by Katie Powell, Tina Basi, Nick J Fox, Tom Genillard, Sunny Gunnesee and Steve Raven
What actions can we take to strengthen the applied sociologist role?
Unlike their psychology or economics counterparts, sociology graduates who don’t pursue academia often find themselves without a clearly defined career path. There’s no set route, no well-trodden ladder from a sociology degree to a sociological career. Instead, sociological employability becomes a personal challenge – each graduate must find or forge a role where their knowledge and skills are valued.
Sociology and sociologists are a major source of expertise in contemporary society. There are around 4,000 sociology graduates entering the workforce in the UK each year – that’s about 200,000 working-age sociologists out there. And yet only around 5,000 of them work in universities. Which means the vast majority – tens of thousands – are working in other roles, often unable to use the sociological insights they gained from their training.
There are two big challenges: first, demand. Employers aren’t always aware of what sociologists can do. And second, supply. Our graduates often haven’t been trained to apply their knowledge in non-academic settings.
There’s no one-size-fits-all employment model – sociologists might be hired permanently by an organisation; brought in on short-term contracts to solve specific problems; working independently as consultants; or offer their services through sociological consultancies. There’s also space for those contributing through voluntary work. Sociology belongs in workplaces and boardrooms, in local councils, in NGOs, and beyond. We need more sociologists using their insight to shape workplaces and communities. That’s how we make sociology matter – not just in theory, but in practice. We suggest four ways to achieve that goal.
1. Making sociology-focused links with schools through the A-level syllabus
Sociologists are keen to get into the classroom. They have much to learn from young people and can also help them with any research they are currently conducting. Cambridge OCR are working with HEI’s to link schools with local universities by organising guest presenters to visit staff and students in schools, or present to them at sociology open days on campus.
Modernising career links and skills from sociology is becoming critically important.Careers advice around sociology often directs students to public areas of work like teacher, government researcher, social policy etc. But there are plenty of people with occupations in acquisitions and mergers, pensions and shares advisor, sales, marketing, economists and business consultancy: all with incredible CVs that began with a social science degree.
Interpersonal skills gained from working as part of a team, motivating groups, assessing needs, dealing with sensitive situations, building relationships and negotiating skills are valuable assets for any young person and are skills that should be embedded after completing sociology A-level courses. The Academy of Social Sciences is an organisation that promotes the social sciences in the UK for public benefit. The series called I’m a social scientist is an excellent resource which features people from a range of disciplines and backgrounds discussing their career paths and what inspires them in their work, and why social science matters.
2. Expanding our understanding of sociology career pathways
The British Sociological Association’s Applied Sociology Group (BSA-ASG) has long advocated the view that sociological careers extend across the breadth of society. This is why we have been working to expand the visibility and viability of applied sociology, creating pathways for graduates to work as sociologists across business, the public sector, and civil society.
In 2018, we launched a freely available model curriculum in applied sociology, designed for integration into undergraduate sociology programmes. Institutions such as Nottingham Trent University and Northampton University have already embedded elements of this curriculum, demonstrating the growing appetite for sociology that is both intellectually rigorous and vocationally resonant. We have also developed a public-facing knowledge platform, through blogs, podcasts and real-life profiles, to showcase the diverse roles sociologists now occupy.
Most recently, in 2023, we began working with the Royal Society for Public Health to co-develop an Applied Sociology accreditation in well-being, further affirming the discipline’s central role in shaping humane, evidence-based, and socially responsive futures.
We have been developing careers advice by exploring sociology-packaged careers. Sociology provides a powerful foundation for navigating the modern workplace by developing a distinctive and versatile skillset. Central to this is the SCAPE model: Systems-thinking, Critical thinking, Analytical skills, Problem-solving and Empathy. These five pillars can equip individuals not only to understand the complexities of society but also to actively engage with them in a meaningful and impactful way.
In today’s evolving job market, especially for Gen Z, these skills are more relevant than ever. Gen Z workers are motivated by values, purpose, learning opportunities, and work-life balance. They are looking for employers who align with their ethical principles and who create space for individual voices and experiences. Sociology nurtures this alignment by allowing people to connect their personal identity and lived experiences with professional roles. It fosters a deeper understanding of how social systems work and encourages people to seek careers that resonate with their values.
The SCAPE model transforms sociological thinking into practical tools. It strengthens analytical thinking to interpret data and trends, enhances critical thinking to question assumptions, builds problem-solving abilities to respond to complex challenges, and develops empathy to communicate and collaborate effectively. Importantly, it also emphasizes systems thinking, enabling individuals to see how interconnected issues unfold within broader structures – be they economic, political, or cultural.
This toolkit doesn’t just support individual success; it promotes broader change. It cultivates self-awareness and world-awareness, expands a person’s sense of possibility, and connects personal skills with real-world needs. Unlike the critique posed by Gouldner (1970), who argued that sociologists had become ‘problem takers’ rather than ‘problem makers’, modern sociology – through SCAPE – empowers individuals to reclaim the role of active, values-driven problem solvers.
