Sociology
[ Undergrad Program] [ Graduate Program] [ Professors] [ Courses]
OFFICE: Social Sciences Building, Room 401
http://sociology.ucsd.edu
Sociology at UCSD
Sociology studies societies and human groups: their composition, organization, culture, and development. It combines scientific and humanistic methods to investigate a subject that is both relevant and broad—ranging from social interaction in everyday life to social changes taking place on a global scale. The Department of Sociology at UCSD offers an innovative program that covers the breadth of the discipline while giving students opportunities to specialize in areas of their choice, to conduct independent research, and to participate in an Honors Program. The department also encourages majors to study abroad and to take courses in other humanities and social science departments in order to expand their perspective on sociological topics.
Students at UCSD can explore a full range of sociological inquiry through courses in such established fields as Third World development, law, culture, social movements, religion, race and ethnic relations, gender roles, medicine, and mental illness. In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in courses found in few other sociology departments, such as the politics of language, ethnographic film, the Holocaust, comparative sex stratification, mass media, and revolutions. The faculty also teach an exceptional array of courses focusing on specific societies or world regions, including Africa, Japan, China, Latin America, eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the United States.
Thus sociology is a valuable major for students who want to enter law, medicine, architecture, business, or politics. It also provides a solid liberal arts education for students who plan careers in such fields as criminal justice, public health, urban planning, social welfare, counseling, public administration, international relations, or market research. For students who wish to pursue graduate study in the social sciences for careers in teaching or scholarly research, an undergraduate degree from the Department of Sociology will provide a thorough grounding in recent theoretical and methodological advances in the discipline. A sociology major offers excellent preparation for teaching in the elementary schools. If you are interested in earning a California teaching credential from UCSD, contact the Teacher Education Program for information about the prerequisite and professional preparation requirements. It is recommended that you contact TEP as early as possible in your academic career. Whatever the career choice, the study of sociology can help the student cultivate a critical awareness of social life.
Students interested in majoring or minoring in sociology should stop by the Department of Sociology office, SSB 401, for a brochure on the program and a student handbook. These clarify specific procedures and guidelines, and provide recommendations for areas of specialization within the major, as well as for graduate studies and careers in sociology.
The Undergraduate Program
The Major
To receive a B.A. with a major in sociology, students must complete four lower-division and twelve upper-division courses in sociology, including the required courses listed below.
A 2.0 GPA is required in the major, and students must earn at least a C– in each course used for the major. No courses taken to apply toward the major may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis except Sociology 197, 198 or 199. Only one such special studies course (including internships) may be applied toward the major. These special studies courses must be applied for and approved by the department before the beginning of the quarter in which the student wishes to enroll, and can only be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. See the staff undergraduate coordinator for the necessary application forms and deadlines.
Lower-Division
Sociology 1A, 1B, 20, and 60 are required for the major. We strongly recommend that you take Sociology 1A and Sociology 1B in sequence. It is advisable that students complete these required lower-division courses (which should be taken during the freshman or sophomore year) before continuing with their upper-division work. Sociology 60 is a prerequisite for all upper-division methods courses.
Upper-Division
Twelve upper-division courses are necessary for the major—five are courses in required clusters, and the other seven are upper-division electives. The upper-division sociology curriculum is divided into four areas of concentration (clusters) as follows:
- Theory and Method (courses designated Soc/A)
Theory 100, 102
Methods 103M, 104, 104Q, 105, 106, 106M, 107, 108A, 109, 109S, 110A - Culture, Language, and Social Interaction (courses designated Soc/B)
111A, 111B, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 118A, 118L, 119, 120S, 125, 127, 131, 133, 137, 142, 143, 145, 146, 160, 160L, 161, 162, 162R, 166, 172, 173, 174 - Organizations and Institutions (courses designated Soc/C)
121, 123, 124, 126, 129, 132, 134A, 135, 136A, 136B, 138, 138A, 139, 140, 140F, 141, 144, 147, 148, 148L, 149, 150, 151M, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 163, 165A, 167, 168E, 168T, 180, 184 - Comparative and Historical (courses designated Soc/D)
130, 151, 158, 169, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 181, 182, 183, 185, 187, 187S, 188A, 188B, 188D, 188F, 188J, 188K, 189
All students must complete Sociology 100 (students are strongly advised to do so by the end of their junior year) and one method course from the list above. (Method courses are numbered Soc/A 103M to 110A; for all of these methods courses, Sociology 60 is a prerequisite.) One course is required in each of the other three areas. Students are encouraged to complete their theory and methods courses early in their program, since theoretical perspectives and skills in methods will enhance their subsequent course work.
