieldwork than the short video “Doing Anthropology,” produced at MIT by Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson (Chris Boebel, director).