The Department of Sociology was established in June 2004 with the aim of educating students with a specialization in sociology (040201).

   The department’s academic staff is represented by high-skilled specialists – sociologists of different generations who have great experience in teaching and scientific research. The staff of the department of sociology consists of Higher Doctorate degree holders, Professors E.I. Kravchenko, I.V. Obraztsov, A.I. Pozdnyakov, V.L. Primakov, A.V. Sablukov: Ph.D. holders, associate professors I.P. Pargacheva, A.V. Polovnyev, S.S. Solov’yev, V.L. Shalupenko, lecturers G.V. Anderzhanova and O.N. Shaeva The average age of the department’s staff is 42,5 y.o.

   The department offers the following educational programs:
“specialist” – 5 years (full time (daytime) program), qualification – “sociologist, lecturer in sociology”, specialization: “sociology of communication”. The last admission took place in 2010.
“bachelor” – 4 years (full-time (daytime) program), qualification – “bachelor of sociology”, specialization - “sociology of communication”. Admission is to start in 2011.
“master” – 2 years (full-time (daytime) program), qualification – “master of sociology”, specialization – “sociology of communication systems”. Admission is to start in 2011.

   The training of professional sociologists includes studying a wide range of disciplines. Mastering the profession starts with studying the following social-economic and humane subjects: philosophy, history, economic theory, law, logic, Russian language and culture of speech, psychology, pedagogy, marketing, etc. At the same time from the first year on students study such professional disciplines as general sociology, history of sociology, modern sociological theories, methods and techniques of sociological research, sociology teaching methods, social forecasting and social project management, sociology of the family, ethnosociology, sociology of labour and economic sociology, sociology of culture, social anthropology, sociology of religion, sociology of education, etc.

   Knowledge received while studying sociological subjects described above forms the basis for studying professional disciplines, that develop the “communicational aspect” of graduates’ future professional activity (according to specialization). This goal is reached by the following means:

a) Studying disciplines with a focus on communication: theory of communication, psycholinguistics, social linguistics, basics of management, sociology of communication / communication systems, sociology of organizations, sociology of administration, marketing research in communications, advertising in communication process, theory and practice of measuring media audiences and media planning, theory and practice of public relations, modern methods of marketing and media research, theory and practice of human research, sociology of advertising, etc.

b) Deep linguistic training that is organized according to MSLU specificity (long-term traditions of the best linguistic educational institution in the country). “Specialists” and “bachelors” learn two foreign languages (English and German / French / Spanish / Polish), “masters” learn English. This training is based on studying several subjects: foreign language, practical course of the 1st and the 2nd foreign languages, vocational-oriented communication, professional translation and interpretation; country studies (history, culture and geography of countries of the learned languages).

   A lot of time is dedicated to disciplines of mathematics and information technologies: advanced mathematics, probability theory and mathematic statistics, theory of measuring in sociology, theory of statistics, practical statistics for sociologists, mathematical modeling of social processes, data analysis in sociology, social statistics, demography, informatics, modern information technologies in social sciences, computer technologies for data analysis in sociology.

   Students master both the most popular statistical software in social sciences – SPSS (PASW Statistics), - which allows any type of statistical analysis, and the software for media research: psycholinguistic expert system Vaal (R) (analysis of semantic influence of texts, content analysis), PaloMARS (analysis of television audience’s structure and behavior); SuperNova (analysis of radio audience’s structure and behavior); Galileo (media and market research, media planning).

   A lot of attention is paid to building up students’ professional skills: students take part in applied social studies. All students get work experience in the leading research organizations, foreign and Russian marketing companies and consulting firms: Institute of sociology of the RAS, Sociological Center of the Ministry of Defense, Levada-Center, TNS Russia, Ipsos Russia, GFK Rus, ROMIR, Magram Market Research, B2B research, etc. The majority of students continue to work in those and other companies while studying and after graduating.

   Students (masters and specialists) undertake teaching practice in institutions of higher, vocational and secondary education.

   The best students can be sent to foreign universities for a course of study.

   Graduates of the department of sociology are prepared for professional activity in such spheres as:
1) state bodies of federal, regional and municipal level;
2) research organizations (as researchers, experts and consultants);
3) analytical, marketing, consulting and sociological departments of Russian and foreign companies;
4) institutions of secondary and higher education (as teachers/lecturers or administrators);
5) Public Relations and mass media;
6) election campaign centers.