The institute conducts basic and field research, provides postgraduate education and specialized expertise. The research strategies of the Institute of Sociology are aimed at the study and analysis of Social stratification and mobility, institutional transformation and regional development, etc. within the context of globalization and Bulgaria’s transition to a market economy and democracy.
The basic research fields at the Institute of Sociology are as follows: social organizations and politics; work and employment; poverty and unemployment, ethno-sociology and social psychology, ethnic communities and conflict; social integration and segregation; deviant behaviour; delinquency; science and education; technological innovation and personality; religion and everyday life; methodology of sociological surveys and public opinion studies.
The Institute has a Group for Scientific information and Documentation and a library. The Institute publishes scientific journal “Sotsiologicheski problemi “ (Sociological Problems).