Episode 77: Academic Disciplines, Social Sciences

Episode 77

• Episode 77 Transcript

  [0:00:06] BT: In the past few episodes of College Admissions Insider, we've covered academic disciplines one by one. That includes sciences & mathematics, humanities, engineering and management. We encourage you to jump back and listen to those episodes if you haven't yet. Today, we're rounding it all out with the social sciences.

  I'm Brooke Thames from Bucknell University. On this episode, we'll get to know the kinds of majors available in these disciplines, what social science studies look like in college, and the careers you can break into post-graduation.

  Our guest is Michelle Johnson, associate Dean of faculty in the social sciences at Bucknell. She's also a professor of anthropology, along with affiliate faculty in critical black studies. Welcome to the podcast.

  [0:00:45] MJ: Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.

  [0:00:48] BT: Let's start by hearing a bit more about you and what you do at Bucknell.

  [0:00:51] MJ: Of course. I'm from Yakima, a small town in Eastern Washington State. I got my BA from the University of Washington in Seattle, where I was a double major in anthropology and Spanish. I went to the graduate school at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where I received my NA and PhD in anthropology. I came to Bucknell two decades ago as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology.

  I'm a cultural anthropologist specializing in religion and migration, and I conduct my research in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau and with Guinean Muslim immigrants in Portugal. Basically, I'm interested in how Guinean Muslims remade themselves and their religious practices in Lisbon. This was actually the subject of my 2020 book, Remaking the Islam in African Portugal. I'm also interested in the relationships that anthropologists develop with their research participants over time, and in 2021, I had the opportunity to co-edit a book on this topic with my husband, who's also a professor of anthropology at Bucknell.

  In 2021, I accepted the position of Associate Dean of Faculty for the Social Sciences. This position has provided me with a much broader view of the University, since I oversee nine different departments and four centers in the social sciences. I hire and mentor new faculty, get to connect faculty to various professional development opportunities, and support department chairs as they run their departments. It's been challenging, but also a lot of fun.

  On a more personal note, I'm the mother of two children — a daughter who just started her first year of college and a son who’s 13. I enjoy swimming, cooking and horse riding.

  [0:02:24] BT: Wow. That is a lot about you. Thank you for sharing all of those details. It sounds like you have a really exciting job.

  [0:02:31] MJ: I really do.

  [0:02:34] BT: And so, can you give us a brief overview of what the social sciences are and how they differ from other sciences?

  [0:02:39] MJ: Absolutely. The social sciences explore the many dimensions of a variety of human beliefs and behaviors from multiple perspectives. They usually focus on individuals, organizations and societies, and highlight the structures that shape how people see themselves, interact with people and render their social worlds meaningful. I always like to think of the social sciences as occupying that intellectual space between the other two divisions and drawing the best from both of them. Affect and creativity from arts and humanities, and precision and experimentation from the natural sciences and mathematics. The social sciences also adopt a critical lens in attempting to understand and even solve some of the most important challenges facing our world today. For example, racism, structural inequality, gender-based violence and global climate change.

  The social sciences differ from the natural sciences and that they focus on human behavior and use a wide array of methodologies beyond just lab-based experimentation, like field research, interviews, focus groups, life histories and even ethnography. They're sometimes referred to as the "soft sciences," which social sciences don't always appreciate. Just because we focus on human behavior and use different methodologies does not make our science any less rigorous. In fact, we always push back by saying that working in uncontrolled environments with human beings who are infinitely varied, unpredictable, and can talk back and even argue with you makes our practice very complicated.

  At Bucknell, there are nine social science departments: economics, psychology, political science, sociology and anthropology, environmental studies, geography, international relations, Latin American studies, and education.

  [0:04:26] BT: You listed all of the majors there. But even as you were talking, it was flooring me how much broader the social sciences is beyond things like maybe psychology, or economics, things that maybe high schoolers have heard of, or even taking classes in. Can you give us some deeper insight into subjects like anthropology and geography? Some of these disciplines that might be maybe a little less familiar.

