Human and Social Sciences

What is it to be human, and where and how do human beings thrive? Addressing those questions is the heart of the concentration in Anthropology and Sociology.

            You might expect that answers to the questions need to come from, say, the philosophy or the theology or the psychology or the politics departments, on the one hand, and the biology department on the other. All of them, and others as well, have a great deal to say about the fundamental questions of being human. They also say different things: human beings are rational animals, made in the image and likeness of God, affective, desiring, and meaning-seeking animals, political and valuing animals, only animals (albeit of a distinctive type). It is, unfortunately, not immediately clear how to reconcile these divergent answers. Things get all the more complicated when one adds answers given by modern social and behavioral sciences like sociology, anthropology, economics, cognitive science, animal psychology, linguistics, etc., etc., etc. Is it left to each undergraduate (and human being!) to puzzle out matters for him- or herself? If you want a thoughtful response, come join us in Anthropology and Sociology to think about them together.

What are the institutions, structures, and practices that encourage change? What resources exist within contemporary societies to foster, to resist, and to adapt to change? Can a heritage or tradition be preserved in the face of unfettered dynamism? To what degree can we understand the forces and processes at work in the contemporary world, and how far can we guide our practice by what we learn of them? In light of the great Western traditions of learning, culture, and Christian belief, how can we productively and creatively address the impending future? These are the kinds of questions that are addressed by the concentration in Anthropology and Sociology.

            Students have the opportunity to explore these questions through their own guided research project(s). Students can develop practical skills in research design, interviewing, and data analysis. Previous research projects have addressed food insecurity in South Dallas, experiences of loneliness in college dorms, understandings of the word “ghetto”, body image and religiosity, and representations of mental illness among Latinos in film.

A major goal of the Anthropology and Sociology concentration is to counteract the divisive force of intellectual overspecialization and compartmentalization by drawing on all the social and behavioral sciences, as well as appropriate humanities and scientific disciplines, in order to understand the constitution of human meaning.