State governments are great places for sociology graduates to seek employment. There are many state departments that have positions appropriate for sociologists, including departments of health, transportation, education, and corrections/criminal justice. For instance, most or all state health departments need analysts. Healthcare analysts are great career options for sociologists who have a background or interest in health and statistics. These jobs often require knowledge and experience with statistical software programs like SPSS or SAS as well as analytic skills and statistical knowledge. The position could entail analyzing the efficacy of a WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program, a children's health program, or other health programs. Sociologists are also often good candidates for epidemiological positions with state health agencies, in which they look at epidemiological data for trends and outbreaks. Sociologists who have knowledge and interests in deviance and crime are often good candidates for positions in state corrections departments. Options may include analyst positions as well as policy-making positions. Similarly, in state education departments, sociologists with an interest or background in education may be good candidates for positions that involve analyzing educational data and/or aiding in policy-making decisions.

Read more about state government jobs, the qualifications necessary, and the salary and benefits you can expect. Or search for state government jobs or other sociology careers in your area.

Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity is a book written by Erving Goffman in 1963 about the idea of stigma and what it is like to be a stigmatized person. It is a look into the world of persons who society does not consider "normal." Stigmatized people are those that do not have full social acceptance and are constantly striving to adjust their social identities: physically deformed people, mental patients, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc. Goffman relies extensively on autobiographies and case studies to analyze stigmatized persons' feelings about themselves and their relationships to "normal" people. He looks at the variety of strategies that stigmatized individuals use to deal with the rejection of others and the complex images of themselves that they project to others. Read more about Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity and see what Goffman uncovers.

Georg Simmel is a sociologist best known for his neo-Kantian approach to sociology, which laid the foundations for sociological anti positivism, and his structuralist styles of reasoning. He was a first generation German sociologist and friend of Max Weber, born in 1858 and died in 1918. He was a very prolific writer, authoring more than two hundred articles that appeared in a variety of journals, newspapers, and magazines during his lifetime with several more published after he died. He wrote fifteen major works in the fields of sociology, ethics, philosophy, and cultural criticism. Read more about Simmel and his contributions to the field of sociology.

The Culture of Fear was written in 1999 by Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California. The book is all about why America is a country that is engrossed with fear. Glassner examines and exposes the people and organizations that manipulate Americans' perceptions and profit from the resulting anxiety. The politicians, advocacy groups, and TV newsmagazines are "peddlers of fear," according to Glassner, who weigh people down with needless worries and waste billions of dollars in the process. According to Glassner, three out of four Americans say they feel more fearful today than they did twenty years ago. He explores such questions as: Why do we have so many fears these days? Are we living in exceptionally dangerous times? Read more about The Culture of Fear and see what Glassner uncovers.