  [0:04:46] MJ: I'd be happy to. Anthropology is a pretty diverse discipline. It has four distinct subfields: archaeology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology. At Bucknell, we focus exclusively on cultural anthropology, which is the study of culture. Cultural anthropologists usually go to a society — usually one located outside of the United States — and live and conduct research there for at least one year, sometimes even more, to understand people's lives and what matters most to them.

  They take a holistic approach, which means that they have to study everything — the local languages, religion, politics and economics — before honing in on a specific topic. For example, my early research focused on girls' initiation rituals and the global debate over female genital cutting rituals. Before I could focus on this specific topic, I had to go to the place, live there, learn two languages — Creole and Mandinka— and understand the complex relationships between Islam, the indigenous religions in the region, and life course rituals more generally.

  I'll talk also about geography. Like anthropology, geography is also a multifaceted discipline, consisting of physical geography and cultural geography. Physical geographies have a lot in common with natural scientists, and that they study the processes that shape the Earth's surface, focusing on spatial aspects of land formation, climate, and the distribution of animal and human life. Culture geographers are more similar to cultural anthropologists, although they specialize more on the spatial dimensions of human behavior in society. For example, the relationship between space, place, and identity.

  [0:06:20] BT: Those sound like examples of really fascinating areas to study and major in. Let's move back to some of those more familiar disciplines. Psychology is one that seems to be really popular, both at Bucknell and other schools. Why is that?

  [0:06:34] MJ: I think that's a really good question, and I think there are lots of different reasons for that. First of all, psychology is really familiar to us. Students often study it in high school, and this is not the case with many of the other less familiar social sciences, like anthropology, or Latin American studies. I think psychology is also really well represented in American popular culture. Films like, Psycho, or Silence of the Lambs, Stephen King novels all compel us to understand the depth and complexity of the human mind in all of its variation.

  Then there's the fact that psychology pairs really well with the professional field of clinical psychology. If we ourselves don't have a therapist or a counselor, we absolutely know someone who does. I think that students feel comfortable majoring in psychology, because they can imagine a psychologist and their potential career paths.

  [0:07:37] BT: You mentioned potential career paths there. Now that we have a good grasp of the social sciences and some of those specific disciplines, what kinds of skills do students gain when they study the social sciences that they can use in a career?

  [0:07:51] MJ: I think any social science course, or discipline will provide students with excellent reading, writing, speaking and critical thinking skills. Because the social sciences focus on human beings and their behavior, which is diverse and complex, any social science discipline teaches students that the world is complicated and that most questions don't have a simple answer. So they really encourage students to explore and these skills, you could apply to anything.

  [0:08:17] BT: It sounds like, students who have curiosity and have a lot of questions are maybe a good fit for the social sciences. Can you expand on the kinds of interests that might lead a student to this area?
  [0:08:32] MJ: Absolutely. I actually think that all students are a good fit for the social sciences. Of course, as you say, open-minded students who want to explore the world beyond their own small corner make really good candidates for these fields. But the social sciences have the ability to challenge more conventionally minded students and to encourage them to revise their taken for granted assumptions about the world. So they present a good challenge for those students as well.

  [0:08:56] BT: What about high school students who have never taken classes in these disciplines? How might they forge a path in the social sciences?

  [0:09:03] MJ: That's a great question. I honestly don't think that students need to be exposed at all to the social sciences before college to excel in them. I think my own story is a case in point, and I'm going to share it here. I didn't even know what anthropology was when I took it in college. It was actually one of the only open courses at the University of Washington when I enrolled there, and as a first-year student, we got the last pick of classes. I fell in love with the subject matter, declared my major in anthropology, and knew that I wanted to be an anthropologist and a professor about halfway through the course.

  I think that students really need to slow down and follow their passion. If they're interested in the subject matter, chances are they're going to excel in the course. Today, college students are more concerned than ever with the practical applications of their majors. I understand that concern, but I think students and their parents need to understand that any social science major, in fact, I would go further than that and say any major in the College of Arts & Sciences will provide students with essential skills that they can apply to almost any career they could imagine.

