How To Become A Social Sciences Lecturer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a social sciences lecturer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Rebecca Sarver

Social sciences lecturers usually teach undergraduate students about social sciences, which are the disciplines that study human society. Anthropology, psychology, and sociology are all social sciences. The lecturer usually specializes in one of the social sciences and designs a curriculum to instruct students in their discipline. Besides lecturing in front of a classroom, a social science lecturer can also tutor students one-on-one, supervise their research, and grade their assignments.

A lecturer is just one of the many kinds of faculty that are involved in a social sciences department. They usually have more professional experience compared to professors, who spent most of their lives in academia. Social sciences lecturers also focus on teaching, while professors dedicate much of their time to research and writing books.

The education requirements are also different for social sciences lecturers compared to professors. Most social sciences lecturers have a master's degree in their field, compared to professors who usually need to have a doctorate. They also need to have professional experience outside of academia in addition to teaching experience. On average, social sciences lecturers earn about $57,844 a year.

What general advice would you give to a social sciences lecturer?

Rebecca Sarver

Lecturer in Human Services Studies, Elmira College

Listen more than you talk. There is so much to be learned from clients, seasoned human service workers, and the community that you work within. By listening and observing versus always feeling compelled to speak, you will learn job skills, people skills, and your clients' needs.

ScoreSocial Sciences LecturerUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $66,896

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 17.43%

Black or African American 6.17%

Hispanic or Latino 8.88%

Unknown 4.77%

White 62.47%

Gender

female 41.98%

male 58.02%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a social sciences lecturer

Explore social sciences lecturer education requirements

Most common social sciences lecturer degrees

Bachelor's

56.8 %

Master's

27.4 %

Doctorate

9.7 %

Start to develop specific social sciences lecturer skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Science	14.31%
Physiology	9.34%
Syllabus	7.80%
Undergraduate Courses	7.80%
Data Structures	7.76%

Research social sciences lecturer duties and responsibilities

Manage a database, compile, retrieve, review and analyze test scores.
Instruct computer science courses in web page design with hard-coding of HTML and use of Java applets.
Assign and direct projects to simulate various statistical models and calculate their performance measures in C++ and JAVA.
Revise the syllabus to meet accreditation standards.

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