Somewhat Resilient
Last Update: 8/30/2026
AI Resilience Score for Sociology Prof, Postsec:
38.0%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Low
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Low
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
Med
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
There are a reasonable number of sources for this result, but there is some disagreement between them.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forSociology Teachers, Postsecondary
$84,290 median salary•1,000 annual openings•SOC Code: 25-1067.00
Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary are somewhat less resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 7 sources.
Sociology professors earn a "Somewhat Resilient" label because AI is already handling a real chunk of their routine work (like grading, quiz creation, and bibliography building), which means the job is genuinely changing, even if it is not disappearing. The core of the work, including mentoring students, leading discussions about inequality and culture, and supervising fieldwork, stays deeply human and is very hard for AI to replicate.
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Sociology professors earn a "Somewhat Resilient" label because AI is already handling a real chunk of their routine work (like grading, quiz creation, and bibliography building), which means the job is genuinely changing, even if it is not disappearing. The core of the work, including mentoring students, leading discussions about inequality and culture, and supervising fieldwork, stays deeply human and is very hard for AI to replicate.
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Sociology Prof, Postsec
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Sociology Prof, Postsec jobs?
Right now, AI is mostly augmenting — not replacing — sociology professors. The everyday tasks with the highest automation potential (attendance records, gradebook entries, and pulling together bibliographies) are already being handled by AI features baked into learning management systems and grading tools that were widely deployed on campuses in 2026. Higher education institutions can adopt AI to improve efficiency and quality in five domains: student success, workforce alignment, research and innovation, community activation, and administrative optimization.
Examples from four institutions demonstrate the wide variety of use cases, opportunities, and benefits. BCG describes concrete campus pilots [1] — ASU faculty can use a multistep agentic quiz creator to generate questions from course content with the appropriate cognitive load, distractors, and detail — that mirror the routine prep work sociology instructors do.
Inside the sociology classroom, the shift is more about how professors teach. A 2026 Teaching Sociology article [2] notes that as programming becomes increasingly central to sociological research and education, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) presents both opportunities and challenges for instructors, and the American Sociological Association's TRAILS library [3] now hosts full courses on the sociology of artificial intelligence, bridging sociology with emerging technologies so students analyze AI systems as sociotechnical constructs shaped by human decisions, values, and institutions. Meanwhile, a Frontiers in Education essay from August 2026 [4] reports that AI has become integral to research and teaching, shaping much of academic practice — present in scientific writing, in the daily workflow, in supporting student assessment, and even in managing routine administrative tasks.
The tasks judged least automatable in O*NET's profile [5] — mentoring, committee work, and supervising fieldwork — remain squarely human.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Sociology Prof, Postsec?
Adoption is happening fast on the student side and more cautiously on the faculty side. The Digital Education Council's 2026 LATAM survey [6] found 92% of students and 79% of faculty actively engaging with AI, and Inside Higher Ed reported [7] that most professors — 86 percent — said that the impact of AI on teachers will be "significant and transformative or at least noticeable". But sociology faculty in particular tend to be skeptical: nine in 10 faculty members say that generative AI will diminish students' critical thinking skills, and 95 percent say its impact will increase students' overreliance on AI tools over time, and about 82 percent of faculty said that resistance to AI or unfamiliarity with AI are hurdles in adopting the tools in their departments.
Cost is not the barrier — most tools are cheap or bundled into existing LMS contracts — but culture and academic integrity are. As BCG notes [1], at universities, where human intellectual attainment and creativity are treasured, some regard AI as a potential threat to in-person instruction or an enabler of cheating or shortcuts that undermine learning. The good news for anyone interested in this career: the parts of the job that make it meaningful — mentoring students, leading discussion about culture and inequality, supervising research, and helping young people make sense of a fast-changing society — are exactly the parts AI can't replicate.
Sociology teachers who learn to use AI for the routine work will likely have more time for the human work that matters most.
Sources
Will AI replace Sociology Prof, Postsec?
Not entirely. We think AI will take over some tasks, but not the whole job.
Sociology professors earn a 38.0% AI Resilience Score, which puts them in a genuinely pressured spot. Routine work like building quizzes, managing gradebooks, and pulling bibliographies is already being handled by AI tools built into campus learning systems [1]. And with 86 percent of professors saying AI's impact on teachers will be "significant and transformative or at least noticeable" [7], the shift is real and it is already underway.
But the core of this job is harder to automate than the score might suggest. The tasks O*NET flags as least automatable, including mentoring students, supervising fieldwork, and serving on committees, are deeply relational [5]. Sociology in particular asks students to examine power, inequality, and culture, and those conversations need a human in the room to have any real weight. The American Sociological Association is even developing full courses on the sociology of AI itself [3], which means professors are being asked to help students think critically about the very tools that are supposed to replace them.
The job market outlook through 2034 is soft, so this is not a career to enter for job security alone. The stronger case is that professors who use AI for routine prep will have more time for the human work that actually defines the role.
Sources
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Latest AI news for Sociology Prof, Postsec
These articles highlight the evolving role of AI in higher education, particularly for sociology teachers. As AI tools become integral to student life, educators must find ways to incorporate these technologies while fostering critical thinking. For instance, professors are experimenting with AI to enhance learning experiences, which can enrich sociology curricula. Additionally, understanding the implications of AI in higher education will empower future sociology teachers to adapt and thrive in a landscape where human skills become essential. Embracing AI resilience can help educators maintain their relevance and effectiveness.
In the age of AI, human skills are the new advantage
www.weforum.org • 1/2/2026
In the AI era, we need a new model for teaching students the skills they once acquired through a liberal arts education.
Professors experiment as AI becomes part of student life
www.theglobeandmail.com • 9/15/2025
As AI use surges among students, Canadian educators are finding ways to integrate AI responsibly while preserving critical thinking to best...
The impact of ChatGPT on higher education
www.frontiersin.org • 6/25/2024
This study explores the effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots, notably OpenAI's ChatGPT, on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), employing a...
Why some college professors are adopting ChatGPT AI as quickly as students
www.cnbc.com • 4/2/2023
AI researchers see teaching jobs most at risk from generative AI. Maybe it's no surprise then that college professors are early adopters of...
College professors face the highest exposure to AI tools, study finds
universitybusiness.com • 3/24/2023
Of the 20 occupations most exposed to AI language modeling capabilities, 14 of them were postsecondary teachers.
More Career Info
Career: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
They teach college students about how societies work, discussing topics like culture, relationships, and social behavior to help students understand human interactions better.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$84,290
Jobs (2025)
14,600
Growth (2025-35)
+2.2%
Annual Openings
1,000
Education
Doctoral or professional degree
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-2035
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Participate in campus and community events.
2
Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
3
Mentor new faculty.
4
Act as advisers to student organizations.
5
Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
6
Supervise students' laboratory and field work.
7
Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
