Department of Sociology

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Hundreds of demonstrators from the community gather and speak out against racism and racial injustice

The study of race, justice, and inequality is at the fore for many of our faculty and graduate students.

See our research and resources on understanding and ameliorating racial inequality More
Pedestrians ride their bicycles and walk on a colorful tree-lined path

We are proud to be consistently ranked as a top Sociology department in the country, excelling in a wide variety of intellectual pursuits.

Lake Mendota, Lake Monona, along with the downtown Madison.

“Guided by the Wisconsin Idea of service to the citizens of Wisconsin and beyond, the Department of Sociology conducts world-class research on important local and global social issues and prepares students for meaningful careers and lives of engaged citizenship.”
- Mission Statement of the Department of Sociology

Our department is a well-knit community of faculty, staff, and students.  Under our umbrella, we pursue research that is leading many sociological subfields in new and different directions. We emphasize teaching and public service as well as research. Indeed, we draw no hard boundaries between our research, teaching, and service missions. We value and promote methodological, social, and cultural diversity.

The Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is committed to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality. We condemn the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha as well as the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony Robinson and many others before and since. We are adamantly against racism and bigotry in all of its forms.

Resources on Race, Justice, and Inequality

UW-Madison students (near to far) Courtney Gorum, Molly Pistono and Daniel Ledin work together to paint a mural commemorating the names of Black victims of police violence and racial injustice throughout the country on a boarded up window of the Community Pharmacy building on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin on June 5, 2020. The mural is one of many that have been painted on businesses and shops along the street following several nights of protests in response to the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a black man, on May 25, 2020. (Photo by Bryce Richter / UW-Madiso

Winter 2020 Commencement Speaker:

Sociology Alumna Rose Lavelle

Lavelle was a member of the U.S. Women’s soccer team that won the World Cup championship in the summer of 2019. Lavelle majored in Sociology in 2017.  She shared life lessons and her admiration for UW-Madison in her address to winter graduates. Read more…

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News and Announcements

Group of Sociology PhD graduates 2018
Gina Longo, Daanika Gordon, Casey Stockstill, and Katrina Quisumbing King celebrate completing their doctoral degrees in 2018.