Find a Job You Really Want In
Sociology is the study of society, which means that it’s an excellent degree to get if you want to work with people. Not every job here requires spending a lot of time with the public, but many do. Sociology opens the door to jobs in marketing, human resources, public relations, and social work.
Key Takeaways:
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A master’s in sociology helps you get a job in human resources, public relations, and social work.
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While several of these jobs are quite well paid, they don’t require as high of education as some other specialities, meaning that sociology isn’t the best major to pick if your primary motivator is high compensation.
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Most positions in sociology will require excellent soft skills, like communication, people skills, and patience.
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Many of the jobs listed here can be gotten with a bachelor’s as well. A master’s will make you look more qualified and likely raise your pay, but it isn’t necessary for most of these careers.
10 Best-Paying Jobs for People With a Master’s in Sociology
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Average Annual Salary: $80,000
As the title implies, someone in this position manages part of the HR department in a business. This will include being involved in recruiting, hiring, benefits distribution, and any employee complaints.
HR is a very people-centric career path. You need to be able to diffuse disputes, be aware of all employment laws, and keep track of private information accurately and confidentially.
Job Outlook: There’s an HR in every company, meaning that the position isn’t disappearing anytime soon. According to Zippia’s analysis, there’s expected to be growth into 2028, with a 7% increase in positions, potentially adding over 10,000 new jobs.
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Average Annual Salary: $55,000
At least a bachelor’s degree is a requirement to become a therapist, and it can be in any relevant topic – including sociology. Therapists need additional training and some experience – usually as case managers.
Your main job is to listen to your clients and help propose solutions to their problems. Therapists need to be excellent communicators, serious about confidentiality, and interested in helping others.
Job Outlook: Demand for therapists is expected to rise, leading to potentially a 22% job growth and 54,000 new opportunities across the U.S.
The fact that mental health is being talked about more, as well as people being encouraged to see counselors or therapists to work through their problems, has led to higher demand for therapists and other similar professionals.
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Average Annual Salary: $56,000
While you aren’t going to start out as director, it’s a good goal to aim for. As director of social services, you’re going to require leadership skills, such as communication, time management, budgeting, and being able to break down tasks into manageable pieces.
This is a good goal for those who enjoy working on a more macro level, as directors won’t have much time to work with clients anymore.
Job Outlook: This career is also expected to see growth over the coming years – potentially 13%, resulting in 22,000 new job opportunities. So long as social services continue to grow in this country, there’s no reason to expect opportunities of this sort to wane.
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Average Annual Salary: $63,000
A clinical social worker is a rough cross between a counselor and a social worker. Unlike regular social workers, they can offer counseling, potentially diagnose psychological conditions, and perform other counseling duties.
Unlike a counselor or a therapist, though, they’re able to offer help and services to their clients beyond just therapy – much like a social worker. If you’re not sure whether to be a social worker or a therapist, then this is the job for you.
Job Outlook: As with other counseling positions, there’s expected to be growth in positions of this type, potentially 11% from 2018 to 2028, adding up to 81,000 new jobs.
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Average Annual Salary: $68,000
This is a sales position. Account managers are in charge of sales accounts, which means that they work closely with important clients on a regular basis.
You need to have good communication skills, a good memory, and be able to manage paperwork and people. Your job will be to get the product exactly the way the client wants it while still making it a gain for the company.
Job Outlook: Sales is always going to be a major part of business dealings, meaning that sales positions are guaranteed to remain. Zippia’s analysis expects roughly 5% growth as well, with 20,500 job opportunities between 2018 and 2028.
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Average Annual Salary: $69,000
As the name suggests, a human resources analyst spends a lot of time analyzing. Your job would be to look at pay and benefits as compared to employee performance and growth.
You would recommend changes to promote personnel retention, adherence to the law, and ways to attract new talent. You’ll need to be familiar with labor laws, be comfortable with numbers, and be confident enough to make recommendations as needed.
Job Outlook: There’s expected to be almost 15% growth in this position in the coming years. And since everywhere has an HR, you can expect over 100,000 new opportunities to spring up.
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Average Annual Salary: $104,000
A marketing manager manages the marketing department – or a part of it, depending on the size of the business. Marketing is all about branding.
You will lead your team in keeping a consistent brand and image for your product, as well as working with other departments as needed. It requires strong verbal and written communication skills, as well as an emphasis on aesthetics and attention to detail.
Job Outlook: Demand for marketing managers and other marketing professionals is expected to grow through 2028. Marketing is a part of every major company, making it very unlikely this position will become obsolete anytime soon.
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Average Annual Salary: $91,000
Public relations is all about how the public will react to what a business does. As sociology is about the study of society, it makes an excellent major for this type of position. Public reactions managers run the PR team, making sure that the message is consistent, political, and relevant.
Communication skills are paramount, as well as being aware and in touch with the business customers’ needs and expectations.
Job Outlook: There is expected to be a bit of growth for this position in the next few years, resulting in over 5,000 new positions opening up.
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Average Annual Salary: $62,000
Every business has a social media presence these days. That means that social media strategists are in high demand. Someone in this position needs to be familiar with popular social media platforms and the general culture that the users have. They need to be able to be pithy, interesting, and non-offensive in their posts.
As a social media strategist, you would outline the strategy and general platform of the business’s social media presence.
