Waterloo's Sociology Department provides a supportive, friendly, and intellectually vibrant environment in which to learn and to cultivate a sociological analysis of the most pressing issues confronting societies today. Through our stimulating MA and PhD programs, graduate students gain a stronger understanding of social, political, economic, and cultural relations through sociological theory and methods, critical analysis, and interdisciplinary research training. Our programs offer courses and research agendas in areas such as law, crime, and security, social inequalities and public policy, migration and transnationalism, governance studies, and culture and education. The University of Waterloo's Department of Sociology and Legal Studies is a research-intensive department that offers diverse academic programs that examine many of the most pressing issues confronting societies today. We offer undergraduate and graduate degrees (MA and PhD) in Sociology (since 1960) and an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree in Legal Studies (since 2009). The department is committed to research and teaching excellence by providing an intellectually vibrant setting for sociological and socio-legal scholarship and by fostering a culture of academic and professional mentorship among students and faculty. Our programs emphasize the department's foundational strengths in social theory and research methods while faculty and student scholarship advances our knowledge in the department's thematic areas: Crime, Law, and Security, Knowledge, Education, and Digital Culture, Migration, Borders, and Transnationalism, and Social Inequality and Public Policy. The results of our research and teaching help people to gain a deeper understanding of one's place in society, to understand the complex social, political, economic, and cultural environments within which we live, and to value a diversity of ideas and perspectives.
