Sharon Lang
Department Chair
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
About the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology offers an array of courses on various aspects of social life worldwide. We strive to understand humanity in all its social and cultural diversity. Our courses explore the relationship between individual experience and its broader cultural and historical contexts. We regard our disciplines as liberatory enterprises: we seek to reveal the social structures, power relationships, and prejudices that keep people from directing their own lives. As such, ours are value-laden disciplines. We emphasize the possibility of change in human society, rooted in the understanding that social conditions are constructed through human action. At the same time, we believe that liberation is impossible without a clear, empirically grounded analysis of the social structures, institutions, and processes that reproduce relations of power and inequality.
Our program thus combines passion and dispassion into a whole that we believe gives our students a well-rounded liberal arts education. We contribute to the University’s mission by challenging stereotypes and promoting pluralistic values and a reflective understanding of the social and cultural world. In doing so, we encourage students to make enlightened choices and engage in responsible citizenship.
Gain experience from day one
Gain experience from day one
We offer an array of courses on various aspects of social life worldwide. Our experiential courses include: Dancing Around the World, Jewish Cooking, Culture, and Community; Middle Eastern Women Speak; Principles of Archaeology; Human Origins, and more.
Internships provide students opportunities to engage in responsible citizenship. Recent internships have taken place at: Liberty Village, Thaddeus Foundation, San Bernardino County Museum, Statistical Research Incorporated Archeology Firm, Our House Youth Shelter, and more.
Students are encouraged to do independent studies and may attain departmental financial support. Examples of independent studies include but not limited to:
- Community-Based Collaboration with Liberty Village, a supportive housing community in Beaumont, CA, that serves veterans with disabilities, those who have experienced chronic homelessness, and low-income veteran families
- Working for an Attorney: Connections between Law And Sociology
- Social Work Internship with Thaddeus Foundation
- Yiddish Culture and Language
- Anthropology of Reproductive Justice
Redlands offers students more than 100+ study away locations and semester-long programs. SOAN students are encouraged to study abroad and should meet with their advisors to plan which course may transfer as credits toward the SOAN major.
Explore degree programs in Sociology and Anthropology
Sociology and Anthropology Major
By studying across borders, learn about social structures, the cultural worlds, and human behaviors.
Sociology and Anthropology Minor
The SOAN minor is a popular choice because it pairs well with many other fields of study.
Recent graduate school acceptances
Where our SOAN graduates are now
Student Testimonial
“Studying abroad in Salzburg was the highlight of my time here and still resonates all these years later. Being able to travel Europe, live at Monchsberg, be immersed in new cultures and languages, and live a slower pace of life helped make me a more educated citizen of the world. I'm filled with gratitude for all the memories and to be an alumnus of such a beautiful and prestigious university, and the four years spent at Redlands are the foundation of who I am, and there are so many instances of 'If I don't go to Redlands and major in SOAN, then this doesn't happen, or that doesn't happen.' It really did change my life, and I'm so grateful because it was the perfect place to go for me and learn and grow as a person.”
— Michael DiMatteo ’18, B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology
INQUIRY MEETS IMPACT
Preserving cultures through archaeology
Professor Wes Bernardini, Ph.D., gives students hands-on experience through real archaeological research. For more than 25 years, he has collaborated with the Hopi Tribe, involving students in field notes, artifact cataloging, and site documentation. Former student Jamie Nord Parra ’19 developed valuable skills as Bernardini’s research assistant. Learn more about how this experience helped launch her career as a professional archaeologist.
SOAN in action
Our department provides opportunities for students to engage with a diversity of cultures, communities, and experiences. This includes experiential courses: dancing around the world; Jewish cooking, culture, community; Middle Eastern women speak; and Archaeology field courses.
Sociology and Anthropology faculty
Our faculty combine academic expertise with real-world experience, mentoring students through coursework, research, and career development.