In a world increasingly shaped by inequality, complexity, and uncertainty, sociology helps people become thoughtful, adaptable, and socially responsible. Whether it’s addressing workplace challenges, navigating ethical dilemmas, or contributing to inclusive company cultures, sociological training makes individuals more effective, conscious, and future-ready professionals.
3. Demonstrating the impact of sociology in the workplace and communities
We need to develop infrastructure and support for sociologists within academia to do more applied sociology (Powell et al. 2024). Sociologists working in academia have made a difference to real-world issues when embedding research activities within practice communities relating to sustainable food, vaping among children and young people and community-led action on racial and ethnic inequalities in health (see for example Blake, 2019; Dowrick et al, 2025; Shaikh, 2024).
Such transformative research demands sustainable financial and governance models (Holding et al. 2024; Newbury-Birch et al. 2024). Working in sustained ways with communities to challenge established ways of thinking is not recognised in many countries in the processes that reward researchers and secure their jobs (Misra, 2023; Claassens & Sihlali, 2022). Organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation are considering the funding arrangements and infrastructure needed to develop collaborative imagination practices, underpinned by sociological ideas, to ‘build beyond current economic and cultural paradigms’ for sustainable futures (Potts & Facer, 2025).
There is also a strong need for professional infrastructure for sociologists outside academia for sustainable work and to raise the profile of applied sociology. In the US, applied sociologists have professional accreditation via the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology. A more robust, visible, and accessible public engagement is necessary to show how sociological approaches influence diverse projects. This can be enabled by collaborations between our professions to collate evidence-based case studies, public engagement projects, and impact studies. A second action is to explore in more detail how existing sociological concepts, tools, and methods are used in practice, and how these may be adapted or developed to meet the particular needs of public health.
Conclusion
To address the crises of our times, we need to promote sociology as a core institution of the public sphere. We have proposed three ideas in this blogpost to support this aim, but you will have more. Please share your ideas by responding to this post, so that the BSA Applied Sociology Group can be a platform to share these suggestions for sociological futures with a wider audience.
References
Blake, M.K. (2019). More than just food: food insecurity and resilient place making through community self-organising. Sustainability, 11(10): 2942. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/10/2942
Claassens, A., & Sihlali, N. (2022). Dilemmas and issues confronting socially engaged research within universities. In Bezuidenhout, A., Mnwana, S. and von Holdt, K. (eds), Critical Engagement with Public Sociology. A Perspective from the Global South (pp. 192-214). Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529221176.ch010
Dowrick, L., Shackleton, V., Nazir-Desforges, S. et al. (2025) Young people’s experiences of vaping in their community: a co-created study between embedded researchers and local authority public health practitioners. Perspectives in Public Health, 145(2): 113-119. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17579139251325156
Gouldner, A. (1970). The Coming Crisis of Western Sociology. Basic Books.
Holding, E., Gettings, R., Foster, A., et al. (2024). Developing the embedded researcher role: learning from the first year of the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC), Doncaster, UK. Public Health in Practice, 7, 100516. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666535224000533
Misra, J. (2023). The challenges and joys of publicly engaged sociology. Sociological Forum, 38(S1), 1124-1143. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/socf.12910
Newbury-Birch, D., Harbin, K., Adamson, A. et al. (2024). Establishing research ecosystems in local government: Ten lessons from the front line of the first year of the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRCs). NIHR Open Research, 4, 11. https://openresearch.nihr.ac.uk/documents/4-11
Potts, R. and Facer, K. (2025) Interrogating imagination infrastructure. (Report: 19 June 2025). York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. https://www.jrf.org.uk/imagination-infrastructures/interrogating-imagination-infrastructure
Powell, K., Fox, N.J., Bhanbhro S, et al. (2024). Sociologists in public health: marginal observers or mainstream collaborators? Perspectives in Public Health. 2024;144(2):72-74. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17579139231204245
Shaikh, R. (2024) Working with communities to promote equitable research. NIHR School for Public Health Research blog.
Katie Powell is convenor of the Applied Sociology Group and senior research fellow in sociology at the University of Sheffield. Tina Basi is Principal Investigator for Roam Within at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge and a former convenor of the Applied Sociology Group. Nick J Fox is professor of sociology at the University of Huddersfield and a former convenor of the Applied Sociology Group. Tom Genillard is subject advisor for Sociology & Criminology for Cambridge OCR. Sunny Gunessee is a sociology teacher and Lead Practitioner for Teaching and Learning at JCoSS (The Ronson Jewish Community Secondary School). Steve Raven is visiting research fellow at the University of Birmingham and a member of the BSA Board of Trustees.
0 Comments