Should I study sociology or anthropology?
Do you plan on studying chimps in the wild?
Uh, no.
There are not many jobs in that.
Do you plan on studying people and blaming
everything on evolution?
No.
Where do you get that idea?
There are a lot of unemployed anthropologists
trying to explain everything from dating profile
patterns to purchasing habits to child rearing
on evolution.
I thought you’d say school shootings or
food allergies.
Food allergies might be blamed on evolution,
or at least genetics.
But you have more serious job offers if you
study hard sciences like biology or genetics,
instead of taking the easy way with anthropology.
Do you think I should plan on studying sociology?
It is an easy degree.
Unfortunately, it leads to a lot of hard jobs.
There’s a lot of competition for government
research positions studying social trends.
Or I could get a job at a non-profit as a
policy analyst.
Those jobs are mostly limited to doctorates
in sociology or even statistics.
What other jobs could I get?
You can find a job in marketing with a sociology
degree.
Or you end up an under-paid social worker.
I thought there was more work in academia.
There’s a glut of liberal arts majors, which
is what sociology is.
There are not very many academic jobs outside
of being the unpaid or barely paid lab rats
in someone else’s sociology experiment.
I could go into management.
You could get a job in management with 15
years experience or an art degree plus an
MBA.
You don’t have to go into sociology to get
into management, and people would respect
you more if you at least had a business degree.
What else could I do?
Earn a master’s in psychology and become
a therapist.
I’d have to be crazy to take that route.
And you’re the one trying to make a living
by studying if not understanding human nature.
