Programs in the Social Sciences
The social science departments integrate the study of society and social behavior with two objectives of a liberal education—analytical thinking and critical writing. At Pomona, professors and students apply scientific techniques to the study of humanity. In recent years, social science graduates have gone directly into such fields as management consulting, legislative work, banking, corporate finance, urban planning, social research, journalism and consumer relations. They have also attended prestigious schools of law, medicine and business and have won Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Watson and Fulbright Fellowships.
American Studies This five-college program offers a multidisciplinary major that encourages students to think critically and creatively about the United States. Majors take multidisciplinary core courses as well as classes in a variety of fields such as literature, history, sociology, anthropology, political science, music and the visual arts. Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Art, Dance, Economics, English, History, Music, Politics and Sociology.
Anthropology
The Anthropology major introduces
students to cross-cultural, biocultural, and holistic approaches
to the scientific understanding of human behavior and
society, both past and present. Majors are encouraged to
participate in Study Abroad or a summer field program in
order to gain experience in a culture other than their own.
Faculty: 5 (Research interests include transnationalism on
the Sino-European frontier, human-environmental interactions,
Chumash ethnohistory, medical anthropology,
ancient Mesoamerica, health in transnational settings.)
Anthropology Department Web site
| coursework and requirements 
Asian American Studies
The Intercollegiate
Department of Asian American Studies offers a rigorous,
multidisciplinary program of study emphasizing social justice,
critical thinking, and innovative analysis of the history,
society and cultural production of Asians in the United States,
within both multiracial American and transnational contexts.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including History, English, Asian
Languages and Literatures, Politics and Psychology.
Asian
American Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Asian Studies
The oldest college-level program of its
kind in the nation, this interdisciplinary program combines
the humanities, social sciences and language studies. Majors
benefit from a language program that offers Chinese and
Japanese classes through the fifth year (Korean is offered at
a sister college) and resources of the Pacific Basin Institute.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Art, Asian
Languages and Literatures, Religious Studies and Theatre.
Asian
Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Black Studies
The Intercollegiate Department of
Black Studies allows students to examine human experiences
from a variety of African, African American and Caribbean
perspectives. The curriculum helps to unify an important area
of intellectual investigation and enhances appreciation of
particular disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Art, Economics, History,
English, Politics, Psychology and Religious Studies.
Black Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies
Chicana/o-
Latina/o Studies is an interdisciplinary field relating to
people of Latin American descent within the hemisphere.
Courses are distributed across four areas that make up the
major: Border and Transnational Studies, Educación: Social
Justice, Formation and Critical Pedagogy; Literature, Art and
Representation; and Politics, Social Movements and Labor.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Dance, History, Psychology,
Romance Languages and Literatures and Sociology.
Chicana/O-Latina/O Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Economics
The Economics major educates students in basic economic principles
so they can effectively analyze public issues and offers rigorous
training for students who expect to use the tools of economic
analysis in their careers. Majors may specialize in financial,
managerial, international, or industrial economics, or in another
area of focus. Faculty: 17 (Research interests include consumer
spending and saving, philanthropy, globalization, financial markets,
the impact of sanctions on third-world economies, gender and racial
pay differentials, Central European capitalism.)
Economics Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Environmental Analysis Program
One of the great challenges facing mankind is the effort to
build a sustainable future. This cross-disciplinary program
prepares students for careers in a range of environmental
problem-solving fields. The program participates in a study
abroad program at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Biology,
Chemistry, Economics, Geology, Philosophy and Politics.
Environmental
Analysis Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Gender and Women’s Studies
This
interdisciplinary program offers two kinds of majors. One
stands alone and emphasizes the theoretical focus of recent
feminist scholarship. The other is a joint major that links
feminist research and theory with another discipline such as
Art History, Economics, Psychology or Theatre.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Biology,
Classics, English, Music, Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Gender and Women's Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
History
Through the History major, students gain a rich
understanding of the past in all its cultural diversity through
course offerings that span the globe, including African, North
American, Asian, European, Mediterranean, and Latin
American history, with specially crafted courses that feature
and highlight the wide-ranging fields of faculty research.
