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Current Students
Faculty By Area
Select a sub-field below to see faculty currently associated with that area.
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Specializations
As a large and well-balanced department, we provide excellent opportunities for training in some of the major areas of sociology. In particular, our faculty members conduct research and train students in four broad areas:
- Comparative Social Change
- Crime and Community
- Gender, Race, Work, and Inequality
- Population, Health, and Life Course
Students choose two sub-fields of concentration in which to take their Ph.D. Candidacy exams, which cross over these broad areas. Sub-fields of concentration for each area are listed below.
Comparative Social Change (CSC)
Sociology is an international discipline with growing interest in issues of social change, such as comparative inequality, world democratization, social movements, nationality conflicts, the globalization of the economy, the changing status of women, and international development problems such as poverty, population growth, political instability, and environmental degradation. Sociology faculty members in Comparative Social Change at Ohio State are actively involved in studying many of these issues. Current faculty research includes the comparative study of contemporary social movements, party change and democratization of Europe and the Third World, global environmental degradation, nationality conflicts, the world refugee crisis, and family and population change in the developing world.
Graduate student training reflects these diverse faculty interests in the organization of social institutions and processes of social change. Students may take courses in theory and diverse historical and comparative methods of research. In addition, they may take specialized research seminars on current issues in the study of comparative social change, such as comparative family organization, international inequality, political sociology, social movements, and political conflict. Students are encouraged to take supportive courses in political science, economics, rural sociology, anthropology, history, statistics, and women’s studies.
Ph.D. Candidacy exam areas: Comparative & Historical; Political; Social Movements; Work, Economy, & Organizations; Gender, Race, & Class; Theory; Methodology.
Crime and Community (C & C)
Studies of urbanization, crime, and deviance have been at the heart of sociology since its inception. Sociology faculty in Crime and Community at Ohio State continue to study many of these central sociological issues using cutting-edge theories and methods of research. Current faculty research includes studies of the causes and consequences of crime and deviance, social and developmental factors in juvenile delinquency, criminal justice and the legal process, neighborhood crime, metropolitan growth and suburbanization, neighborhoods and ethnic groups in cities, and urbanization and economic development.
Graduate student training reflects these diverse faculty interests in the origins, consequences, and connections of crime and urban life. Students may take required courses in urban and community theory, along with specialized seminars on current issues in the study of crime and community such as neighborhoods and crime, the criminal justice system, individual determinants of deviance and crime, urban sociology, and human ecology.
Ph.D. Candidacy exam areas: Crime, Deviance, & Social Control; Community & Urban; Theory; Methodology.
Gender, Race, Work and Inequality (GRWI)
Concerns with social inequalities are at the core of the sociological enterprise. Sociology faculty in Gender, Race, Work, and Inequality at Ohio State are actively engaged in research, publication, and teaching on major aspects of structured inequality related to gender, race, family, and economic positions. These scholars are contributing to our knowledge of how labor markets and economic factors produce and maintain social inequality, how paid and unpaid work of family members affects current and subsequent generations, and how gender, race, and class influence attitudes and opportunities. They also trace the development of social movements in the United States that aim to alter long-standing systems of stratification and inequality based on race and gender.
Graduate student training reflects these diverse faculty interests in inequality. Students may take courses in stratification and in the sociology of race, gender, work, and family. In addition, they may take specialized research seminars on current issues in the study of inequality, such as labor markets, gender inequality, and race and ethnicity in the United States and the American family.
Ph.D. Candidacy exam areas: Work, Economy, & Organizations; Gender, Race, & Class; Family; Theory; Methodology.
Population, Health and Life Course (PHLC)
Studies in demography, health, and their interrelationships across the life course are central sociological topics. Sociology faculty in Population, Health, and Life Course at Ohio State are key researchers studying major population and health issues across various stages of the life course. Faculty members are currently studying consistency and change over the life course, social factors in well-being and health, the consequences of differing family compositions for children, historical migration patterns, and the causes and consequences of racial residential segregation.
Graduate student training reflects these diverse faculty interests in population processes and health among children and adults. Students may take courses introducing them to the basic theories and methods of population studies, along with other courses in quantitative methods. In addition, they may take specialized research seminars on current issues in medical sociology, health, studies of the life course, fertility, migration, and family demography.
Ph.D. Candidacy exam areas: Community & Urban; Population; Family; Health & Medical; Theory; Methodology.