Education Abroad Program
Students are encouraged to participate in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or UCSD’s Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP) while still making progress toward completing their major. Students considering this option should discuss their plans with the undergraduate advisor prior to going abroad, and courses taken abroad must be approved by the department. It may be possible to use some related courses outside of the discipline of sociology toward the major. For more information on EAP, see the section of this catalog on the Education Abroad Program. Interested students should contact the Programs Abroad Office in the International Center. To petition particular courses taken abroad, see the undergraduate advisor in the Department of Sociology.
Recommendations for Transfer Students
If students wish to use courses taken at other institutions towards their major, they must first meet with the staff undergraduate coordinator in the department during designated office hours. (College transcripts, college catalogs, and course syllabi should be brought at the time of appointment.) Students are required to fill out one student petition per transfer course as well as an additional “information sheet” available in the Department of Sociology. Once these petitions are turned in, a determination will be made regarding the transferring of courses into the program.
It is important to note that eight of the twelve upper-division courses in the undergraduate program must be taken in the Department of Sociology at UCSD, unless students obtain special acceptance of additional courses from the chair and the faculty undergraduate advisor.
The Minor
The minor consists of seven sociology courses: two lower-division and five upper- division. Unless colleges specify specific courses to be taken, the student may choose any two lower-division sociology courses (Soc/L 1A, 1B, 10, 20, 30, 40 or 60) and any five upper-division courses (Soc. 100 to 190). Courses for the minor must be taken for a letter grade only. Special study courses or internships may not be applied toward the minor.
Science and Society Minor
OFFICE: Social Sciences Building, Room 401
(858) 534-4627
Faculty
Steven G. Epstein, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology
Andrew H. Lakoff, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology
Andrew T. Scull, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology
Charles R. Thorpe, Ph.D., Associate Professor
The Science and Society Minor offers an opportunity for students to examine in a systematic and extended fashion the nature, significance, and development of modern scientific, technological, and medical enterprises. Science, technology, and medicine permeate modern society, and scientific developments often spark heated public debate. Yet undergraduate education rarely offers the chance to engage in systematic reflection upon how science influences society and how society influences science. The Science and Society Minor provides students with an innovative and inter-linked series of courses that permit precisely such a disciplined discussion of these issues.
Students complete the Science and Society Minor by taking two lower-division and five upper-division courses, a sequence that allows them to explore how modern scientific and medical knowledge and their associated technologies developed from the Scientific Revolution to the present; to understand how the roles of the scientist and the physician assumed their modern forms; to grasp how the scientific, technological, and medical communities came to possess their current authority; and to consider the appropriate role of the public in debating scientific and technological issues. A number of the courses offered focus on present-day scientific, technological, and medical topics and controversies: the impact of the Internet, the problems and prospects of molecular medicine, the disputes over the reality and the possible impact of global warming, scientific fraud, the ethics of medical experimentation, the AIDS epidemic, etc. Others provide students with historical perspectives on the changing meaning and character of science, medicine, and technology as key features of modernity.
The Science and Society Minor is of particular relevance to prospective science and engineering majors interested in developing a broader understanding of the scientific enterprise; to pre- medical students wishing to understand the intellectual and institutional foundations of modern medicine; and to social science and humanities students wanting to obtain a systematic grasp of contemporary scientific and technological society.
Science and Society Minor Requirements
The minor consists of two lower-division courses and five upper-division courses, chosen from the list below. One or more relevant upper-division courses offered in other departments or taken at another university may be petitioned for the minor, with the prior approval of the coordinator of the minor.
Lower-Division Courses
Soc/L 30: Science and Society
Soc/L 40: Sociology of Health Care Issues
Upper-Division Courses
Soc/C 134A: The Making of Modern Medicine
Soc/C 135: Medical Sociology
Soc/C 136A: Sociology of Mental Illness: An Historical Approach
Soc/C 136B: Sociology of Mental Illness in Contemporary Society
Soc/C 168E: Sociology of Science
Soc/C 168T: Sociology of Technology
The Honors Program
The Department of Sociology offers an honors program to those students who have demonstrated excellence in the sociology major. Successful completion of the honors program enables the student to graduate “With Highest Distinction,” “With High Distinction,” or “With Distinction,” depending upon performance in the program.
