The program's discipline-plus model gives students greater exposure to a network of scholars outside their home discipline.
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Nicole Tateosian, Director
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617-495-1190
Explore big questions and challenge inequities to transform communities.
The PhD in Social Policy combines rigorous training in political science or sociology with a multidisciplinary approach to examining real-world social policy issues.
As a collaboration among the Government and Sociology departments at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Kennedy School, the PhD in Social Policy (SPOL) Program is designed for students with wide-ranging interests in social policy, in areas including:
- Crime and criminal punishment
- Economic inequality
- Educational access and inequality
- Family dynamics
- Gender
- Health disparities
- Immigration
- Local politics, neighborhoods, and segregation
- Political participation and political inequality
- Poverty and social mobility
- Race and ethnicity
- Wealth distribution
- Workplace inequities
The program will put you at the forefront of studying key problems in social policy. The skills and cross-disciplinary insights you develop will allow you to identify important unanswered questions and create research strategies that improve our understanding of social problems.
The PhD in Social Policy is awarded by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS).
About the Program
The PhD in Social Policy offers two tracks: Government and Social Policy or Sociology and Social Policy.
As an SPOL student, you pursue a “discipline-plus” model by completing the requirements of your home disciplinary department—Government or Sociology—and a three-semester complementary program of study and research in social policy. This allows you to develop a thorough grounding in the theory, methods, and substantive focus of your primary discipline before embarking on a sequence of multidisciplinary seminars and advanced research in social policy in your second year.
The Social Policy curriculum is also complemented by the weekly Inequality & Social Policy Seminar Series, which are public lectures that introduce you to some of the most exciting work in this area.
SPOL students are full members of their disciplinary department and of the Social Policy community.
Read more about the program’s curriculum and degree requirements.
What the Program Looks For
- Potential for excellence in research, creativity, and perseverance
- Demonstrated interest in being an active member of the Government, Sociology, and Social Policy communities
- Strengths in all available application materials: transcripts, work experience, letters, personal statements, and test scores
Application Requirements
You must submit the following materials to the Harvard Griffin GSAS Office of Admissions by December 1 at 5 p.m. ET:
- Harvard Griffin GSAS online application
- CV/résumé
- Official transcripts for all colleges or universities attended
- Three letters of recommendation
- Statement of purpose (instructions in the application portal)
- Personal statement (instructions in the application portal)
- Writing sample (instructions in the application portal)
- Valid GRE General Test scores (GMAT and LSAT are not accepted; no waivers for GRE scores)
- Internet-based TOEFL or IELTS scores (if applicable; minimum TOEFL score of 103 or minimum IELTS score of 7 required)
Visit the GSAS website for more information before applying.
SPOL students are registered at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) and delve into a range of research areas during their time at Harvard.
Current SPOL students and their areas of interest are listed below.
| SPOL Student | Track | Areas of Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Francisa Afantchao Biakou | Sociology & SPOL | Race, gender, care work, social theory, historical sociology, computational and mixed methods |
| David Arbelaez | Sociology & SPOL | Inequality, intergenerational social mobility, and organizational sociology in the context of higher education |
| Marco Avina | Government & SPOL | Racial and ethnic politics as well as public opinion and political behavior |
| Mary Soledad Craig | Government & SPOL | Intergroup relations, with a focus on racial and ethnic politics, inequality, and immigration |
| Kseniya Dzhala | Sociology & SPOL | Political actors, organizations, cultural sociology, and urban inequality, with a focus on the politics of rental housing |
| Marysol Fernández Harvey | Government & SPOL | American social movements, conflict transformation, civil resistance, and peacebuilding |
| Nicholas (Nicc) Forster-Benson | Sociology & SPOL | Knowledge production and policy, political economy, financialization and inequality, mixed methods |
| Brian Highsmith | Government & SPOL | Fiscal federalism, state/local tax and budget policy, public goods, residential segregation, criminal punishment, political economy, antitrust and corporate power, and law and legal institutions |
| Andrew Byrne Keefe | Sociology & SPOL | Crime, criminal law, and criminal justice; economic inequality; empire; mass incarceration; network analysis; policing; political economy; political sociology; and race and racism |
| Zehua Li | Government & SPOL | Law, AI, and local politics |
| Zheng Ma | Government & SPOL | Political economy, social policy, and computational social science |
| Evan MacKay | Sociology & SPOL | Inequality and social policy; crime, deviance, restoration, and punishment; social stratification; race and ethnicity; gender; discrimination; geography; poverty; and quantitative methods |
| Siri Neerchal | Sociology & SPOL | Inequality, social determinants of health, social policy, labor, occupational health, LGBTQ health, gender identity, survey methods, quantitative methods |
| Dylan Nguyen | Sociology & SPOL | Spatial inequality urban and community sociology, organizations, race and ethnicity, housing, inequality and stratification |
| Charlotte O'Herron | Sociology & SPOL | Gender and racial inequalities in work, occupations, and wealth; family; intersectionality; qualitative methods; quantitative methods; economic sociology |
| Nefara Riesch | Sociology & SPOL | Race and ethnicity, poverty and inequality, criminal legal system, labor markets, policing, quantitative methods, and social policy |
| Ben TerMaat | Government & SPOL | Elections and political polarization |
| Jessica Urzua | Sociology & SPOL | Labor, education, inequality, mobility, social policy |
| Jacob Waggoner | Government & SPOL | Political and economic inequality in America, focusing on property and the administrative state |
| Julius Wilson | Government & SPOL | Government institutions |
| Michael Zanger-Tishler | Sociology & SPOL | Criminology, sociology of punishment, race, ethnicity and migration, quantitative methods, comparative sociology, social theory, inequality and social policy, antisemitism, Middle Eastern studies, and law and society |
Learn about the dissertations of our recent PhD in Social Policy graduates and their job placements directly following graduation.
