Skip to content
man bot

Professionals · code 2632

Sociologists, anthropologists and related professionals

Sociologists, anthropologists and related professionals investigate and describe the structure, origin and evolution of societies and the interdependence between environmental conditions and human activities. They provide advice on the practical application of their findings in the formulation of economic and social policies. Tasks include - (a) conducting research on the origin, development, structure, social patterns, organizations and interrelationships of human society; (b) tracing the origin and evolution of humanity through the study of changing characteristics and cultural and social institutions; (c) tracing the development of humanity through the material remains of its past, such as dwellings, temples, tools, pottery, coins, weapons or sculpture; (d) studying physical and climatic aspects of areas and regions, and correlating these findings with economic, social and cultural activities; (e) developing theories, models and methods to interpret and describe social phenomena; (f) evaluating the outcome of political decisions concerning social policy; (g) analysing and evaluating social data; (h) advising on the practical application of findings in the formulation of economic and social policies for population groups and regions, and for the development of markets; (i) preparing scholarly papers and reports. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Anthropologist - Archaeologist - Criminologist - Ethnologist - Geographer - Sociologist

A good share of the tasks are affected. It ranks 367 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • behavioural scientist
  • criminologist
  • archaeologist
  • geographer
  • anthropologist
  • thanatology researcher
  • sociologist

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

52.2
Holds up
against AI Exposed: Gradient 2

AI could take on 47.8 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 47.8 = 52.2

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

19
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

9
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 9.5 · hand skill 7.8 · cramped spaces 9.6 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 19 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 61.5, while the average is 47.8. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 61.5

    Analysing and evaluating social data

    Medium
  2. 56

    Advising on the practical application of findings in the formulation of economic and social policies for population groups and regions, and for the development of markets

    Medium
  3. 55.5

    Conducting research on the origin, development, structure, social patterns, organizations and interrelationships of human society

    Medium
  4. 54.5

    Studying physical and climatic aspects of areas and regions, and correlating these findings with economic, social and cultural activities

    Medium
  5. 53.5

    Preparing scholarly papers and reports.

    Medium
  6. 46

    Developing theories, models and methods to interpret and describe social phenomena

    Low
  7. 44.5

    Tracing the origin and evolution of humanity through the study of changing characteristics and cultural and social institutions

    Low
  8. 37.3

    Evaluating the outcome of political decisions concerning social policy

    Low
  9. 21.3

    Tracing the development of humanity through the material remains of its past, such as dwellings, temples, tools, pottery, coins, weapons or sculpture

    Very Low

9 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
71
AI does it for you
47

Helping wins by 24 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2724

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.4. This one is below that.