Department of Sociology

The Harvard Sociology community mourns the loss of Devah Pager, who died on Friday, November 2, 2018 after a long illness. Devah was the Peter & Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, where she also directed the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy.

Devah’s creative, rigorous, and insightful work on discrimination in low-wage labor markets had a truly global impact, including in the 2004 US Presidential campaign, when the New York Times, among other outlets, featured work from her dissertation, including her famous article in the American Journal of Sociology, “The Mark of a Criminal Record.” Her work’s large-scale impact continues today, in efforts to “ban the box” in many states. Devah inspired us with her sunshine warmth, her deep humanity, her intellectual rigor, her community building, her engaged scholarship, and of course her brilliant smile. We all miss her terribly and count ourselves fortunate indeed to have worked with her and learned from her.

See "Devah Pager: Light in the Heart of Darkness" (Esendom, November 5, 2018); the article "Mourning Devah Pager" in the Harvard Gazette (November 8, 2018); an obituary published on November 8, 2018 in The New York Times and in the Boston Globe of November 12, 2018; also the article in the Harvard Crimson of November 12, 2018.

Welcome!

The Department of Sociology at Harvard has a rich and varied history. Whether it be the social systems approach of Talcott Parsons or the social exchange tradition pioneered by George Homans, the department has always been home to sociologists who are deeply committed to the development of sociological theory in the service of addressing fundamental sociological questions about the empirical world. The Harvard department of the 21^st century is characterized by unsurpassed methodological breadth and depth, with faculty and students engaged in methods ranging from ethnography, in-depth interviews, and archival work to advanced statistical modeling. Deep engagement with central social issues in the American landscape such as urban inequality and mass incarceration is coupled with expertise in political, economic, and social and cultural issues in other parts of the world such as Latin America, Asia, and Europe. We invite you to explore sociology at Harvard.

Spotlights

Lamont Presidential Lecture out in American Sociological Review

June 10, 2018
Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies, Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies, served as the 108th president of the American Sociological Association in 2016-17. Her term took an unexpected turn with the election of Donald Trump in November 2016: it befell on her to take a leadership role in defending the professional interests of sociologists and the conditions for academic freedom.... Read more about Lamont Presidential Lecture out in American Sociological Review
Gender Inequality, Employment, and Family in Postindustrial Societies

May 1, 2018
Mary Brinton has been studying gender inequality for a long time, motivated in particular by the high level of gender inequality in Japan and other East Asian societies. Her current project considers gender inequality in light of what many social demographers consider a crisis of the family as an institution—namely, the emergence of historically low birth rates throughout the postindustrial world.... Read more about Gender Inequality, Employment, and Family in Postindustrial Societies
Making Sense of a Perplexing Country and an unwieldy Subject: Studies in the sociology of development and of modern-day trafficking and slavery

March 1, 2018
The Confounding Island: Institutions, Culture and Mis-Development in Post-Colonial Jamaica was just delivered to the press by Professor Orlando Patterson. This book examines one of the world’s most perplexing societies. Famous for the spectacular successes of its athletes and musicians, its vibrant democracy, and its religiosity, Jamaica is equally infamous for being among the world’s most violent places.... Read more about Making Sense of a Perplexing Country and an unwieldy Subject: Studies in the sociology of development and of modern-day trafficking and slavery
The Costs and Consequences of Legal Debt: A Field Experiment

December 4, 2017
In their new study, professors Devah Pager and Bruce Western and graduate students Helen Ho and Becca Goldstein examine the long-term consequences of legal debt for social, economic, and criminal justice outcomes.... Read more about The Costs and Consequences of Legal Debt: A Field Experiment
Truly Toxic

November 1, 2017
Environmental regulation is undergoing radical changes, posing a direct threat to America’s health and potentially deepening inequality. Since the spring of 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed sharp cuts in the testing of children for lead exposure, and the Interior Department directed the National Academy of Sciences to cease studying the health effects of a common mining technique that deposits toxic minerals in ground waters. Meanwhile, recent investigative reports have documented that the appointment of top regulators with conflicting business interests at the EPA continues apace. ... Read more about Truly Toxic
Small’s *Someone To Talk To* Aims To Change How We Think about Networks

October 2, 2017
Mario Small’s new book, Someone To Talk To, a study of how people decide whom to approach when seeking support, is an inquiry into human nature, a critique of network analysis, and a discourse on the role of qualitative research in the big-data era.

... Read more about Small’s *Someone To Talk To* Aims To Change How We Think about Networks