Sociology and Social Policy

Sociology is centrally concerned with the problem of inequality, understood in institutional terms. The JDP-Sociology program is for doctoral students who are interested in wage inequality, educational attainment, social and cultural capital. JDP-Sociology students study questions of racial segregation, discrimination, class inequality, patterns of household and family formation, labor market dynamics, urban social structure, immigration and processes of second generation assimilation, the "culture of inequality," organizational adaptation, crime/incarceration, health inequalities and ethnicity.

The Princeton Sociology department is particularly rich in scholars who are interested in the quantitative and qualitative study of poverty, race, immigration, education, employment, criminal justice, religion, and communications. Indeed, it is hard to think of more than one or two members of the faculty who are not engaged in some aspect of the sociological study of the causes and consequences of inequality by race, socio-economic status, and ethnic origin.

The Princeton department is organized around a set of research clusters, the largest one of which draws together faculty and students interested in stratification and inequality. This is complemented by a world class training group in social demography and quantitative methods, and an equally strong faculty focused on ethnography, culture and qualitative research. Like most sociology departments, we are heavily invested in the study of social issues in the United States. Yet we are increasingly developing a critical mass of scholars who work outside North America, including a strong group in migration and development and comparative, regional and political sociology, with faculty who work in Latin America, East Asia, South Asia and Europe.

JDP-Sociology doctoral students benefit from a rich array of departmental colloquia every week, ranging from our workshop in Culture and Inequality, to a biweekly gathering focusing on Economic Sociology. They participate in the Wilson Society of Fellows, student-run workshops on career development, and seminars developed especially to facilitate preparation for the job market.

In addition to the resources of the department itself, JDP-Sociology students will benefit from involvement in the Global Network on Inequality, the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, the Center for the Study of Child Wellbeing, the Law and Public Affairs Program, and the Center for the Study of Religion.

The joint degree program will be of particular interest to sociologists attracted to the study of pressing social issues, who intend for their work to cross the boundaries between the academy and the public sphere, as well as those who hope to influence the shape of public policy. Many faculty members are well known public intellectuals, who write for major newspapers and journals of opinion, appear before Congress and on television programs as an expression of their commitment to informed debate.