Sociology is a field of study which prepares one to inquire into the nature of the social environment and to make connections between society at large and personal experience. Sociology questions the inevitability of social rules, cultural norms, poverty, discrimination, and the like, demonstrating that these and other social phenomena are molded by particular historical processes in various and differing ways. It is this important feature of the discipline that reveals the possibilities of other ways of life, of other social worlds, setting a foundation for questioning the taken-for-granted worlds we live in, and hence positioning us as potential actors to construct a more open and democratic existence.

Within this framework, the Department of Sociology seeks to prepare students as individuals with a critical sensibility, as persons cognizant of both local and global developments and able to pursue careers in a variety of professions. In today’s world knowledge quickly changes and becomes outdated. We live in a world where individuals can be expected to make significant changes in the work they do throughout their careers, and the future surely will bring more of the same. It is for that reason that, in addition to providing them with the requisite technical knowledge in the field, we place great importance on our students’ developing the ability to access information and to adapt what they have learned to varying and inevitably changing circumstances. We have constructed our classes and the projects we ask our students to develop with these goals in mind. Departmental instructors and assistants work very closely with students and ensure that they are able to express themselves in both the written word and orally in the best possible manner. We provide students with the possibility of an international educational experience via the Erasmus exchange agreements we have made as a department with equivalent departments in some of Europe’s best universities. In the process we make every effort to ensure that students master the English language, and structure our classes at BİLGİ with that goal in mind.

We note with pride that upon completion of the course of education in Sociology at BİLGİ in terms of the goals which we have described above, our students come to possess both strong foundational knowledge and skills and the tools to pursue successful careers in numerous fields. Indeed, many of them continue their education in Sociology at the post-graduate level in Turkey or in a number of world-class universities in other countries. In addition, our graduates also have secured successful careers in such diverse fields as human resources, advertising, publishing, or market research. Others hold positions as project coordinators or administrators in the many NGOs that have come to play an increasingly important role in Turkey.