Sociology also can help us prepare for specific careers, by studying particular sectors of society (discussed below), and by sharpening our skills needed to be effective in business and public life, such as analytic thinking and problem solving, information gathering and interpretation, and report writing. Sociology is unique in its recognition not only that societies shape us, but also that we shape our societies.

This latter process is present in all societies and all human groups, but it is especially central to democracy in which citizens are explicitly expected to participate in shaping their society. Indeed, without an informed and active citizenry, democracy withers and dies. Whether it’s the prospects for your marriage, the safety of your neighborhood, the likelihood of success in your chosen occupation, or the future of your planet, these outcomes depend as much on world-historical changes taking place in society as on issues of ability and character at the individual level.

The faculty at BlueJays will endeavor to provide the students with the tools of the sociological imagination and introduce them to the process by which sociological theories are developed and how those theories may usefully be applied to major social problems.