10 Facts About Being a Sociology Student That People Didn’t Know About

Last Updated on 2019-05-06 , 10:15 pm

I don’t claim to be an expert in the field. But having spent four years of my life studying the subject, I guess it’s safe to say I have an adequate grasp of what it feels like to be a Sociology student.

Aside from experiencing stress over studying (who doesn’t feel stressed, anyway?), I have had encountered a long list of what follows.

And for the benefit of those of you who are clueless about the subject, Sociology is the study of how the human society functions. Think that women are born to be beneath men? Or that love is supposed to last forever? Think again.

Sociology basically forces you to re-evaluate ideas that you’ve lived with as facts and see the world in a different light altogether.

It’s A Whole New World

I felt a little like Jasmine on the magic carpet at my first Sociology lecture. Imagine having every ‘fact’ you’ve grown up with challenged and refuted. It’s scary…but exhilarating at the same time.

Studying sociology is like learning that the earth is not round (though it is lah). When you think that a criminal is bad, you’ll come to realize that it’s the world that makes him bad, and not exactly him himself who is bad. But of course, that is just a very, very loose example.

We’re definitely not saying that a person who lives in Yishun and eats cats isn’t evil #justsaying

You Get All Hyped Up About It

So many modules: Sociology of Deviance, Sociology of Love, Body of Society.

For example, sociology of love touches on how love is something that is not given.

Chim? Well, you want to share all your exciting new discoveries with your friends but…

No One Knows What You are really Doing

Your friends have heard of it, but no one (not even your own parents) knows what you actually are doing in school. And when you try to explain it to them, their eyes just glaze over.

I mean, you just learned that people eating cats in Yishun could be a result of society. Who’s going to believe you?

Are You Studying Psychology? 

“Sociology…Psychology? It’s about the same right?” is probably one of the questions you encounter most frequently as a Sociology student.

They are not. Sociology is more of a group of people’s behavours but psychology…oei, I not psychology student leh.

Just know that I can’t read your mind. Anyways, even psychology students can’t be Professor X.

Are You Going to be a Social Worker?

With all respect to social workers and the work they do, Sociology is not the same as Social Work. They are two very different disciplines.

Some Sociology students do go on to become social workers, but not all. Just like how not all children grow up to like coffee. It’s the same logic.

It’s not like when you have the same name, you’ll do the same thing. Arsene Wenger managing Arsenal is a pure coincidence.

You Don’t Always Know What You Want to Do in The Future

Though I do have friends in the same major who know what they want to become, many of us can be like lost sheep trying to navigate our way to some unknown destination. Unlike our peers who are studying degrees with clear-cut career paths, there is no telling what a Sociology student will do ten years down the road.

That’s certainly not me.

The Grass is Always Greener On the Other Side

For those of you who don’t know what you want to do with a Sociology degree quite yet, you may start to panic and go into a mini quarter-life crisis.

Oh no, should I have taken Economics instead? Or Communications and New Media? What am I going to do with my life?

It’s actually a rather general degree so you can do anything. Well, not exactly lah: you can’t be an app developer or a engineer (since those require a very technical skill), but you get the gist.

You feel like You’re Alone Sometimes

With all your theories revolving around social construction, no one really gets you. Your friends stare at you with bewildered looks when you tell them what has become your favorite phrase of all time: “it’s just a social construct”.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go Google.

Cynical Cyrus

I am who I call, Cynical Cyrus. Cynical Cyrus is the guy who sucks all the joy out of everything simply by thinking things in a topsy-turvy way through his sociological lenses.

Because that’s the thing about Sociology. It ruins simplicity, toppling the world as you know it.

To make matters worse, you often feel powerless to bring about change with your knowledge…

In the End, You Don’t Regret It…

Even if you never see the world in the same way again, you know it’s for the better. Sociology has taught you to explore deeper meanings behind what others take for granted every day.

Like what Murakami says, “Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes.”

And no, we still think that eating cats isn’t a good idea, no matter what.