Gain an intellectual foundation to become an informed and engaged global citizen.

What are Social Sciences?

The social sciences investigate and educate students about individual and group behavior in different social and cultural contexts. Through the application of a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches, the social sciences strive to explain the variables that affect human decision-making; patterns of social, economic, and political development; and conflict and cooperation across the globe. Further, the social sciences explain how people allocate scarce resources in the framework of different social, governmental, and commercial institutions. A central component of the liberal arts, the social sciences contribute to an understanding of the historical development and contemporary structure of the global environment and provide an essential intellectual foundation for informed and engaged global citizens.

Social Sciences Departments

Economics and Business Administration
Education
Kinesiology
Political Science
Psychology
Public Health
Sociology and Anthropology

All students have the opportunity to take at least two social science courses as part of the Discover-General Education requirements for graduation. Not only may the following courses count for that requirement, but they also have no prerequisite courses making it possible for any student to enroll.

ANTH 123: Socio-Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 210: Native North America
ANTH 220: Anthropology of Africa
ANTH 236/SOC 236: Anthropology of the City
ANTH 248/SOC 248: Human Rights and Social Justice
ANTH 251: Film and Ethnography
ANTH 252: Anthropology of Food
ANTH 263: Whose Amazon?
ANTH 265: Latin America through an Anthropological Lens
BA 251: Business Law
ECO 101: Principles of Microeconomics

ECO 102: Principles of Macroeconomics

EDUC 115: American Education

EDUC 225: Schools and Society

ENVS 245: Food Systems

PSCI 110: American Government and Politics

PSCI 120: American Political Thought

PSCI 130: Introduction to International Relations

PSCI 140: Global Comparative Politics

PSCI 220: Constitution – Civil Liberties

PSY 101: General Psychology

SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology

What Will Students Learn from Social Science Courses?

All courses that count towards the social science Discover-General Education requirement must include at least one of the following student learning outcomes:

Acquiring Research Skills: “Students can identify and describe one or more methodological approaches used in the Social Sciences.”

Learning Theories of Human Behavior: “Students can describe individual and/or group behaviors using disciplinary appropriate language.”

Understanding the Ways Societies and Social Systems Function: “Students can explain how cultures and institutions inform society.”

Ganesh Maniam ’17

I graduated from Austin College in 2017 with a BA in Business Administration and a double minor in Leadership Studies & Healthcare Studies. Through the Austin College Gateways Program, I am now a dual-degree candidate at Texas Tech University, simultaneously working on earning my MD from TTUHSC School of Medicine and my MBA from TTU Rawls College of Business.… [Read More]

Lydia Bean ’02

Majors: Spanish & Music Ph.D., Sociology, Harvard University Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer at Faith in Texas Lydia is a Harvard-trained sociologist and author of The Politics of Evangelical Identity. As Executive Director and founder of Faith in Texas, she works to raise civic participation among low-income and moderate-income people of faith. Lydia writes… [Read More]

Tanishia Choice ’04

Tanishia Choice, a 2004 Psychology major, attended the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, completing her degree in 2008 as a co-recipient of the North Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians Award for the outstanding student in psychiatry. She continued fellowship work at UT Southwestern and was one of only 10 psychiatric residents nationwide to receive… [Read More]