Graduate Program

Our program combines an emphasis on social theory and research methods and development of each student's own interest.
Undergraduate Program

Our Sociology undergraduate program provides students with the tools to engage more effectively with the world around them.
Acclaimed Scholarship

Faculty and students engage in a wide range of research projects and publications, spanning sites in the U.S. and abroad.
A Rich Variety of Courses

Great courses on poverty, immigration, race, politics, crime, work, gender, culture, and more.
Leading Faculty

Renowned scholars with a broad array of knowledge, research interests, and methodologies.
World Renowned University

Harvard University is devoted to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally.

Announcements

Harvard Sociology wholeheartedly endorses this powerful statement from our Dean and colleague Lawrence D. Bobo. Black lives matter.

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Welcome!

The Department of Sociology at Harvard has a rich and varied history. Its faculty 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 a variety of approaches to research including surveys, ethnography, in-depth interviews, big data, social demography, causal inference, and historical archival work. Deep engagement with central social issues in the American landscape such as racial inequality, gender discrimination, violence, 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.

News and Faculty Research Spotlights

COVID has robbed us of impromptu contacts that help keep us happy.

August 31, 2020
Mario Small discusses the value of talking to strangers — and nodding acquaintances, in the Gazette. In his book ... Read more about COVID has robbed us of impromptu contacts that help keep us happy.
Orlando Patterson to receive Jamaica's Order of Merit

August 10, 2020
Orlando Patterson has been selected to receive the Order of Merit, one of Jamaica's highest honors: "The honour of the Order of Merit (OM)"... Read more about Orlando Patterson to receive Jamaica's Order of Merit
Alum Anthony Jack Receives Multiple Awards and Recognitions for "The Privileged Poor"

August 10, 2020
Anthony Jack has recieved numerous Awards and Recognitions for his 2019 book The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students.... Read more about Alum Anthony Jack Receives Multiple Awards and Recognitions for "The Privileged Poor"
Blythe George featured in the Harvard Gazette

July 17, 2020
Blythe George was recently featured by the Harvard Gazette for Commencement. She is the first Yurok to hold a PhD from Harvard. Read more about Blythe George featured in the Harvard Gazette
Christina Cross wins four major prizes from the ASA

July 17, 2020
Christina Cross has won four major prizes from the ASA for her important work on race and family: the ASA Dissertation Award, and paper awards from the ASA Section on Children and Youth, the ASA Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and the ASA Family Section.
Victoria Asbury received the SSSP Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award

July 17, 2020
Victoria Asbury received the Society for the Study of Social Problems Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award for "Immigration Discourse, Race-based Resource Allocation, and Political Identification: An Experiment."
Cresa Pugh Receives 2020 Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates

July 17, 2020
The role of graduate students in undergraduate education is central to the experience of Harvard College students, and fundamental to teaching in our Department. In 2008 the Graduate School announced the establishment of the Derek C. Bok Awards for Excellence in the Teaching of Undergraduates. These awards, of which there are just five Harvard-wide, are made possible by an endowment gift from Jean F. Nathan and David G. Nathan ('51, M.D. '55). Congratulations, Cresa, and thank you!!!
Ethan Raker wins the Ana Aguado Prize, and ASA Political Sociology Graduate Student paper award

July 17, 2020
Ethan Raker's QP won the Ana Aguado Prize for best doctoral student paper from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program (HEEP) at HKS, and was also honored as one of two co-winners for the ASA Political Sociology section graduate student paper award.
Faculty Spotlight: Considering the Impacts of COVID-19 on Higher Education Inequality in the United States

June 1, 2020
Amid the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19, the 2019-2020 academic year has come to a close for most college and university students in the United States. Yet many are asking: now what? Higher education leaders are offering some answers, speaking to immediate concerns like whether teaching and learning will take place on colleges campuses come the fall, how financial arrangements will be handled, and what scaled-up virtual learning might look like.

... Read more about Faculty Spotlight: Considering the Impacts of COVID-19 on Higher Education Inequality in the United States
Brianna Castro wins Mitigation Matters Grant and JCHS Support Grant

July 16, 2020
Brianna Castro won one of the Mitigation Matters grants from the Natural Hazards Center at Boulder, in support of her fieldwork. Brianna also won a grant from the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) Student Research Support Grant program to fund her project on "Autonomous Adaption: the Landscape of Homeowner Response to Climate Change Hazards,” with Mary C. Waters.... Read more about Brianna Castro wins Mitigation Matters Grant and JCHS Support Grant
Allison Daminger is a co-winner of the ASA Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Graduate Student Paper Award

July 16, 2020
Allison Daminger is a co-winner of the ASA Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility section's Graduate Student Paper Award, for: “The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor,”... Read more about Allison Daminger is a co-winner of the ASA Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Graduate Student Paper Award
Faculty Spotlight: More Than Just Race: Skin Tone and the Criminal Justice System

April 1, 2020
For many decades now social scientists have shown how, in so many ways, one's ethnoracial background is associated with a whole host of important outcomes from educational attainment to labor market outcomes to health. Many studies also provide compelling evidence of ethnoracial disparities in the criminal justice system – the probability of being arrested, incarcerated, and even the length of criminal sentences. ... Read more about Faculty Spotlight: More Than Just Race: Skin Tone and the Criminal Justice System