Department of Sociology
Faculty
|
Chair Director of Graduate Studies Professor |
Visiting Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Senior Lecturer Lecturer with Rank of Professor Lecturer |
Requirements
Sociology
Graduate studies in the Department of Sociology prepare a select group of students who are seeking the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). The program focuses on guiding students who have excelled as consumers of knowledge through the transition to becoming producers of scholarship. Students are encouraged to focus on independent research projects early on and to work closely with a range of faculty—through coursework, research assistantships, independent study, and informal mentoring—to develop research skills. Undergraduate concentration in sociology is not a prerequisite for admission. The program is primarily designed for students interested in pursuing academic careers, but it is also oriented toward students with skills and applications that are relevant for employment in government and the private sector.
Degree Requirements
Students’ programs of study are established in consultation with the director of graduate studies and vary according to individual interests, capabilities, and prior training.
The course of study is oriented toward two goals. The first is competence in the foundations of sociological analysis, including sociological theory, research methods, and social statistics. The second is demonstrated potential for making significant contributions to the sociological literature, as evidenced by the satisfactory completion of major research papers, mastery of knowledge in specialized fields, and, finally, the dissertation.
The foundations of sociological analysis include: (1) a knowledge of general sociological theory, including its basic concepts, their historical antecedents, and the logic of inquiry; (2) competence in research methodology, including computer applications, advanced statistics, theory and procedures, and qualitative methods; and (3) reading comprehension of one modern language besides English.
Students establish competency in theory by completing the work of the following seminars: SOC 501 Classical Sociological Theory, and 502 Contemporary Sociological Theory (or an approved substitute).
Students may choose to establish competence in methodology by enrolling at the appropriate level in a sequence of two or more methodology seminars: SOC 404 Social Statistics, 503 Techniques and Methods of Social Science, 504 Social Statistics, 550 Research Seminar in Empirical Investigation, and WWS 507 Quantitative Analysis; a seminar in qualitative methods; or approved substitutes.
Language Requirement
Students may satisfy the foreign language requirement by successfully sustaining an examination administered by the department. While most graduate students satisfy the language requirement without additional coursework or tutoring, they may take any of several special courses that are offered when there is sufficient demand.
Writing Requirement
Each student is expected to write two empirical papers, exemplifying distinctive modes of sociological inquiry. The papers should be written in a form suitable for submission for publication and may deal with any fruitful topic within the discipline. One of the papers must be a quantitative study, normally written in conjunction with SOC 550 Research Seminar in Empirical Investigation. The other may be quantitative or qualitative, and is ordinarily prepared in conjunction with one of seven departmental clusters (comparative regional sociology, cultural sociology, demography, economic sociology, ethnography, inequality, and migration and development).
Year-long workshops and seminars combine training with a format for writing and presenting papers. Workshops or seminars in Demography, Economic Sociology, Migration and Development, Comparative Studies, and Social Differentiation and Inequality offer corresponding opportunities for the other clusters. Students are encouraged to participate in the cluster workshops throughout their graduate studies. The research of the participants is jointly supervised by the workshop leader and other members of the faculty, with special expertise in the area of the student’s particular interests. Faculty-student collaboration in tutorials, projects, and publications may augment the workshop.
General Examination
Students normally take the general examination in the fall of their third year. The examination covers three fields identified by the student in consultation with a faculty committee and includes a written and an oral component. Preparation for the examination normally occurs through participation in seminars, workshops, reading courses, and individual study.
M.A. Requirement
Students qualify for the award of the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree by completing all coursework satisfactorily, passing the language requirement, and completing the two empirical papers at a satisfactory level.
Dissertation and Final Public Oral Examination
In their dissertation, students are expected to demonstrate command of a major theoretical issue in sociology and control of the empirical and theoretical literature relevant to their research topic. They must show high-level competence in research procedures, including design, analysis, and evaluation. Normally, a thesis proposal is submitted to the department by the middle of the third year of study. This proposal contains a statement of the problem to be studied, an explanation of its theoretical relevance to sociology, a survey of pertinent literature, and a statement about the sources of data and methodological procedures to be employed. An oral examination is the final degree requirement.
Mentoring and Advising
The sociology Ph.D. program is designed to facilitate free and open communication among students and faculty. Students are encouraged to regard any faculty member as a potential source of advice and guidance, and faculty members are pleased to be approached by students interested in their work, courses, or areas of expertise. Program requirements—for taking courses, for comprehensive examinations, and for qualifying papers, for precepting—ensure that each student will have worked with many different faculty members by the end of her or his third year; and most students will also work as research assistants for one or more faculty members, as well.
The formal mentoring system is intended to supplement what has been a productive development of multiple ad hoc advising relationships tailored to each student’s needs, by providing special support during the first year, before informal relationships have an opportunity to blossom; and by ensuring that second-year students receive advice on their first qualifying paper from a faculty subject area specialist from the beginning of the research process.
Each student in the entering cohort is assigned a faculty adviser for the first year of study. The student and the adviser will meet at least twice during the first semester, and at least twice during the second semester of the first year. Ordinarily one of these meetings will take place at the very beginning of the first semester; another toward the end of that semester; and another at the beginning of the re-enrollment process in the spring. It typically is the student’s responsibility to initiate these meetings.
At the end of the first year, each student will select a second-year adviser who will also serve as a reader and adviser for the Empirical Paper. (The “first reader” of the Empirical Paper is the instructor of the Empirical Seminar. The student chooses the “second reader,” who is ordinarily an expert in the substantive area upon which the paper focuses.) The first-year adviser will typically not serve as second-year adviser unless the student believes that the first-year adviser is the faculty member best equipped to provide substantive guidance on the student’s Empirical Paper topic. (The faculty member who served as first-year adviser will, of course, continue to be available for informal consultation after the first year.)