  [0:10:07] BT: Something I'm hearing throughout our conversation is that the social sciences are essential to our understanding of the world and other people. In a liberal arts context, are they pretty central to student's learning regardless of whether they study engineering, or medicine, or management?

  [0:10:23] MJ: Absolutely. Many Bucknell students, even those in engineering and management, take multiple courses in the social sciences during their four years at Bucknell. In fact, our curriculum, our College of Arts & Sciences core curriculum, demands that every student at Bucknell take at least two. But many graduate having haven't taken far more than that.

  I think understanding cultural diversity, the motivations for human behavior, the structures that shape people's lives and identities are central to learning, regardless of any student's particular field of study.

  [0:10:53] BT: In our last episode on sciences and mathematics, we talked a lot about research. For students who are looking for a hands-on education, can they find research opportunities in the social sciences, and what might that look like?

  [0:11:07] MJ: Yes. There are lots of research opportunities for students across the University and also in the social sciences. I'll talk about a few of these. First, honors theses are quite common in the social sciences. Students can either assist a professor with their research, or conduct their own research independent of their professor's work. Which option students pursue depends on the discipline, the department and the student's own goals. In my home department of Sociology & Anthropology, for example, anthropology students have conducted independent field-based research in Morocco, Cameroon, Mongolia, Spain and New Zealand. Honor students defend their theses to an interdisciplinary committee and receive course credit for their work.

  Beyond an honors thesis, students can also collaborate with their professors on lab-based experimental research, or on more qualitative research projects. For this work, they typically serve as paid research assistants during the academic year or in the summer.

  At Bucknell, students who have engaged in research have the opportunity to present their work at academic conferences, and even to copublish academic articles with their mentors. The College of Arts & Sciences recently received a large gift, the Kalman Fund, which supports high-impact educational experiences. Student faculty research is one of these high-impact experiences, and many social science students have already benefited from this fund.

  [0:12:26] BT: Research is a great way for students to further refine what their interests are within their discipline and even figure out what they might want to do post-graduation. Can you tell us what kinds of industries and careers social science majors can pursue?

  [0:12:40] MJ: Absolutely. Social science majors pursue many different career paths. Some go on to professional school. For example, sociology, or political science majors may go to law school. Anthropology and psychology majors often go to medical school. International relations majors might become diplomats. Of course, education majors might get their teacher certification and become K-12 educators. Some students may go on to complete graduate work in their major discipline, deciding to pursue masters or doctorate-level work. That, of course, allows them to teach and conduct research at a college or university.

  I would say, though, that the overwhelming majority of our students who graduate in the social sciences go out into the workforce directly after graduating. They may work for an NGO or a corporation. As I said before, any social science major gives students the research, writing and cultural literacy skills to pursue a job in any industry.

  [0:13:40] BT: I've heard so many great reasons why the social sciences are important throughout this episode. I'd love to end with your best pitch to our listeners about why they should consider studying in this field.

  [0:13:52] MJ: Of course, and I really love this idea. Students should consider a major in the social sciences, because this division will challenge them beyond their comfort zone, open their minds to places, people, beliefs and practices they might have never heard of before. Before they know it, they'll become complex thinkers, excellent communicators, and they'll possess a keen awareness of the world that will set them up for success in any industry or career. Most importantly, though, I think the social sciences have the power to transform students into lifelong learners.

  [0:14:22] BT: Awesome. I think that leaves our listeners with a lot to think about with regards to what they want to study. Thanks again for joining us.

  [0:14:29] MJ: It was my pleasure. Thank you so much.

  [0:14:32] BT: Thanks to everyone out there for listening. If you're a fan of the podcast, please take a moment to rate, subscribe and share this episode with the students and families in your life. We'll be back with another new episode in a few weeks. In the meantime, send your questions, comments and episode ideas to podcast@bucknell.edu.

  Finally, you're invited to follow Bucknell on your favorite social media apps. Just look for our app, BucknellU on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. You can also follow our student-run Instagram account, which is @iamraybucknell. Until next time, keep on reaching for your dreams and your dream school.