Specializations

• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Population Studies
• Medical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Stratification
• Social Psychology
• Sociology of Religion

Drawing upon the particular strengths of the Duke faculty and the general divisions within sociology, the Department has formulated seven specializations for graduate study leading to the Ph.D. Each is intended to provide in-depth knowledge of the theories, substantive issues, and methods of research in a major subfield of the discipline. Students choose a specialty during the first year of study from this list of seven specializations. Students fulfill the requirements of these specializations by taking substantive proseminars and pertinent methods and statistics courses offered by the Department.

Comparative and Historical Sociology

Comparative and Historical Sociology focuses on macro and international social phenomena in order to understand both the institutional features of societies and their processes of change, and the evolving interdependencies that link the world’s societies in a global context. Research and training address a variety of historical and contemporary issues concerning change and development. Policy issues in diverse social settings also receive attention. There are close relationships with the University’s Centers for International Studies and Demographic Studies. A special Master’s degree in Comparative Development, is offered also. In their research, associated faculty members—Brady, Gao, Gereffi, Lin, Shanahan, Simpson, Smith, and Tiryakian (emeritus),—apply such approaches as historical analysis, structural analysis, demographic modeling, world-system analysis, and aggregate cross-national statistical comparisons.

Population Studies

This speciality focuses on the structure and dynamics of human populations. Its particular emphases included comparative demography, household and family demography, social epidemiology, minority health status, population aging, population modeling, and international migration. Research and training opportunities are facilitated by close ties with the Center for Demographic Studies, the Medical School, and the adjacent Veterans Administration Hospital. Close ties also are maintained with population organizations in the Research Triangle and with the Population Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Faculty include Corder (Demographic Studies), Hughes, Land, Manton(Demographic Studies), Morgan, O’Rand, Parrado, Stallard (Demographic Studies), and Yi (Demographic Studies).

Medical Sociology

The program focuses on five specific areas: the formal organization of care; health service research and health policy; sociology of mental illness; stress, coping, and social support; and social epidemiology. Core faculty members include George, Gold (Psychiatry), and, Lin. Research opportunities are available at the Duke Medical Center, the Aging Center, the Veterans Hospital, and with on-going faculty research projects.

Economic Sociology

This specialty focuses on economy and society with particular attention paid to organizations, occupations, markets, and work. Topics of concern to faculty participants include comparative studies of economic systems, organizational ecology, complex organizations, interorganizational networks, the organization of production, individual careers, and the social psychology of work. Students also have access to faculty and resources in Fuqua School of Business, the Department of Economics, and the International Political Economy Program of the Department of Political Science. Researchers in this specialty interact with colleagues at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill through the Triangle Area Organizations and Stratification Seminar (TAOS). A visiting lecture series, trade periodicals, and other resources are available through Duke’s undergraduate Markets and Management Studies Certificate Program, which is administered by the Department of Sociology. Participating faculty include Brady, Cook, Gao, Gereffi, Keister, Land, O’Rand, Simpson, Smith, Spenner, and Wilson.

Stratification

This specialty examines how social institutions allocate resources, facilitate or constrain social mobility, and maintain or change a society’s level of achievement and inequality. The family, the educational system, and the workplace are the institutions placed in central focus by this specialty. Stratification research sometimes takes the individual as the unit of analysis and seeks to understand how individual and structural factors influence educational and career outcomes. Other research uses a more macro perspective, taking educational institutions, labor markets, or whole societies as the unit of analysis in an effort to understand social mobility and inequality. Researchers in this specialty interact with colleagues at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill through the Triangle Area Organizations and Stratification Seminar(TAOS). Participating faculty include Brady, Keister, Lin, Morgan, O’Rand, Parrado, Smith, and Spenner.

Social Psychology

This specialty examines topics in microsociology and social psychology, including social interation, decision-making, social exchange, group processes, intergroup relations, self and identity, social structure and personality, social networks and application in organizations and health care.
A. Introduction to Social Psychology
B. Rational Choice and Social Exchange
C. Sociology of Self and Identity
D. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
E. Experimental Research: A Practicum
F. Special Topics in Social Psychology

Participating faculty include George, Lin, Smith-Lovin, and Spenner

Sociology of Religion

The sociology of religion focuses on how social context shapes religion
and how religion shapes people, institutions, and societies. It includes
the study of religious organizations and cultures, trends in religious
belief, practice, and social influence, and the ways in which religious
differences matter in social life. The sociological study of religion
often intersects with other areas of study within sociology, such as the
study of organizations, social movements, culture, inequality, networks,
civic engagement, and medicine. Exploration of these connections and
intersections is encouraged, and students who study the sociology of
religion at Duke also are able to draw on the considerable faculty
expertise in the study of religion throughout the University, including
the Department of Religion, the Divinity School, and the Medical School.
Faculty who participate in this specialization include Chaves, George, Keister, and Tiryakian (emeritus).