Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology - Culture

With the cultural turn in the social sciences, the sociology of culture has re-emerged to produce some of the most exciting research in sociology. At UCI, culture whether defined as practices, symbols, discourse, or systems of meaning is treated in the context of social interaction at multiple levels of analysis. Dynamics of cultural construction, contention, and diffusion are key research foci. Department members also share a concern with showing empirically just how much culture matters relative to other variables in accounting for diverse sociological phenomena. Sociologists of culture at UCI employ a range of theoretical and methodological approaches, from macro-institutionalist world polity models to social psychological and interactionist perspectives, and from time-series analyses of investment flows to discourse analysis of online conversations. Indeed, the remarkable range of substantive foci, coverage of both macro- and micro- perspectives, and use of sophisticated qualitative and quantitative methodologies that characterize the sociology of culture at UCI make it unique among sociology departments.

Faculty members research overlaps with a number of other fields within the Department, especially political sociology/social movements, organizations, social inequality, global change, gender, race/ethnicity, and research methods. Faculty members also collaborate with faculty in other UCI departments and schools, especially, Anthropology, Criminology, Law, and Society, Education, and Planning, Policy and Design.

Hold a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) from a recognized academic institution with degree standards equivalent to those of the University of California
Have a minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0
TOEFL iBT minimum score of 80
IELTS - An overall minimum score of 7.0 for admission, with a score of no less than 6.0 on any individual module.