The discipline of sociology mainly relies on the construction of the Department of Sociology. The Department of Sociology, founded in 1996, was incorporated into the Law School in 1997 to recruit undergraduates majoring in social work based on the major of law, enrolled undergraduates majoring in social work from 2005, obtained the right to award a master’s degree in social work from 2014, and enrolled undergraduates majoring in sociology from 2018, forming two stable disciplinary directions with distinct characteristics: sociology, and social work.

In recent years, the Department of Sociology has introduced the famous sociologist Professor Cai He as a special visiting professor, and has introduced more than 10 outstanding talents from University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Xiamen University and other famous universities at home and abroad. The faculty is strong. At present, there are 24 teachers on the staff, including 5 professors and 4 associate professors.

At present, 11 faculty members of the Department of Sociology are in charge of NSSFC or NSFC projects, and a number of them serve as vice presidents, directors or deputy directors of professional committees of national societies (associations). Rooted in the pioneering reform practices in the social field of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the department established the first social work organization with a university background in China in 2007, and has formed its distinctive advantages in the fields of social governance, social policy, social work, big data and computational social science, and healthcare sociology. The department has published more than 100 papers in top professional journals in Chinese and English, includingSociological Study,Society,Chinese Journal of Population Science,The China Quarterly (Q1),Chinese Sociological Review (Q1),Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (Q1),British Journal of Social Work (Q1), etc., and other SSCI\CSSCI journals, showing strong scientific research strength.