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Department Areas of Concentration
The Sociology Department at Texas A&M University provides graduate coursework
covering a wide range of subjects. Doctoral students may declare a major in several
specific areas. These are:
Culture
Crime, Law, and Deviance
Demography
Political and Economic Sociology
Race, Class, and Gender
Social Psychology
Doctoral students also declare minors. These may be taken from any of the areas named here provided the minor does not duplicate the major area of concentration. In addition, students may work with their committees to formulate other minors not listed here. Please note, this option is not available for the major.
Culture 1
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Crime, Law, and Deviance 1
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Demography
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Political and Economic Sociology
The Political and Economic Sociology section of the graduate program at Texas A&M University studies the fundamental determinants of social change at the organizational, societal, and global levels. A third of the faculty in the Department are actively involved in research and teach courses that focus on political and economic sociology. The program emphasizes theoretically driven empirical research that contributes to the understanding of continuity and change in social structures. Explicit attention is given to economic systems, the state, class, power and inequality, the corporation and other formal organizations, social movements, and the conflicts that occur among these units of analysis. The faculty and graduate students use diverse methods to analyze large quantitative data sets, surveys, interviews, and historical documents. Opportunities exist for graduate students to work with faculty as research assistants on funded research projects.
Political and Economic Sociology Graduate Seminars: Comparative & Historical Methods, Complex Organizations, Economic Sociology, Environmental Sociology, Political Sociology, Professions, Social Change, Social Movements, Social Organization, Sociology of Work, War and Democracy, Work and Gender.
The Faculty:
Paul Almeida does research on social movements and globalization. His current research projects center on social movement dynamics in nondemocratic contexts and civil society responses to the implementation of market reforms in developing countries. He teaches a graduate course on Social Movements.
James Burk studies political sociology. His current research asks how chronic war affects liberal democratic societies. He teaches graduate courses on War and Democracy, Classical Theory, and Contemporary Theory.
Samuel Cohn does research on economic sociology, economic development, social conflict, discrimination, and stratification. His current research involves innovative strategies for increasing employment and income in Brazil. He teaches the graduate course in Economic Sociology.
Ashley Currier does research on social movements, gender, sexuality, and race in southern Africa. Her current research is on the ways that sexual minority social movement organizations in Namibia and South Africa use public visibility as a strategy.
Joseph O. Jewell does research in historical sociology, social inequality, and sociology of education. His current research examines the salience of intersections between race, ethnicity, and gender for middle class identity and mobility in late nineteenth and early twentieth century cities. He teaches graduate courses in Comparative & Historical Methods, Sociology of Education, and Sociology of Race/Ethnicity.
Dongxiao Liu does research on state-society relations in developing countries. Her current research includes historical comparisons of social movements, gender, and social policy in China and India.
Rob Mackin does research on religion and politics in Latin America. His current research is on the origins of liberation theology, a radical religious movement that emerged in the Catholic Church in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. He teaches graduate courses in Social Organization and Comparative & Historical Methods.
Hiroshi Ono does research in economic sociology, stratification and inequality, and work and labor markets. His current research focuses on how worker behavior is conditioned by institutions and by the organizational environment with particular focus on Japan, U.S., and Sweden. He teaches graduate courses in Economic Sociology and Sociology of Work.
Nancy Plankey Videla does research on globalization, work, and gender. Her current research examines how changes in the global economy have forced manufacturing firms to adopt new production practices and how these practices impact social relations on the shop floor. She teaches a graduate course on Work and Gender.
Harland Prechel does research on the corporation, class, globalization, and political, economic, and comparative and historical sociology. His current research is on the relationships among changes in corporations’ political-legal environment, the emergence of the multilayer-subsidiary form, and financial malfeasance in corporate America. He teaches graduate courses in Political Sociology, Complex Organizations, Social Theory.
Lu Zheng does research on corporations and institutions in China. His current research is on organizational behaviors of firms listed in China’s stock market and corporate restructuring of state-owned enterprises. He teaches a graduate course in Complex Organizations.
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Race, Class, and Gender 2
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Social Psychology 1
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Notes
1.The guidelines for the doctoral program permit students who wish to do so to count seminars in the areas of (a) Culture, (b) Crime, Law, and Deviance, and (c)
Social Psychology toward a major entitled "Individuals and Society".
2.The subarea of "Racial and Ethnic Relations" can also be used as a major.
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