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cultural studies and comparative literature

Types of Degrees cultural studies and comparative literature Majors Are Earning

People majoring in cultural studies and comparative literature may pursue degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Bachelor’s Degree	10
Master’s Degree	9
Doctor’s Degree	5

What cultural studies and comparative literature Majors Need to Know

Coursework for cultural studies and comparative literature build a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that cultural studies and comparative literature graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in cultural studies and comparative literature emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• English Language — Importance 4.6 / 5; level 6.0 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 4.6 / 5; level 5.7 / 7.
• Communications and Media — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Sociology and Anthropology — Importance 3.6 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• History and Archeology — Importance 3.5 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills built by a cultural studies and comparative literature program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Instructing — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• Writing — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to cultural studies and comparative literature careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Written Comprehension — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Written Expression — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• Speech Clarity — Importance 4 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, cultural studies and comparative literature graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Training and Teaching Others	4.7 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.4 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	4.4 / 7
Thinking Creatively	4.4 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	4.2 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	4.2 / 7
Coaching and Developing Others	4.2 / 7
Getting Information	4.2 / 7
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others	4.1 / 7
Working with Computers	4.1 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by cultural studies and comparative literature professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	—
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	—
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	—
iParadigms Turnitin	Information retrieval or search software	—
Blackboard Learn	Computer based training software	—
Word processing software	Word processing software	—
DOC Cop	Information retrieval or search software	—
Collaborative editing software	Word processing software	—
Image scanning software	Optical character reader OCR or scanning software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for cultural studies and comparative literature graduates include:

• Assistant Professor
• Lecturer
• Adjunct Professor
• Associate Professor
• College Professor
• University Faculty Member
• Humanities Professor
• Professor
• College Faculty Member
• Teacher
• English Teacher
• English Instructor
• Language Arts Teacher
• Contemporary English Literature Professor
• English Adjunct Instructor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to cultural studies and comparative literature graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Doctoral degree	45.0%
Master’s degree	24.2%
Bachelor’s degree	18.4%
Less than a high school diploma	4.6%
Post-master’s certificate	3.4%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	1.9%
Post-doctoral training	1.3%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.0%
First professional degree	0.3%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in cultural studies and comparative literature?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly female, with women earning 83.3% of cultural studies and comparative literature degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	20	83.3%
Men	4	16.7%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of cultural studies and comparative literature graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	17	70.8%
Asian	1	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1	4.2%
Race Unknown	3	12.5%
International Students	2	8.3%

^{See minority definition below.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	CIP Code
Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature	30.36
Digital Humanities	30.5202
History and Language/Literature	30.4501
Textual Studies	30.5203

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.