The Senior Program

The Senior Program is an integrating, culminating academic experience for all sociology majors. Drawing on the methodology, research and thinking skills that they have developed during the first three years of study, seniors work closely with at least one faculty member to plan and complete the senior thesis. Work on the thesis includes an oral presentation in a public forum, where the audience includes visiting faculty members from other colleges and universities as well as faculty and students from the Hamilton program.

Recent projects in sociology include:Police Officers, District Attorneys, and the War on Drugs

• A Study of Community College Impact on Refugee Students’ Acculturation
• Role Conflict Among Black Law Enforcement in Light of the Black Lives Matter Movement
• DTR on SNS: How college students use social networking sites to define and maintain their intimate relationships
•  “Calm and rational” or one night of “utter chaos” and “wild fun”? Student orientations toward drinking on campus
• Managing the Self in an Online World: The Divided Self
• “Hey Guys, Welcome Back”: YouTube as a Cultural Phenomenon Amongst Young Women
• Meaningful Work on the College Campus
• “It Doesn’t Hit Home Until It Hits Close to Home”: Examining The Influences of Social Background on Political Socialization
• Challenging Whiteness: The Experiences of White Students in a Diversity Class
• Ski Bum vs workaholic: Why Some Young Adults Participate in Traditional Markers of Adulthood while others Engage in Emerging Adulthood
• Traversing a Foreign Culture: Understanding Students Of Color’ Experiences at a Predominantly White Institution
• You Are What You Eat: Uncovering the Influences of College Eating Habits
• From Borrowing Bikes to Stealing Food: What Constitutes a Crime at Hamilton College?
• Finding Work: Analysis on How Liberal Arts Graduates Obtain Employment in a Tight Labor Market
• Conflict and Codependence: An Analysis of Town-Gown Relations in Clinton, New York
• Good without God: Morality and religious understanding in the new age of American secularism
• Political Polarization at Hamilton College: Analyzing Student Opinions of Hamilton’s Political Climate
• “Coddled Millennials”: Exploring Anxiety in College Students at an Elite Institution