The Department of Sociology, DDU Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur was established in the year 1958. It had a modest beginning with only two teachers Mr. R.P.S. Gaur and Dr. Indra Dev. Prof. S.P. Nagendra joined the department as a Reader and Head in 1963. Under his visionary stewardship, the department gradually developed and earned good reputation for teaching and research in Sociology. Prof. Nagendra guided the destiny of the department, till appointed Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University. Then, Prof. D.P. Saxena took over as Head and continued in the position for about four years before his retirement. After his superannuation, Professor G.B. Sahai, Prof. P.S. Pandey, Prof. K.K. Mishra, Prof. Sheobahal Singh, Professor V.K. Srivastava, Prof. Kirti Pandey, Prof. Ram Prakash and Prof. Manvendra Pratap Singh headed the department successively. The department at present is busy pursuing academic activities under the leadership of Prof. Sangeeta Pandey.

Some of the Distinguished faculty members after serving this department for sometime shifted to other Universities to hold important positions. Mr. R.P.S. Gaur shifted to Rajasthan University Jaipur and from there to Pilani Vidyapeeth. Prof. Indra Dev shifted from here to Rajasthan University and from there to Ravi Shankar University, Raipur. Prof. S.K. Lal to Jodhpur University, Prof. P.N. Rastogi and Prof. Rajendra Pandey to I.I.T. Kanpur, Prof. S.M .Dubey to Dibrugarh University. Prof. G.S. Nepali to B.H.U., Prof. V.K. Pant to Kumaoun University, Nainital and Prof. Shafique Ahmed to Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

The department is actively involved in luminous activities of Academic Importance. Till date 21 refresher courses have been organized. In addition Short term Courses have also been organized. The department has organized many national seminars on regular basis on issues of national and regional relevance. The Department has to its distinct credit of organizing annual conference of (ISS ) All India Sociological Society in year 2004. In the recent past the department organized National seminars on pertinent issue like Gender and Society in Contemporary India (2011), Migration, Development and Gender in Contemporary Society (2012), Globalisation and Marginalized Groups in India (2013), Social Development in India (2013), Globalization, Media and Culture (2016), Globalization, environment and Technology (2019) etc. Prof. Kirti Pandey, Prof. Subhi Dhusia, Prof. Anju, Dr. Anurag, Dr. Pawan Kumar, Dr. Manish Kumar Pandey, Mr. Prakash Priyadarshi and Mr. Deependra Mohan Singh are at present faculty members of the Department.

As per NAAC and NEP guidelines, the undergraduate and postgraduate courses have been upgraded to meet the academic requirements of the day. The research output of the department has been outstanding. The major issues of research have revolved around areas such as women empowerment, Rural development, Governmental policies, labour welfare, health issues, child right, social issues, urban development, migration and dalit issues