Job Outlook: As social media continues to pervade everyone’s lives, there is no expectation that this career will disappear. As a matter of fact, Zippia expects growth of up to 8% for this position, resulting in 21,800 new jobs in the next decade.
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Average Annual Salary: $50,000
As the name suggests, executive assistants assist executives. This assistance can range in scope greatly, but it often includes scheduling, setting up meetings, reminding them of their schedule, and dealing with paperwork and documents.
Executive assistants are the ones who keep track of and keep the executives organized and on schedule. It requires strong organizational skills, communication skills, and familiarity with the company and the executives they assist.
Job Outlook: Unfortunately, this type of position is in decline and has been for quite some time. The idea of having a secretary or other assistant has become less popular. Positions of this type are expected to disappear, with a drop of as much as 7% and a loss of over 250,000 positions.
5 Entry Level Jobs for People With a Master’s in Sociology
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Average Annual Salary: $50,000
Social workers help others. There are many types of social workers, from those working in foster care to addiction treatment to those working with at-risk youth.
You will need to get to know your clients, gain their trust, and do your best to get them the assistance they need, whether it’s new housing, additional financial support, or navigating legal pitfalls. Social workers need strong communication skills, empathy, and patience.
Job Outlook: Demand for social workers and others in social services is expected to rise. There are expected to be many new opportunities in this position through 2028.
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Average Annual Salary: $49,000
A paralegal’s main duties involve being a legal assistant. They typically work at a law firm or other legal department and assist lawyers with their cases. They do administrative work, such as dealing with records and correspondence.
They will assist by getting the materials the lawyers need for their cases or referring them to similar cases. Some will even get statements from witnesses or clients in the lawyer’s place.
Job Outlook: The outlook for paralegals is bright. New positions are expected to become available, with up to 39,000 opportunities opening up between 2018 and 2028.
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Average Annual Salary: $51,000
Some companies will actively look for talent, especially when they aren’t getting a lot of good applications. That’s where recruiters come in. A recruiter’s job is to look for employees that might be a good fit for an open position and contact them.
Some businesses will have quotas that you have to meet, while others have a more standard recruitment process, such as putting up ads on career sites.
Job Outlook: There is expected to be some growth in this position in the future. Right now, there are more job openings than there are job seekers, which will raise demand for recruiters to lure people into taking a job at your business.
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Average Annual Salary: $56,000
Sales representatives are the ones who go out and try to drum up sales. Depending on the business you work at, it may involve more reaching out and cold calls, or it may require researching the best people to try to make a sale to.
Sales representatives need to have strong communication skills, like spending a lot of time with other people, especially customers, and be willing to travel.
Job Outlook: Opportunities for this position are expected to more or less maintain. That being said, almost every business has a sales department, meaning that there are a lot of opportunities out there, as well as a lot of options to choose from.
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Average Annual Salary: $36,000
Someone in this position usually works with at-risk youth. Most youth counselors will help young people work through the problems in their lives, as well as offer additional resources where applicable.
They often work for a charitable organization, but they will also sometimes be employed at a summer camp or other similar establishments. It helps to be certified in first aid, CPR, and other emergency aid.
Job Outlook: As with other counseling jobs, this one is expected to have growth as well, with the potential of 52,000 new jobs by 2028.
Sociology Master’s Degree Options
Sociology is the study of society. While there are many subsets of sociology, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get a degree directly in one. However, there are several degrees that have a large sociological component or cover many of the same ideas and concepts.
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Criminology. Criminology is the study of crime and criminals. It explores why people break the law and the subculture of criminal organizations. It also looks into the justice system and what is and isn’t working.
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Anthropology. Like sociology, anthropology studies society. However, anthropology’s focus is more on different societies, either ancient ones or ones that aren’t the society you were raised in. There is a lot of overlap between anthropology and sociology.
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Social Work. While not sociology exactly, social work will cover a lot of the same material that social differences or social inequality would. It looks into the roots of why certain people ended up where they are and how to help them better their lives.
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Political Science. Politics is a huge part of sociology and social structure. Government is a major aspect of social structure, which means that learning about government and politics is a specialized type of sociology, though it does look at it from other lenses as well.
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Urban Studies. Different cultures and subcultures are a major part of society. Urban areas have their subculture – often several of them. While urban studies will cover other material, it’ll also look at cities, their culture, and the problems they cause, as well as their positive aspects of them.
Master’s in Sociology Jobs FAQ
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What can you do with a master’s degree in sociology?
There are many different types of jobs open to someone with a master’s in sociology. As sociology is the study of society, most of the jobs you can get with a degree in it are people-centric. That means that positions in HR, PR, marketing, social work, and sales all fall under the umbrella.
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What skills do you need for sociology jobs?
As most sociology jobs are people-oriented, the skills you need for sociology jobs are going to include communication skills, both written and verbal, empathy, and listening skills. Being skilled at writing and being aware of current trends and social mores are also going to be a must in many of them, like HR and PR.
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Do employees with a master’s in Sociology get paid more?
It’s almost invariably true that a higher level of education gets you a better paycheck. However, the majority of the jobs listed here can also be obtained with a bachelor’s in sociology.
Having a master’s degree will make you more qualified and likely get you a higher paycheck, but the question will be whether it’ll counteract the extra money that the degree costs. Unfortunately, that will depend on the job you take, where you went to school, and where you live.
Author
Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.
