CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT:
Professor Dalton Conley

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES:
Assistant Professor Vivek Chibber

The Department of Sociology emphasizes both theoretical creativity and substantive empirical research on important social issues. It encourages a range of analytic perspectives and maintains strength in both quantitative and qualitative methods. The graduate program complements research on the contemporary United States, including New York City, with international and historical studies. Among its areas of strength are gender studies; social inequality; crime, law, and deviance; organizations and economy; political sociology; social movements; urban sociology; race and ethnicity; culture; and theory.

In addition to formal course work, the department offers students a chance to participate in collaborative research projects through its apprenticeship program. This gives students an early research experience and leads NYU faculty and students to publish an unusually high number of coauthored papers. Students also have access to the department’s extensive computer resources. The department also maintains strong links to NYU in Berlin, to the London School of Economics (via the NYLON program), and to the Brookings Institution. Interested students can apply to spend part of their graduate career in any of these venues.

In addition to two department-wide colloquia (the Puck series and the seminars offered by the Center for Advanced Social Science Research), the NYU Department of Sociology organizes five continuing public research workshops, where faculty and students present and criticize each other’s works in progress, encouraging professional collaboration and exchange. These workshops are Politics, Power, and Protest; Gender and Inequality; Crime, Law, and Deviance; Political Economy; and Culture, Institutions, and Social Change. The department frequently cosponsors speakers and panels with other units, such as the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, as well as an array of academic meetings, including an annual conference run entirely by graduate students themselves at which faculty play the role of discussants.

To prepare students interested in careers as college and university teachers, the department offers training in the teaching of sociology. This includes a teaching practicum and a graduated program of practical experience in which students work as teaching assistants with increasing levels of responsibility. It also includes graduate student representation on a wide range of departmental committees, including those devoted to faculty hiring.

Faculty

Edwin Amenta, Professor. Ph.D. 1989 (sociology), Chicago; M.A. 1982 (sociology), B.A. 1979 (sociology), Indiana.
Political sociology; historical and comparative sociology; social movements, social policy.

Richard Arum, Professor, Sociology, Humanities and Social Sciences (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development). Ph.D. 1996 (sociology), California (Berkeley); M.Ed. 1988, Harvard; B.A. 1985 (political science), Tufts.
Education; stratification/mobility; organizations, formal and complex.

Neil Brenner, Professor, Sociology, Social and Cultural Analysis (Metropolitan Studies). Ph.D. 1999 (political science), Chicago; M.A. 1996 (geography), California (Los Angeles); M.A. 1994 (political science), Chicago; B.A. 1991 (philosophy), Yale.
Urban sociology; political sociology; theory.

Craig Calhoun, Professor; University Professor. D.Phil. 1980 (sociology and history), Oxford; M.A. 1975 (social anthropology), Manchester; M.A. 1974 (anthropology), Columbia; B.A. 1972 (anthropology), Southern California.
Social theory; social history; political sociology (movements, democracy, and nationalism).

Vivek Chibber, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1999 (sociology), M.A. 1991 (sociology), Wisconsin (Madison); B.A. 1987 (political science), Northwestern.
Comparative/historical sociology; political sociology; economy and society.

Dalton Conley, Professor; University Professor; Chair, Department of Sociology. Ph.D. 1996 (sociology), M.A. 1994 (sociology), M.P.A. 1992, Columbia; B.A. 1990 (humanities), California (Berkeley).
Stratification/mobility; race/class/gender; medical sociology.

Juan E. Corradi, Professor. Ph.D. 1974 (sociology), M.A. 1967 (sociology), B.A. 1965 (sociology), Brandeis.
Fear and violence; urban cultures; corporate social responsibility programs in developing countries.

Jo Dixon, Associate Professor, Sociology, Law and Society. Ph.D. 1987 (sociology), Indiana; M.A. 1981 (sociology), Emory; B.A. 1972 (sociology), North Carolina.
Sociology of law; gender and law; legal profession.

Troy Duster, Professor; Silver Professor. Ph.D. 1962 (sociology), Northwestern; M.A. 1959 (sociology), California (Los Angeles); B.A. 1957 (journalism), Northwestern.
Science; public policy; race and ethnicity; deviance.

Thomas Ertman, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1990 (sociology), M.A. 1985 (sociology), B.A. 1981 (philosophy), Harvard.
Comparative/historical sociology; political sociology; theory.

David W. Garland, Arthur T. Vanderbilt Professor of Law (School of Law); Professor, Sociology. Ph.D. 1984 (sociolegal studies), Edinburgh; M.A. 1978 (criminology), Sheffield; LL.B. 1977, Edinburgh.
Criminology; social control and theory.

Kathleen Gerson, Professor. Ph.D. 1981 (sociology), M.A. 1974 (sociology), California (Berkeley); B.A. 1969 (sociology), Stanford.
Gender; the family; work-family linkages.

Jeff Goodwin, Professor. Ph.D. 1988 (sociology), M.A. 1983 (sociology), B.A. 1980 (social studies), Harvard.
Social theory; social movements and revolutions; nationalism.

David F. Greenberg, Professor. Ph.D. 1969 (physics), M.S. 1963 (physics), B.S. 1962 (physics), Chicago.
Sociology of sex; criminology; sociology of law.

