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A disciplinary foundation in Sociology Social Policy Ph.D. candidates in the Sociology track likewise complete all the normal requirements of the Harvard Ph.D. Program in Sociology. Prospective applicants, therefore, should acquaint themselves with the Sociology Department’s diversity of approaches, areas of study, faculty, and course offerings. Rather than replicate the departmental literature, which can be found in the GSAS program booklet and on the Sociology Department web site, this discussion highlights those issues that potential applicants to Sociology & Social Policy will especially wish to consider. The coursework stage and qualifying paper
The Sociology curriculum ensures that students receive an intensive introduction to the field in their first year through a two-term sequence in classical and contemporary sociological theory and a two-term sequence in quantitative and qualitative research methods. In addition to general sociological theory, students undertake study in stratification, social organization, and two elective fields, which may include culture, development, gender and society, political sociology, or race and ethnicity. Students acquire further training in quantitative methods with an advanced methods course required in the second year. In addition to the required courses, students select from a rich variety of elective classes, including conference courses, seminars, and upper-level research workshops. Recent graduate-level course offerings include:
Every student will produce at least one major piece of research, known as the qualifying paper, prior to the dissertation. Students in the Sociology & Social Policy Program fulfill this requirement in the course of the Social Policy Proseminar sequence with a paper addressing major literatures in both sociology and social policy.
The transition to Ph.D. candidacy occurs with the completion of the required coursework and satisfaction of the qualifying paper requirement. In the third year, students then can expect to prepare a special area field within sociology for the oral general examination. This special area exam is designed to cultivate mastery of a field of sufficient breadth and depth to offer as an advanced undergraduate class. In general, students will utilize the oral exam experierence as a springboard for the development of a dissertation research agenda. Students must elaborate and defend a dissertation prospectus, which constitutes the beginning of the dissertation stage of the degree program, as described more fully in the section devoted to the Social Policy module.
Doctoral students in the Sociology & Social Policy further benefit from a rich network of research centers and programs at Harvard University. These research institutions typically sponsor conferances and seminars and often fund doctoral fellowships for dissertation or summer research. Some of the programs most relevant for Sociology & Social Policy students include: :: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies :: Institute for Quantitative Social Science :: Harvard Migration and Immigrant Incorporation Workshop :: Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program :: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies :: Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy :: Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America :: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs :: W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research
Continue on to Social Policy module» Additional photo credits: Photo of Professor Mary Waters: Courtesy of the Harvard News Office. Photos of William James Hall, Michèle Lamont, Melanie Penny, and Joel Horwich: © 2004, 2005 Pamela Metz
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Harvard Ph.D. Programs in Social Policy | Housed at the John F. Kennedy School
of Government |
79 JFK Street | Cambridge, MA 02138 | Tel: 617.496.0109
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Last updated by Pamela Metz 07 Nov 2007 | social_policy@harvard.edu
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