Sociology Undergraduate Student Feature

Edward Tortorelli Shares his Interests and Career Goals

What led you to select sociology as a major?

I didn’t go into college with any plans to pursue sociology. I started out just taking an intro class because I needed to fulfill some credits, and it happened to be offered at a convenient time. I ended up being more interested in the topics covered than I expected, and the concepts clicked in a way that others hadn’t before. It also helped that my professor for that class, Gabe Kilzer, created a great learning environment and made even the “boring” topics intriguing. I owe a lot of my initial—and continued—interest in sociology to him.

After that, I followed up with another one of his classes, Diversity in American Society, and that really solidified my interest, especially in topics surrounding diversity and inclusion (or lack thereof). It was during that class that I decided to officially pursue a degree in sociology.

Later on, it was Sociological Theory that confirmed for me that this was the right path and helped me to start figuring out what directions I might want to take sociology in going forward. Right now, I’m working on putting together research proposal ideas for potential future projects and working with Joseph Jochman on a sociology project that’s adjacent to healthcare. I’ve got more sociology courses lined up for the summer and fall, and I’m planning to get more involved in the sociology club and AKD as well. Things are really moving forward, and I’m just excited to see what comes next.

What have been your favorite topics to learn about in sociology?

Many individualistic topics have been my favorite, especially when things delve into heavy subjectivism. I love considering the borderline philosophical achievability of objectivism and how that plays into societal interactions. I also really enjoy diving into theory and brainstorming various “what ifs” within and around them. Sociological Theory has been my favorite course so far for this reason.

What is your favorite concept, idea, or theory in sociology?  Why do you like this concepts/idea/theory?

I love postmodernist concepts and theories. They always come back to that core questioning of what is and why, and they push us to reconsider the idea of “objective truth.” Does it even exist? And if it does, can we ever truly comprehend it, given how innately subjective we are? These kinds of questions—and the theories that explore them—are my favorite rabbit holes to dive into. I find I can get lost in those for hours.

What do you plan to do after you graduate (i.e., what kind of job might you be pursuing and/or what graduate-level work might you pursue)?

I plan to go on to get a master’s degree and potentially a PhD in sociology, with the goal of pursuing research for as long as I can. I’d love for this path to lead to more work in theory—whether that’s studying existing theories or eventually composing some of my own (one can hope). I also would like to attend medical school one day and would love to find ways to intersect medicine and healthcare with sociology, allowing the two fields to inform and improve one another.