Research
Although students are not required to work as research assistants for department faculty, most students choose to do so. Research assistantships are often excellent ways to learn about aspects of research practice not covered in formal classes from accomplished and experienced researchers. Department faculty work closely with graduate student research assistants, and such relationships have often culminated in collaborative publications. In recent years, demand for student research support has been high, and all students wishing to work have been able to do so. The director of graduate studies assists students in finding research assistantships when necessary.
Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Study
The sociology department encourages its graduate students to engage in programs of interdisciplinary study and otherwise pursue work in any instructional units that may add to sociological analysis. Every effort is made to help students establish close working relationships with faculty members in neighboring departments whose work may enhance the student’s command of sociology. Students in the program may take seminars in the departments of economics, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, and religion; the Program in Population Studies; and, for those with a special interest in social policy and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Also, the University sponsors a variety of centers and programs in which department faculty and students are active participants. These include the Industrial Relations Section; the Office of Population Research; the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; the Princeton Environmental Institute; the Center for African American Studies; the programs in East Asian studies, Latin American studies, Near Eastern studies, and Russian and Eurasian studies; and the Davis Center for Historical Studies.
In recent years, students have found additional support for summer language study, research trips, and dissertation research and writing. The Program in East Asian Studies, the Center for Human Values, the Center for the Study of Religion, and the Princeton Society of Fellows have all offered generous assistance. The Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies provides many opportunities as well.
Courses
Sociology
Angel L. Harris
SOC 501 Classical Sociological Theory
Miguel A. Centeno
SOC 502 Contemporary Sociological Theory
Paul J. DiMaggio
SOC 503 Techniques and Methods of Social Science
Alejandro Portes
SOC 504 Advanced Social Statistics
Scott M. Lynch
SOC 505 Research Seminar in Empirical Investigation
Delia S. Baldassarri
SOC 507 Topics in Comparative, Regional and Political Sociology
Staff
SOC 508 Styles of Comparative Research (Half-Term)
Gilbert F. Rozman
SOC 512 Research Seminar in Comparative Studies
Gilbert F. Rozman
SOC 513 Political Sociology (Half-Term)
Delia S. Baldassarri
SOC 514 Political Sociology of Transition (Half-Term)
Staff
SOC 515 Civil Society (Half-Term)
Robert J. Wuthnow
SOC 516 Theories of the State (Half-Term)
Paul E. Starr
SOC 517 Social Movements (Half-Term)
James M. Jasper
SOC 519 Collective Behavior (Half-Term Course)
Delia S. Baldassarri
SOC 521 Sociology of Culture (Half-Term)
King-To Yeung
SOC 522 Sociology of Religion (Half-Term)
Robert J. Wuthnow
SOC 523 Current Debates in Cultural Sociology (Half-Term)
Michèle Lamont
SOC 524 Culture and Cognition (Half-Term)
Paul J. DiMaggio
SOC 525 Culture and Communications (Half-Term)
Paul J. DiMaggio
SOC 526 Cultural Analysis (Half-Term)
King-To Yeung
SOC 527 Religion and Public Life
Robert J. Wuthnow
SOC 530H Ethnographic Practice
Mitchell Duneier
SOC 533 Demography and Social Structure
Staff
SOC 534 Family
Staff
SOC 535 Health
Elizabeth M. Armstrong
SOC 536 Nuptiality and Fertility
Samuel P. Morgan
SOC 541 Economic Sociology (Half-Term)
Viviana A. Zelizer
SOC 542 Complex Organization (Half-Term)
Frank R. Dobbin
SOC 543 Social Organization (Half-Term)
Frank R. Dobbin
SOC 544 Social Network Analysis (Half-Term)
Matthew J. Salganik
SOC 545 Professions (Half-Term)
Paul E. Starr
SOC 546 Politics and Economics (Half-Term)
Alejandro Portes
SOC 548 Sociology of Law (Half-Term)
Kim L. Scheppele
SOC 549 Workshop on Social Organization
Paul J. DiMaggio
SOC 551 Ethnographic Tradition (Half-Term)
Mitchell Duneier
SOC 552 The Logic of Ethnographic Methods (Half-Term)
Patricia Fernández-Kelly
SOC 553 Fieldwork Methods (Half-Term)
Patricia Fernández-Kelly
SOC 554 Ethnographic Analysis and Writing (Half-Term)
Mitchell Duneier
SOC 555 Microsociology (Half-Term)
Mitchell Duneier
SOC 561 Social Stratification and Inequality (Half-Term)
Mario L. Small
SOC 562/AAS 562 Race & Ethnicity
Edward E. Telles
SOC 563 Sociology of Gender (Half-Term)
Paul J. DiMaggio
SOC 564 Elites and Upper Classes (Half-Term)
Suzanne Keller
SOC 565 Inequality and Culture (Half-Term)
Mario L. Small
SOC 566 Comparative Work and Labor Markets (Half-Term)
Bruce Western
SOC 567 Crime and Punishment (Half-Term)
Devah Pager
SOC 576 Migration and Development
Sara R. Curran
SOC 577 Sociology of Development (Half-Term)
Gilbert F. Rozman
SOC 578 Sociology of Immigration and Ethnicity (Half-Term)
Marta Tienda
SOC 590A Topics in Sociological Methods: Bayesian Analysis
Scott M. Lynch
SOC 591 Seminar in Teaching
Viviana A. Zelizer
SOC 592 Structural Equation Modeling (Half-Term)
Scott M. Lynch
SOC 593 Missing Data Analysis (Half-Term)
Scott M. Lynch
SOC 594 Historical Methodology (Half-Term)
Bruce Western
SOC 596 Web-Based Social Research (Half-Term)
Matthew J. Salganik