Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender, and Group Studies
Ethnic, cultural and gender studies
Listed by colleges as Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies
Colleges award this field under 12 named programs, from Ethnic Studies to Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies, Other.
Inside the major
Programs within this field
Colleges may offer this field under 12 more specific program names. The program you choose affects the courses you take.
- Ethnic Studies
- Focuses on the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of North American racial and ethnic groups, including African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans.
- African-American/Black Studies
- Focuses on the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of the North American peoples descended from the African diaspora; focusing on the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, but also including reference to Latin American elements of the diaspora.
- American Indian/Native American Studies
- Focuses on the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of one or more of the American Indian, Aleut, Inuit, Hawaiian and other native peoples of the Americas from earliest times until the present, with particular emphasis on U.S. and Canadian populations and their problems but including reference to Caribbean and Latin American native peoples.
- Hispanic-American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican-American/Chicano Studies
- Focuses on the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of one or more of the Hispanic American immigrant populations within the U.S. and Canada, including Mexican-American Studies, Cuban American Studies, Puerto Rican Studies, and others.
- Asian-American Studies
- Focuses on the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of Asian population groups who have immigrated to the United States and Canada, or sought refugee asylum, from the colonial period to the present, and including Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, Cambodian-Americans, and others.
- Women's Studies
- Focuses on the history, sociology, politics, culture, and economics of women, and the development of modern feminism in relation to the roles played by women in different periods and locations in North America and the world. Programs may focus on literature, philosophy, and the arts as much as on social studies and policy.
- Gay/Lesbian Studies
- Focuses on homosexuality in history, society, politics, and cultural life; usually with an emphasis on the modern emergence of gays and lesbians as a sociocultural minority movement, the identification of social, literary, and artistic themes and the definition of, and public policy and legal issues surrounding, the gay and lesbian community.
- Folklore Studies
- Focuses on the study of creativity and aesthetic expression in everyday life, as expressed in narrative, literature, performing arts, culture, work, family and community.
- Disability Studies
- Focuses on the nature, meaning, and consequences of what it is to be defined as disabled and explores the historical, cultural, economic, physiological, and socio-political dynamics of disability. Covers disability rights, legal issues, and public policy; literature, philosophy, and the arts; and/or research in the social sciences, education, and health sciences addressing social and experiential aspects of disability.
- Deaf Studies
- Focuses on the sociological, historical and linguistic aspects of the deaf and hearing impaired, and that prepares you to work with the deaf and hearing impaired. Covers American Sign Language, deaf studies, American deaf culture, structure of American Sign Language, history of the American deaf community, and civil rights of deaf people.
Also called Women's and Gender Studies
Also called Folklore Studies, Folklore and Mythology, Folklore and Folklife
Also called Deaf Studies, American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf Studies
Where it can lead
Careers this field can lead to
Explore related careers, starting with the closest connections and the occupations hiring the most people.
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary
- Median pay
- $85,020
- Hiring change through 2035
- 2.7%
- Job openings a year
- 1,000
To get hiredDoctoral or professional degree
Explore this career Growing with the economyInterpreters and Translators
- Median pay
- $60,170
- Hiring change through 2035
- 2.0%
- Job openings a year
- 6,000
To get hiredBachelor's degree
Explore this careerAll work is projected to grow 3.5% between 2025 and 2035; read every hiring-change figure against it. The figures beside each career are the pay of that work, across everyone doing it. Graduates of this field earn $28,971 one year after completing the program, which is the start of a career rather than the shape of one.
Working style
How and where the work happens
Related careers can feel very different from one another. Compare the specific occupations to understand the work each one involves.
Few of the careers connected to this field are measured as substantially in-person or active work. Compare the specific occupations to see how much time each one involves with people, equipment, and movement.
College options
Where to study it
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