The Ph.D. degree in Sociology provides students with advanced training for research and teaching careers in higher education and for research-based careers in both the public and private sectors. The program offers specializations in criminology and deviance, the sociology of health and mental health, social inequalities (race, class, gender) and social psychology.
Program Learning Outcomes
Graduates of this program will be able to:
Demonstrate an advanced understanding of sociological theory by using it to better understand social phenomena and human behavior, develop new theoretical arguments and pose and attempt to answer research questions.
Demonstrate a an advanced understanding of research methods in sociology, including both quantitative methods (e.g., survey, experimental) and qualitative methods (e.g., participant observation, content analysis).
Demonstrate an advanced understanding of statistics in application to social research, including advanced techniques (e.g., structural equation modeling, hierarchical linear modeling).
Demonstrate the ability to synthesize complex scientific literatures and execute sophisticated original research through the successful completion of a dissertation project.
The graduate program in the Department of Sociology at Kent State University offers a specialization in social inequalities with emphases in the three broad areas of race/ethnicity, class, and gender. Within those broad areas, students and faculty study a range of topics, including: inequality in various life domains (e.g., work, education, family, and health), racism and discrimination, immigration, race/class/gender intersectionality, economic inequality, masculinity and sexuality.