Apply

Sociology and Cultural Anthropology provide the critical perspective needed for studying the social and cultural arrangements in which people live, for understanding how societies function, for investigating the conditions under which people change their institutions, and for describing the modes and conditions of cooperation that make social life possible.

Courses in the program examine such areas as urbanization, the environment, health, globalization and human rights, gender and sexuality, social movements, the cultural underpinnings of science and technology, new media, and the comparative analysis of advanced capitalist societies. Many courses are directly relevant to majors in other fields, including economics, political science, philosophy, literature, criminal justice, and business.

The major in sociology or cultural anthropology seeks to prepare students for careers in public or private service, including such fields as law, teaching, social work, administration or management, and research.

We do not have a Master’s program at this time.  Our PhD program provides an en-route MA once credits are met.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University is home to a distinguished graduate program offering a PhD in Sociology.  The primary objectives of our graduate program are to offer a strong curricular foundation in sociology and the social sciences;  to inculcate in students a depth of knowledge in the basic tools of the discipline; to train our students to be outstanding teachers and researchers; and to provide professional socialization that adequately prepares students for a career in the discipline.

The PhD program is designed to attract students who wish to develop a broad base of sociological knowledge, such as would equip students to embark on academic careers in leading institutions of higher education. The PhD program boasts a wide array of curricular strengths and diverse methodological offerings, all of which draw upon the department’s emphasis on the study of social inequalities along lines of race, class, and gender. Faculty expertise ranges widely from domestic U.S. concerns to issues that affect groups, regions, and societies on a global scale.

The PhD program is designed to admit relatively small numbers of graduate students each year, which affords students the opportunity to forge close working relationships with the faculty. Our faculty and graduate students work together in a number of interdisciplinary research projects, programs, and centers, including the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute; the Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict; the Dukakis Center for Urban Research and Policy; the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research; the Environmental Justice Research Collaborative; the Institute on Race and Justice; and the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. Many of the faculty in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology have additional interests and are affiliated with other departments on campus, including environmental studies; law and public policy; Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean studies; African-American studies; international affairs; Jewish studies; and criminal justice. Students who wish to work with faculty in other disciplines are encouraged to enlist the aid of the sociology graduate director or their advisors in contacting individual faculty members.