Liu's Corner
Larry Liu, Class of '15
Sociology Major & Online Ambassador
The opinions on this blog are Larry's personal views based on his experiences, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Sociology at Penn.
Why I Study Sociology
11.6.14
Sociology is regarded as the study of society. But the question that some of my friends and family members have asked me is why would anybody be interested in studying society? Let me explain.
When I grew up in Vienna, Austria to an immigrant family, my parents were barely able to speak the national language, and so the employment opportunities that my parents had were fairly limited. Growing up in a working class and immigrant family made me particularly aware of social differences and economic/status inequality.
In 2008, when I turned 17, there were two watershed moments that changed my life’s trajectory. One was that my family decided to migrate to the U.S., which was a new cultural experience. I had to quickly acquire another language, adopt new practices, and I attended a public high school, where tracking and social class separation within the classroom was built into the whole school system. I became very curious about how coming from different socio-economic backgrounds can determine one’s economic future, and decided that studying and understanding inequality as a social problem would be a worthwhile project.
The second watershed moment that year was the economic and financial crisis, which devastated the livelihoods of so many working-class families (particularly in the U.S., where much of the bank and mortgage-based problems were concentrated). Many people were losing their jobs and forced to settle for a lower standard of living, and that was the moment when I entered the U.S. I had to understand the political economy of rising inequality and reduced job security in labor markets.
After finishing high school and a brief tour in the Austrian military, I returned to the US to study at a community college, given my modest financial circumstances. I became active in the student newspaper, writing columns about economic challenges facing today’s college students pertaining to student debt and a lackluster job market. After receiving my Associates’ Degree in Liberal Arts, I transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, and it became clear to me that I had to study Sociology in order to further understand the problems confronting workers in the 21st century. As a research assistant in the management department, I investigated current human resource practices for firms, including the harsher mechanisms for hiring workers. I have carried out an independent study project and am working on a thesis paper in Sociology, researching the effects of technological innovation on individual workers' job experience and the potential for large-scale displacement.
While doing this research, I have been able to benefit from the excellent input and feedback from the Sociology faculty at Penn. Being in the program, taking the courses, and collaborating with other students and faculty has helped me to synthesize different kinds of data sources and research findings, develop researchable and interesting topics to study, and contribute new ideas and knowledge about society. I can use that knowledge and my research skills after graduation and apply it to graduate studies and academic research in Sociology and labor/employment relations programs, and in the business world as well.
Society faces complex problems, and the training I've received in the undergraduate Sociology program at Penn has given me an important advantage in trying to grasp these problems, formulate them clearly, and contribute to creative solutions.
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You can follow Larry Liu on Twitter: @userlarry91