Our program prepares you for professional practice in human service agencies and applied research settings as well as for further academic study in sociology and related fields. Engaged faculty work with graduate students in a highly collaborative academic atmosphere. Funding opportunities include graduate assistantships, competitive stipends, and tuition waivers.
If you’re wondering how to apply sociological theory and methodologies to find solutions to the problems facing society, you may want to consider an MA in Applied Sociology at Northern Arizona University. Here, you can build on your existing knowledge while preparing for job opportunities in applied research settings, teaching, grassroots community settings, government, or for further academic studies in sociology.
This applied Master’s program offers a diverse and highly collaborative academic atmosphere. You can design your coursework to reflect your personal interests, as well as choose between an internship or a thesis. Learn with faculty who have expertise in a range of areas including health, race and ethnicity, culture, community, environment, gender, social policy, deviance, social psychology, and demography.
To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units.
You must additionally complete:
Read the full policy here.
In addition to University Requirements:
| Minimum Units for Completion | 38 |
| Fieldwork Experience/Internship | Optional |
| Thesis | Thesis may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Oral Defense | Oral Defense may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Research | Individualized research may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option. |
| Progression Plan Link | View Program of Study |
Purpose Statement
The M.A. Program in Applied Sociology prepares students for applying sociological theories, methods and skills in researching and analyzing social lives, behaviors and aggregations, for instance, groups, societies, organizations and institutions, for the purpose of understanding social structures, power, and transformations, and building strategies to solve social problems. The Program expands its scope to both the national and global levels, and puts emphasis on NAU three themes of global learning: diversity, environmental sustainability, and global engagement.
The Program includes three optional concentration areas. First, the Sociology of Health concentration area focuses on the impact of social life, including all its dimensions: political, economic, cultural or otherwise, on rates of morbidity and mortality. This concentration area includes medical sociology as well, where students study patients-practitioners relationships within the context of medical organizations. Second, the Women, Gender and Race concentration area focuses on the social construction of gender and racial identities, as well as their relationships with other social identities, and their shifting positions in social structures of power. Third, the Environment, Sustainability and Globalization concentration area keeps pace with the shifting boundaries of sociology to study the interdependencies of the social, economic and ecological dimensions of life, the emergence, structures and dynamics of the global society, and the massive social consequences that result from environmental changes.
Through these concentration areas, students study a variety of social issues, such as, health inequality, sexuality, racial and ethnic conflicts, environmental justice, global social movements, the network society, sustainable communities, etc.
The Program will enable students, not only to recall and comprehend a number of theories and methods, but also to select among a variety of classic and contemporary social theories, and a variety of qualitative or quantitative methods the ones that properly fit a certain social phenomenon or problem, be it local or global. Students will be able to apply these theories and methods to analyze, interpret or evaluate specific local or global social phenomena or structures, and sociologically describe them, design sociological solutions to their identified and analyzed problems, and clearly present their findings to either an academic community or the public in general.
Aware of a number of local and global social issues and problems, and armed with the knowledge of sociological theories and methods, and the skills of analyzing data, evaluating programs and designing social policies and solutions, the graduates of this Program can join doctorate programs in sociology or related fields, teach sociology, or work in local or global, research centers, governmental or non governmental organizations, industry, business, marketing departments, etc.
The M.A. Program in Sociology is designed for students, who are interested in building a career in social research, working in human services agencies, teaching sociology in community colleges, engaging in grassroots activism and social change, or pursuing a doctorate degree in sociology.
Student Learning Outcomes
Graduates will be able to:
Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College.
Admission requirements include the following:
Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies.
Ready to apply? Begin your application now.
International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy.
Take the following 38 units:
Applied Sociology Courses (11 units)
Electives (21 units)
Select in consultation with your committee.
Internship or Thesis (6 units)
Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.