The Sociology at Beijing Normal University boasts a long and distinguished history, enriched by the contributions of eminent scholars such as Li Dazhao, Li Jinghan, Li Da, and Zhong Jingwen. School of Sociology was established on the basis of Department of Sociology, School of Philosophy and Sociology, the Chinese Academy of Social Management, and the Institute of Folklore and Social Development from the School of Arts in 2015. It was granted doctoral program in Sociology and recognized as a “China Top Think Tanks” in 2017. It further achieved pilot status for the construction of a “China Top Think Tanks” in 2020. The Sociology at Beijing Normal University ranked 83rd in the QS World University Rankings in 2025.

Currently, the School offers a Bachelor’s program in Sociology, cultivating undergraduates for the major of Sociology (including the “Sociology + Psychology” Double Bachelor’s Degree Program. It holds the authority to confer master’s and doctoral degrees in the first-evel discipline of Sociology, authorizes the Master of Social Work (MSW) degree, and operates a post-doctoral research station in Sociology, forming a complete talent cultivation system covering undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels, to meet the needs of training talents at different stages. The School of Sociology enrolls over 140 full-time undergraduates, more than 320 full-time master’s candidates, and nearly 80 doctoral students.

The School of Sociology currently consists of 44 full-time faculty members, including 19 professors, 20 associate professors and 6 assistant professors. All of them possess doctoral degrees. More than two-thirds of them have experiences of learning and research abroad. Several faculty members have been selected for the Ministry of Education's New Century Excellent Talents Support Program and the National High-level Talents Special Support Program, and have received prestigious awards such as the golden medal of the Good Teacher with "Four Qualifications" and the "Top Ten Most Popular Teachers" Award.

Since 2015, the School of Sociology has undertaken more than 240 vertical funded research projects, including 35 projects supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC)—among which are 7 NSSFC Major Programs and 6 NSSFC Key Programs. It has also been awarded 5 projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 2 major projects by the Ministry of Education’s Key Research Program, and over 40 research projects of China Top Think Tanks (CTTT). The School of Sociology has received 13 research awards, including 6 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Awards by the Ministry of Education. Faculty members have published 135 SCI/SSCI-indexed papers and over 300 CSSCI-indexed papers in top journals such as Social Sciences in China, The Lancet and its specialty journals, Sociological Studies, Chinese Journal of Sociology, Chinese Public Administration, and Folklore Studies, alongside authoring 82 academic monographs.

The School of Sociology has established close partnerships with over 30 world-renowned universities, including Oxford University, Harvard University and the University of Hong Kong. Through flagship events such as the China-UK Social Governance Forum and Sino-French International Conferences, it has actively built platforms for international academic discourse. Additionally, it has undertaken projects commissioned by international organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and participated in global cultural initiatives like the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage application for the "24 Solar Terms," contributing to the dissemination of Chinese wisdom. Leveraging the National Foreign Expert Program, the School of Sociology has invited more than 90 distinguished experts to collaborate on frontier research topics, resulting in the publication of numerous academic monographs and high-impact journal articles. Moreover, the School of Sociology annually sponsors over 40 faculty members and students for overseas academic exchanges, continuously enhancing their international visibility and influence.

Through its social service initiatives, the School of Sociology has made active contributions to serving national strategies, promoting educational equity, and advancing social governance. Since 2015, building on Beijing Normal University's core mission and leveraging its disciplinary strengths and faculty resources, the School of Sociology has focused on key areas such as social governance, public welfare and philanthropy, intangible cultural heritage, and teacher education. It has organized and undertaken over 110 training programs across more than 30 provinces and municipalities in China, directly serving tens of thousands of government officials, school principals, teachers, and industry leaders, with broader indirect influence reaching many more. These efforts have been widely recognized by society. In 2021, the “Yili Ark” Children's Safety Public Welfare Program organized by the School of Sociology was honored with the 11th China Charity Award, the highest government award for philanthropy in the country.

At present, the School of Sociology is intensifying development in its first-level sociology discipline, striving to build an academic hub for talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, and cultural inheritance. These efforts aim to contribute to Beijing Normal University’s vision of becoming a “comprehensive, research-oriented, teacher-education–led, world-class university with Chinese characteristics.”

At present, the School of Sociology is comprehensively strengthening the development of the first-level discipline of Sociology, focusing on building an academic hub for talent cultivation, scientific research, social service, and cultural heritage. These efforts aim to make new contributions to Beijing Normal University's goal of becoming a world-class university with Chinese characteristics, distinguished by its focus on basic disciplines in sciences and humanities, teacher education and educational science.