• Welcome to the Sociology Department

    As part of the prestigious Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, our faculty focuses on understanding, critiquing, and addressing structural and social inequalities. Known nationally for our expertise in qualitative methods, our award winning faculty also provide excellent training in quantitative research methods, theory, and a wide variety of sociological issues. Our faculty research, and our courses, include a range of areas such as health, aging, life course, globalization, immigration, transnational studies, family, education, work, power, capital, and culture. 

    Undergraduate training in sociology emphasizes broad understandings of how societies operate.  Students develop more in-depth understanding of particular institutions and practices, including health care, families, education, criminology, environment, labor, industry, and immigration.  They also develop expertise on particular social issues, including sex and gender, race, ethnicity, class, social policies, globalization, and power.  This knowledge provides a useful background for students pursuing a wide range of careers.  Our alumni hold positions in education, journalism, social services, marketing, business, government, strategic planning, criminology, personnel, health care, and law.  Those who pursue graduate training find they are well prepared.

    Graduate training is organized around eight major areas: (1) Globalization, Immigration, Transnational Studies; (2) Population and Place; (3) Education and Family; (4) Health, Aging & Life Course, Disability; (5) Inequalities; (6) Power, Capital, and Politics; (7) Methods; and (8) Theory.  Our aim is to prepare students for all aspects of their career: research, teaching, publishing, grants, and mentoring. We begin with professional development seminar that assures that all students have the opportunities they need to become fully prepared future scholars.  Our PhD students hold positions at prestigious research universities, liberal arts colleges, NGOs, government offices, and corporations.

    The Sociology Department at Syracuse University offers core training in sociological issues, methods, theory, and practice.  Our department includes 16 current faculty, 7 affiliated faculty, and 10 emeriti faculty, many of whom have won national and international awards for their work and hold leadership positions in our national organizations.  Our sociology faculty are affiliated with numerous Syracuse University Programs and Centers including: the Aging Studies Institute; the Asian/Asian American Studies Program; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Studies; Women and Gender Studies; Disability Studies; African American Studies; Native American Studies; Cultural Foundations of Education; the Humanities Center; the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media, the Center for Policy Research; the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict; the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs. The department provides opportunities for joint degrees or collaborative study with such centers as well.


  • Upcoming Events RSS Feed

    Due to public health concerns around COVID-19, all in-person public events are postponed or canceled until further notice.

  • Sociology News RSS Feed

    Two Maxwell undergrads named 2020 Syracuse University Scholars

    Maxwell students Lara Hicks, majoring in international relations, and Natalia Rice, majoring in sociology, are among the twelve seniors that have been named as the 2020 Syracuse University Scholars, the highest undergraduate honor the University bestows.

     

    Montez quoted in KHN article on inequality gap at age 65

    Pockets of this country "have a life expectancy at 65, which is on par" with that of leading countries, says Jennifer Karas Montez. "We need to figure out what those places are doing right and then take those lessons and apply them to other parts of the country that are doing poorly." Montez was interviewed for the Kaiser Health News article "The Startling Inequality Gap That Emerges After Age 65."

     

    Monnat awarded grant by Mother Cabrini Health Foundation

    Shannon Monnat, the Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, has received a $75,817 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation for the project “Implementing and Evaluating the Efficacy of a New Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Plan of Safe Care.” Monnat is the principal investigator on the project; Alexandra Punch, associate director of Maxwell’s Lerner Center, is a co-investigator.