2025
| Graduate Name | Track | Dissertation | Advisor | Job Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandra Mitukiewicz | Sociology & SPOL | Job Loss and Work Among Older Workers | David Pedulla and Alexandra Killewald | |
| Lauren Taylor | Sociology & SPOL | Consumer Credit from Theory to Practice: Financial Responses to a Precarious Economy | Jason Beckfield and Alexandra Killewald | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Post Doctoral Fellow |
| Elizabeth Thom | Government & SPOL | Withering on the Vine: Political and Policy Lessons From Extractive Industry Decline in the United States | Theda Skocpol | Northwestern University, Department of Political Science, Assistant Professor |
2024
| Graduate Name | Track | Dissertation | Advisor | Job Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cierra Robson | Sociology & SPOL | Risk Roulette: How Lawyers Make Pretrial Risk Assessment Tools Matter in Criminal Court | Sandra Susan Smith and Ya-Wen Lei | Yale University Law School, Student |
2023
| Graduate Name | Track | Dissertation | Advisor | Job Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Biblarz | Sociology & SPOL | Intangible Factors: Social Capital, Social Networks and America’s Second Reconstruction | Mario Small | Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Associate; University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, Lecturer |
| Meredith Dost | Government & SPOL | Bureaucratic (ln)competence in a Federalist System: How Administrative Burden Impacts Participation in U.S. Elections | Dan Carpenter | Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy, Better Government Lab, Post Doctoral Fellow |
| Abigail Mariam | Sociology & SPOL | The Worldbuilders: Pedagogy, Practice, and Politics in Black Power-Era Independent Schools | Jocelyn Viterna | Re Center, Racial Justice Strategist and Coach-Consultant |
| Andreja Siliunas | Sociology & SPOL | The Art of Westernizing: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Public Art in Post-Soviet Lithuania | Mario Small | University of Virginia, Global Studies & Engagements, Assistant Professor |
| Lily Yu | Sociology & SPOL | Distributing Representation: Nonprofit, Private, and Pro Bono Attorney’s Legal Advocacy for Immigrant Clients | Jocelyn Viterna | RTI International, Research Scientist, Victimization and Response Program |
2022
| Graduate Name | Track | Dissertation | Advisor | Job Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacob Brown | Government & SPOL | Partisan Conversion and Partisan Activation: The Behavioral Consequences of Partisan Segregation | Ryan Enos | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Political Science Department, Post Doctoral Fellow 2022-2023; Boston University, Political Science Department, Assistant Professor |
| Allison Daminger | Sociology & SPOL | Thinking Gender: The Cognitive Dimensions of Household Labor | Alexandra Killewald and Jocelyn Viterna | University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sociology Department, Assistant Professor |
| Cresa Pugh | Sociology & SPOL | “Guardians of Beautiful Things”: The Politics of Postcolonial Cultural Theft, Refusal, and Repair | Jocelyn Viterna and Orlando Patterson | The New School, Sociology Department, Assistant Professor |
| Nathan Robinson | Sociology & SPOL | Hostile Territory: Mobilizing Resources and Finding Opportunities in the Contemporary U.S. Democratic Socialist Movement | Lawrence BoBo and Bart Bonikowski | Current Affairs magazine, Editor-in-Chief and Writer |
| Nicholas Short | Government & SPOL | The Politics of the American Knowledge Economy | Daniel Carpenter | Princeton University, Department of Politics, Post Doctoral Fellow |
| Adam Travis | Government & SPOL | Towards a Landscape of Rental Housing Ownership: Legal and Spatial Characteristics of Residential Landlords in the United States | Robert Sampson | Abt Associates, Associate |
2021
| Graduate Name | Track | Dissertation | Advisor | Job Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sara James | Government & SPOL | When is Hindsight 20/20? The Politics of Acknowledging and Addressing Failed Policies | Theda Skocpol | Harvard University, Government and Social Studies, Lecturer; Gonzaga University, Department of Political Science, Assistant Professor |
| Audrey Latura | Government & SPOL | Employers, Childcare, and Women’s Professional Advancement in Liberal Welfare Regimes | Torben Iversen | Yale University, Post Doctoral Fellow |
A defining feature of the program is the sustained mentorship students receive from faculty members.
At the beginning of their graduate studies, students are assigned advisors closely aligned with their research interests. The departmental advisor will be assigned according to the prevailing practices of the relevant department. The social policy advisor will generally be the director of graduate study. During the third year, students choose advisors in accordance with their research interests, with an eye toward composing an eventual dissertation committee.
Social Policy Faculty Chair
Deirdre Bloome
Deirdre Bloome
Appointment
Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy, HKS; Professor of Sociology, FAS
Mailing Address 1
Harvard Kennedy School
Mailing Address 2
79 John F. Kennedy Street
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Zip
02138
Learn More About the Doctoral Programs
About the PhD in Social Policy Program
How to Apply
Applicants submit their application to the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.