Sunny Monaco ’25
I have always loved to have conversations with friends about our different upbringings and backgrounds. I am fascinated by how our social environments shape our respective values and decisions. While studying sociology at Pomona, I have developed an even greater interest in how society contributes to a person’s biography and vice versa. I have learned about how a person’s social background and upbringing can influence their views on education, leisure, marriage, money, and more.
Studying sociology helps me understand how one’s identity is shaped by their surrounding social forces. Additionally, it has given me a new perspective on human behavior, enabling me to recognize behavior not as an individual and innate process, but rather a reflection of societal forces. Sociology has also taught me how to examine social interactions on both micro and macro levels. I also like the wide breadth of the major, specifically how sociology intersects with other areas like criminology and economics to investigate social problems like crime, inequality, and poverty.
I am interested in pursuing a career in human resources, and I believe that my knowledge of sociology will help me not only understand why conflicts arise in the workplace, but also equip me to implement effective solutions which will create a positive and productive work environment for all employees and managers. All organizations require strong social cohesion to be successful, and my background in sociology provides me with a valuable understanding of social structures and groups, which can be easily translated into a work environment.
I appreciate that Pomona’s sociology professors hail from a wide range of academic and personal backgrounds; each professor has their own area of interest, and they have always been available to speak with me about course content or give advice about my future endeavors. Some of my favorite courses that I have taken are Sociology of Violence, Immigration and Second Generation, and Sociology of Space and Time. These courses constructed an explanatory framework for past, present, and future social phenomena and highlighted the influence of modernization and digitization on current social issues.
Bushra Mir ’25
I’m a sociology major and economics minor who is half Bangladeshi and half Turkish-Cypriot. I have always been intrigued by the tendency to psychologize our problems, as I believe that people’s lived experiences do not exist within a vacuum. This interconnectedness is what draws me to sociology—it has become a way for me to understand the sociocultural, economic, historical, and political context alongside the personal. From my very first sociology course, Introduction to Sociology, I embraced Peter Berger's idea that “the fascination of sociology lies in the fact that its perspective makes us see in a new light the very world in which we have lived all of our lives.” I have held this close to me, as sociology has given me the tools to peer behind my familiar and complacent assumptions. Even when I'm in discourse with a sociological idea, I learn new paradigms to interpret lived experiences. Coming from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and as an international student mentor with ISMP, I revel in the conversations I can have when people realize that sociology can be something far closer to home than they think.
I’ve had the opportunity to be a research assistant for two summers with Professor Sarah Stefanos with the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) and departmental funding, which has honed my qualitative analysis craft. I appreciate the close-knit, discussion-based nature of sociology courses at Pomona, as I can listen and learn from my peers’ stories and experiences and then meld them with theory. One of my favorite parts of sociology courses is interest-based research projects, which challenge me to grow as a researcher and a sociologist—whether that be in my major requirements like Qualitative Research Methods or electives like Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Terrorists with Professor Colin Beck. I’ve learned to rethink how to approach a research paper and unravel patterns through ethnographies and interviews. With my sociology degree and interest in human-centered design, I hope to become a UX Researcher, as it offers me the chance to uplift the contextual experiences of users in decision-making. The sociological schemas I’ve learned ensure that my work will always be people-oriented, driven by the stories of those I interview.
Bryan Thomas ’24
Coming to Pomona, I was interested in pursuing the social sciences. Specifically, I wanted to study something broad and multidimensional so that I could make the most of my liberal arts education. I looked into the sociology major and was happy to find that it encompasses many of my greatest intellectual curiosities while providing a more flexible curriculum.
Studying sociology has given me a channel through which to understand and learn from the lives of other people and the factors influencing their lives so that I can better understand my own life and place in the world. Further, we learn in Classical Sociological Theory how sociology was first developed in the 19th Century to understand the new way of living in the post-industrial world that many theorists called “modernity.” To this day, sociology serves a similar purpose, and it has helped me understand the contemporary world as it continually evolves on both macro and micro levels.
In my Qualitative Research Methods class, I was able to supplement the sociological themes, theories, and lessons I had learned in classes with a semester-long qualitative field study. I focused on a group of regular high school boys at a skatepark in a working-class Pomona Valley city. I immersed myself in their community and broke down their life stories and the unique importance of the skatepark for each of them through hour-long interviews and ethnographic field notes. I used my findings to challenge the stereotype that adolescents who skate are delinquents who seek lawlessness at the skatepark. Instead, I demonstrated the profound importance of the skatepark and the community it provides to the boys’ young lives, which is relevant to consider at a time when childhoods are increasingly digital, public spaces are increasingly obsolete, and mental health concerns among adolescents are on the rise. It was the most exciting academic project I have ever completed.
Beyond academics, the sociology major has helped me acquire a range of fascinating professional opportunities so far. The summer after my first year at Pomona, I leveraged what I had learned about urban sociology and economics while working with a nonprofit called The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. The summer after my second year I worked in immigration law, where I drew from the deep field of transnational sociology to report on immigration policy and write asylum applications for Afghan refugees. Last summer, I employed my sociological research skills while doing policy research and analysis at a social policy research company.
While the sociology major is not one that focuses on discrete knowledge, I feel that it has taught me important skills such as critical reading, writing, research, and analysis, and it has given me a new level of curiosity about the people around me. I am optimistic that these skills will prepare me for a successful life and career long after Pomona.