Faculty: 15 (Research interests include African American
history, violence in early England, oil and culture in
Venezuela, saints and society in medieval Europe, Japanese
war diaries, international labor movements, decolonization.)
History Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
International Relations
This interdisciplinary
major fosters the analytical skills, clarity of expression and
leadership ability needed to meet the challenges of a
changing world. The programs’s emphasis on globalization
and regional studies is supported by requirements in modern
language and study abroad and by the rich on-campus
resources of the Pacific Basin Institute and Oldenborg Center.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by faculty in the
fields of Economics, History and Politics.
International
Relations Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Latin American Studies
Pomona’s interdisciplinary study in Latin American Studies fosters
an
understanding of the region through analysis of its culture,
history, politics and society. The program combines courses in
language study, the humanities and the social sciences with
independent work on campus and study abroad.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Economics,
History, Politics and Romance Languages and Literatures.
Latin
American Studies Department Web site
|
coursework and requirements
Linguistics & Cognitive Science
Pomona
is one of the few colleges to offer a major in linguistics and
in cognitive science, integrating philosophy, linguistics, logic,
psychology, neuroscience and computer science. The major
features two tracks: Linguistics (human language) and
Cognitive Science (the mind and intelligent behavior).
Faculty: 6 and a number of affiliated faculty in related fields
(Research interests include formal semantics of natural
language, negative polarity, cognitive and neural processes
of language, the syntax-semantics interface.)
Linguistics & Cognitive Science Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Media Studies
Pomona was the first college in the
nation to offer a Media Studies major. The intercollegiate
program is an interdisciplinary field that explores histories,
technologies and social and cultural contexts of a range of
contemporary media forms, including film, television, print,
the Internet and other electronic means of communication.
Faculty: 4 (5C faculty of 13) plus affiliated faculty from
many fields (Research interests include the conjunction of
contemporary fiction with other media, a psychoanalytically based
feminist theory of the visual.)
Media
Studies Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Philosophy, Politics & Economics
The
departments of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics jointly
offer a major in which students receive a foundation in the
methods and issues of each subject and a more detailed
knowledge of one subject area, enhanced by a contextual
awareness from the other two.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by faculty in the
fields of Economics, Philosophy and Politics.
Philosophy,
Politics &
Economics Department Web sites
| coursework and requirements
Politics
The Politics major offers students a rich mix of
courses and perspectives in four sub-fields: political theory,
American politics, comparative politics and international
relations. At Pomona, politics is addressed through the study
of values, institutions, processes and behavior. Students may
get first-hand experience through the Washington Semester.
Faculty: 15 (Research interests include conflict reduction
and peacemaking in divided societies, international relations
in East Asia, the role of the Black church in social mobility,
the politics of education reform, state stability in Africa.)
Politics Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Public Policy Analysis
This interdisciplinary
program provides students with an understanding of policy
analysis, together with practical experience in the public
affairs arena. The program cooperates with other
departments to offer combined majors with Anthropology,
Biology; Chemistry; Economics; Geology; Physics; Politics;
Psychology; Sociology; and Science, Technology, and Society.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including those listed above.
Public
Policy Analysis Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Science, Technology & Society
This interdisciplinary program brings together a variety of
courses focused on the roles of science and technology in an
interdependent world. STS is divided into three areas: History
of Science and Technology; Philosophy of Science; and
Technology, and Political, Cultural and Perspectives on
Science And Technology.
Faculty: Courses for the major are taught by affiliated
faculty in many fields, including Anthropology, Geology,
History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics and Politics.
Science,
Technology & Society Department Web site
| coursework and requirements
Sociology
The Sociology major combines rigorous
training in social theory and research design with extensive
attention to social problems in communities. Students gain
both scientific and humanistic perspectives upon such varied
topics as urban life, family relations, ethnic relations, social
class, social and religious movements, aging and gender roles.
Faculty: 5 (Research interests include age and ethnic
segregation in California, portrayals of the Holocaust in
popular culture, the Vietnamese diaspora, race/ethnic
relationships.)
Sociology Department Web site
| coursework and requirements