The Department of Sociology was established in 1967 at the same time as the Faculty of Social Sciences, and its first students graduated in 1970. It is located on the 11th and 12th floor of K. K. Leung Building.

The courses of the Department attempt to provide students with a basic knowledge of sociological andanthropological concepts theories, and methods, applying these to the empirical study of topics which have some relevance to contemporary Hong Kong. Thus in addition to basic courses in theory and methods, regionally there are courses on Hong Kong itself, China and other Asian societies and topically there are courses on a wide range of sub-fields within sociology.

The research interests of the Department necessarily reflect those of individual staff members. Current research activities of staff members include entrepreneurship, business organizations, emigration, housing, population, the anthropology of peasant societies, social conflict and social movements, social mobility, education, gender, marriage and the family, popular culture, unionism, organized crime, drug abuse and drug policies, police and policing, corrections, the sociology of law, Hong Kong society, Chinese society, Japanese society, and Southeast Asian societies.