Doug Guthrie, Professor, Management and Organizations (Stern School of Business), Sociology. Ph.D. 1997 (sociology), M.A. 1994 (sociology), California (Berkeley); B.A. 1992 (East Asian languages and civilizations), Chicago.
Economy and society; social organization; work and labor markets.

Lynne Haney, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1997 (sociology), M.A. 1992 (sociology), California (Berkeley); B.A. 1990 (sociology), California (San Diego).
Sex and gender; qualitative methodology; social psychology.

Barbara Heyns, Professor. Ph.D. 1971 (sociology), M.A. 1969, Chicago; B.A. 1966, California (Berkeley).
Education; social stratification; social institutions.

Ruth Horowitz, Professor. Ph.D. 1975 (sociology), M.A. 1972, Chicago; B.A. 1969, Temple.
Social control; qualitative methodology; social psychology.

Robert Max Jackson, Professor. Ph.D. 1981 (sociology), M.A. 1974 (sociology), California (Berkeley); B.A. 1971 (psychology and sociology), Michigan.
Gender inequality; stratification; economy and society.

Guillermina Jasso, Professor. Ph.D. 1974 (sociology), Johns Hopkins; M.A. 1970 (sociology and anthropology), Notre Dame; B.A. 1962 (sociology), Our Lady of the Lake College.
Theory; international migration; social justice.

Eric Klinenberg, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 2000 (sociology), M.A. 1997 (sociology), California (Berkeley); B.A. 1993 (history, philosophy), Brown.
Urban sociology, race/ethnic/minority relations, theory.

Edward W. Lehman, Professor. Ph.D. 1966 (sociology), Columbia; M.A. 1959 (sociology), B.S. 1956 (sociology), Fordham.
Political sociology; sociological theory; sociology of organizations.

Steven Lukes, Professor. D.Phil. 1968, B.A. 1962, Oxford.
Social theory; political theory; moral philosophy.

Richard Maisel, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1959 (sociology), Columbia; B.A. 1949 (sociology and mathematics), SUNY (Buffalo).
Public opinion and mass communications; sampling and survey design; special analysis of social phenomenon.

Jeff Manza, Professor. Ph.D. 1995 (sociology), M.A. 1989 (sociology), B.A. 1984 (sociology), California (Berkeley).
Social inequality; political sociology; public policy.

Gerald Marwell, Professor. Ph.D. 1964 (sociology), M.A. 1959 (sociology), New York; B.S. 1957 (business and engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Collective behavior/social movements; religion; social psychology.

Harvey Molotch, Professor, Sociology, Social and Cultural Analysis (Metropolitan Studies). Ph.D. 1968 (sociology), M.A. 1966 (sociology), Chicago; B.A. 1963 (philosophy), Michigan.
Environmental sociology; urban sociology; cultural sociology.

Ann Morning, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2004 (sociology), Princeton; M.A. 1992 (international affairs), Columbia; B.A. 1990 (economics and political science), Yale.
Race and ethnicity, especially racial classification; multiracial population; demography; sociology of knowledge and science; immigration; economic sociology.

Caroline Hodges Persell, Professor. Ph.D. 1971 (sociology), M.A. 1967 (sociology), Columbia; B.A. 1962 (English), Swarthmore College.
Sociology of education (including multicultural education and for-profit schools); educational inequality and the impact of computer technologies on education; stratification.

Richard Sennett, Professor, Sociology, History; University Professor. Ph.D. 1969 (American civilization), Harvard; B.A. 1964 (history), Chicago.
Urban sociology; art/music; family.

Judith Stacey, Professor. Ph.D. 1979 (sociology), Brandeis; M.A. 1968 (American history), Illinois (Chicago); B.A. 1964 (social studies), Michigan.
Family; sex and gender; feminist and queer theory.

Florencia Torche, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2004 (sociology), M.S. 2001 (sociology), Columbia; B.A. 1996 (sociology), Pontifical Catholic (Chile).
Comparative sociology; stratification, education, intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.

Lawrence L. Wu, Professor; Director, Center for Advanced Social Science Research. Ph.D. 1987 (sociology); B.A. 1980 (sociology and applied mathematics), Harvard.
Family; demography; quantitative methodology.

ASSOCIATED FACULTY IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS

Marion Nestle, Professor, Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Sociology. M.P.H. 1986, Ph.D. 1968 (molecular biology), California (Berkeley).
Nutrition and food policy.

Pedro Noguera, Professor, Teaching and Learning (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Sociology. Ph.D. 1989 (sociology), California (Berkeley); M.A. 1982 (sociology), B.A. 1981 (sociology), Brown.
Race and schooling; immigration/ migration; education and economic development; education in other countries.

Mitchell L. Stevens, Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Sociology. Ph.D. 1996 (sociology), M.A. 1989 (sociology), Northwestern; B.A. 1988, Macalester College.
Organizational sociology; management of individualism; politics of comparability; homeschooling movement in the U.S.

AFFILIATED FACULTY IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS

Rodney Benson, Culture and Communication (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development); James Jacobs, School of Law; Cynthia Miller-Idriss, International Education, Educational Sociology (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development).

FACULTY EMERITI

Wolf V. Heydebrand, Edwin M. Schur, Patricia C. Sexton, Dennis H. Wrong.