Program Description Financial Support Program Requirements Admission Requirements How to Apply Master CurriculumSocial Dialogue

The Graduate Program in Sociology has two areas of focus:

Comparative International Sociology (CIS)
Sociology of Population and Health (SPH)

The Comparative International Sociology (CIS) Program is presently the core of the Sociology Department's doctoral program. This program focuses on the systematic analysis of the global processes and social structures underlying many of the most significant and vexing aspects of social change today. We examine the historical evolution of these macro-level processes and the ways in which local communities experience these global forces. Thus, we study the broad (but very real) economic, social, political, military dimensions of the global economy. We are concerned as well with the extent to which these global forces impact nations, cities, ethnic groups, organizations, demographic patterns, and families. Our goal is to provide students with both the theoretical background and methodological tools necessary to conduct informed, empirical research in academic and policy related careers.

The CIS program emphasizes two central points. First, sociology is inherently comparative and, second, sociological questions are most appropriately evaluated empirically. Within this general framework it is possible to study a wide range of sociological issues, such as national development, inequality, organizations, urbanization, immigration, global elites, environmental degradation, gender and ethnicity, and crime and delinquency.

Students enroll in a sequence of theory and methods courses taught by the core faculty in the sociology department. Additionally, interdisciplinary courses taught by distinguished faculty in political science, geography, economics, history, business and statistics are offered. A strong emphasis is placed on active student participation in ongoing faculty research projects.

Examples of current faculty research topics include:

The Sociology of Population and Health (SPH) Program is one core of the Sociology Department's doctoral program. Population characteristics, movements and trends are complex in multi-racial societies. The general focus is on describing characteristics of human populations and changes over time in these characteristics. The program specializes in medical sociology, social epidemiology, social gerontology, and demography. We examine social and environmental determinants of health, behavioral risk factors, illness, disability, and mortality across life span. We also explore demographic issues in the studies of family structure and living arrangements, race/ethnicity, crime and violence, and migration. The goal is to provide students with both the theoretical background and methodological competency necessary to conduct high quality, evidence-based research in academic and policy related careers.

A central goal of the program is to train students to conduct empirical research. To that end, the program makes available selected collection of data sets, and provides extensive trainings for students in methodology and statistical analysis. Students enroll in a sequence of theory and methods courses taught by the core faculty in the sociology department. Additionally, interdisciplinary courses taught by distinguished faculty in family and consumer studies, geography, family and preventive medicine, health psychology, and statistics are offered. A strong emphasis is placed on active student participation in ongoing faculty research projects.

The program encourages interdisciplinary studies and facilitates collaborative research among population scientists in Sociology, Epidemiology, Geography, Health Psychology, Public Health, and Medicine at the University of Utah. Researchers in the Departments of Family and Consumer Studies, Geography, Psychology, Family and Preventive Medicine, nursing, and Huntsman Cancer Institute have diversified funding opportunities, with grants coming from foundations and a broader range of Federal Government sources. This diversification affords opportunities for graduate students to participate in high-quality research across the related fields of population and health at the University of Utah.