Undergraduate studies in Anthropology and Sociology at SFU
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology offers undergraduate courses designed to provide students with the theoretical and analytical tools to better understand the social and cultural forces that affect our lives and the lives of people in other societies. Such understanding is an important part of general education and should lead to more effective participation in society.
Both sociologists and anthropologists at Simon Fraser University are involved in research and teaching on Western industrial societies, in Third World societies, and on the theoretical and comparative questions that go beyond national boundaries.
As well as its intrinsic intellectual rewards, undergraduate training in sociology and anthropology provides invaluable background for students who intend to pursue careers in such fields as urban planning, journalism, law, public administration, welfare-related professions, teaching, personnel management, health care fields, and international development projects.
Courses offered by the department can provide students specializing in other disciplines with an appreciation of social and cultural processes that will complement their specialization.
Academic Program Overview
The Department of Anthropology and Sociology offers plans leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. We offer majors, minors, extended minors, and joint majors with Criminology, Communications, Archaeology, Art and Culture studies, Linguistics, Latin American Studies, and Women’s Studies.
The Simon Fraser University Calendar contains all the regulations regarding your academic career at SFU. It is advisable to keep a copy of the relevant calendars to assist you in guiding you through your program.
Advisors are available to provide assistance however, compliance with, and completion of, program and degree requirements is the responsibility of the student.
Admission to the department
To be admitted into one of the Anthropology or Sociology programs, students must have taken, or be registered in the last of, the lower division required courses. Please refer to our major, joint major, minor, and extended minor programs for a listing of these required courses.
The SFU Academic Calendar is a good resource to use to determine your program and plan requirements.
Degrees offered in Sociology and Anthropology
Within undergraduate studies, students can choose to complete a minor, an extended minor, a major, a joint major, or honors program. The following departments have joint majors with Anthropology or Sociology: criminology, communications, archaeology, linguistics, art and culture studies, women’s studies, and Latin American studies.
What you gain from study in Anthropology or Sociology
Anthropology enables you to look at culture, the way in which humans create meaning in the world. One focused on non-Western peoples, anthropologists now study Canadian culture as well as other societies, a shift blurring the older boundaries between anthropology and sociology. Anthropologists often spend long periods of time living with the groups they study to better understand their perspectives and experiences.
Sociology looks at the social building blocks, or social structures, organizing Canadian and other societies. For example, it examines the ways families, class, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity and the state are shaped and, in turn, how they are shaped by each of us as individuals. A “sociological imagination” is the ability to connect our personal story with social structures and history. It enables us to see the role played by social forces in shaping our experiences and choices and how seemingly personal characteristics may represent patterns of behaviour we share with people in other social groups.
Cooperative Education in Anthropology and Sociology
This program provides practical social sciences experience and entails planned study terms and employment in an area of the student’s choice. For more information, contact the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Co-op Coordinator. For further details refer to the cooperative education section of the calendar, or contact: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Cooperative Education Programs.
Distance Education courses
The department has some of their courses written in a format so students can take them at their own convenience as an alternative to classroom study. Unfortunately, a major in Anthropology or Sociology cannot be fulfilled by taking all courses through Distance Education. For more information about the courses available through the Centre for Distance Education.
Directed Readings
Directed readings in a selected field of study under the direction of a single faculty member. A paper will be required. Only 1 directed readings course can be applied to a degree in Anthropology or Sociology.
Academic Honesty
Code of academic Honesty - SFU's Policy T10.02.
Department of Sociology And Anthropology Academic Honesty Guidelines