Last Updated on December 28, 2022
Harvard is one of the world’s leading centers for training and mentoring the next generation of sociologists. The Department of Sociology offers several programs of graduate study leading to the Ph.D. in Sociology, the Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy, and the Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior.
The aim of the Graduate Program in Sociology is to prepare students for scholarly and applied research and for teaching in sociology. The program combines an emphasis on competence in social theory and research methods with opportunities for the development of each student’s own interest.
Doctoral candidates are expected to achieve a solid proficiency in fundamentals that will enable them to teach basic and advanced sociology courses and engage in both quantitative and qualitative research. Students are trained in several sub fields of sociology in which the faculty has concentrations of expertise. Among these are social stratification and inequality (including race and ethnic relations), the study of complex organizations, economic sociology, political sociology, comparative/historical sociology, health and social policy, cultural analysis, urban sociology, criminology, and life course. The program includes a sequence of required courses on theory and theory construction, designed to acquaint every student with skills necessary for developing social explanations, and required courses in both qualitative methods and advanced statistics to familiarize students with techniques for collecting and analyzing data.
Sociology Faculty and Student Involvement in University Initiatives
For further information on the research topics that Harvard students have explored and the careers of some recent graduates, see Graduate Degrees Awarded.
Welcome!
The Department of Sociology at Harvard has a rich and varied history. Its faculty are deeply committed to the development of sociological theory in the service of addressing fundamental sociological questions about the empirical world. The Harvard department of the 21st century is characterized by unsurpassed methodological breadth and depth, with faculty and students engaged in a variety of approaches to research including surveys, ethnography, in-depth interviews, big data, social demography, causal inference, and historical archival work. Deep engagement with central social issues in the American landscape such as racial inequality, gender discrimination, violence, and mass incarceration is coupled with expertise in political, economic, and social and cultural issues in other parts of the world such as Latin America, Asia, and Europe. We invite you to explore sociology at Harvard.
Sociology
Sociologists are often concerned with intellectual questions relating to the distribution of resources in society and to social organization. The graduate program in sociology aims to contribute to society by providing students the training and tools to take up these questions. The program aims to produce creative and intellectually independent researchers who read broadly across fields, who generate work that is theoretically, empirically, and analytically rigorous, who exhibit collegiality as scholars, and who excel as teachers and communicators.
- The program aims to train sociologists who are methodologically pluralist, exhibiting competence in multiple methods while specializing in at least one of them.
- The faculty believe that cultivating these skills and attributes is inherently valuable, above and beyond the demands of professionalization.
- The faculty believe that the capacities and skills students will acquire can and should be deployed in a wide range of careers across multiple contexts, including public and private agencies, non- and for-profit organizations, and colleges and universities.
Related Programs
Students considering the PhD program in sociology may also be interested in the PhD programs in Sociology and Social Policy or Organizational Behavior, both of which are offered jointly with the Department of Sociology. Students who wish to apply to one of these programs in addition to the PhD program in sociology may do so.
Admissions Requirements
Prospective students must include a recent sample of written work (e.g., term paper, senior thesis, master’s essay, etc.) when submitting the online application.
The Department of Sociology provides a list of frequently asked questions about applying to the doctoral program and GSAS Policies details program requirements.