Eligibility
Students may apply to the honors program if they meet the following requirements:
- junior standing (ninety units completed)
- GPA of 3.5 or better in the major
- recommendation of a faculty sponsor familiar with student’s work
- must have completed at least four upper-division sociology courses
- overall GPA of 3.2 or better
- must have completed Soc/A 100 and one upper-division methods course prior to the fall quarter when the honors course begins; alternatively, the consent of the honors program director or the undergraduate advisor must be obtained
Interested students may pick up an application from the staff undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Sociology. Completed applications must be in the department office no later than week five of the spring quarter prior to the start of the honors program in the fall.
Students traveling abroad during their junior year should note that the deadline for applications still applies to them and should make arrangements accordingly.
Enrollment in the honors program is limited. Final decisions on acceptance into the program will be made by the presiding faculty member.
Course Requirement
The student must take Sociology 196A, Advanced Studies in Sociology, and Sociology 196B, Supervised Thesis Research, which will count as two of the twelve upper-division courses required for the major. Each student will choose a faculty advisor to help supervise the thesis research and writing with the honors program director.
Students whose GPA in the major falls below 3.5 or who do not earn at least an A– in the honors seminars will not graduate with distinction, but they may count the two honors courses among the twelve upper-division courses required for the major. Students must maintain a 3.5 GPA in the major and a 3.2 overall GPA until final graduation, in order to receive honors in the sociology honors program. To graduate “With Highest Distinction” the student must earn an A+; to graduate “With High Distinction” the student must earn an A; and to graduate “With Distinction” the grade must be an A–.
The Graduate Program
The graduate program in sociology at the University of California, San Diego is organized on the basis of programs of specialization in comparative and historical sociology, the sociology of culture, social inequalities, and science, technology, and medicine. It is designed to prepare students for two main goals: to contribute to the increase of knowledge about societies and thereby advance the discipline of sociology; and to teach sociology at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The majority of graduates from the program find teaching and research positions in colleges and universities, although some also work in non-academic research and social policy positions. The department offers a course of study leading to the doctor of philosophy degree. While the Master of Arts degree is awarded as a step toward the completion of the Ph.D., applicants seeking only an M.A. degree are not accepted.
Departmental Research and Teaching
Members of the department are engaged in a wide variety of research and teaching activities that fall into four broad areas of concentration that correspond to our programs of specialization. Much of the research carried out by departmental students and faculty is distinguished by unique intersections of these areas:
Comparative and Historical Sociology
Many members of our faculty have research interests in the historical and/or comparative analysis of social institutions, structures, and processes, and social change in general. Using methods of comparative historical research and concepts drawn from social theory, individual faculty are engaged in research on, among other things: (1) political sociology, including revolution, social and political movements, and the evolution of the modern state, (2) economic transformation in contemporary societies (industrial countries, “emerging markets,” and agrarian societies), including the labor process, stratification and the organization of work, and the development of market economies, (3) collective identities and social relations, including nationalism, class, gender, race, and ethnicity, and (4) social control and institutionalization. The department is among the most internationally oriented departments of sociology in the world, with specialists in most regions of the world, including Eastern and Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, Japan, China, southern Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, as well as the United States.
Sociology of Culture
A great number of the faculty have research and teaching interests in the sociology of culture broadly conceived. Sociology of culture involves topics such as: (1) the interpretation of the symbol systems that constitute meaningful resources for social action, (2) the analysis of the processes through which patterns of meaning are socially reproduced, and (3) the study of the interaction between culture change and social change. Many faculty have an interest in the comparative study of cultural traditions around the world. Others are interested in the relationship of culture to social movements and collective identities. And some see the sociology of culture not simply as a subdiscipline but as a general theoretical perspective on social experience. More specific substantive interests include sociology of knowledge and intellectuals, political culture, the culture of work, education and socialization, comparative moral cultures, the cultural dimensions of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and popular culture.
Sociology of Social Inequalities
A large number of departmental faculty have expertise in the study of social inequalities, including those based on distinctions of gender, race, ethnicity, class, language, citizenship, and sexuality. Unique to our program are: (1) focus on the processes by which social distinctions and identities are themselves constructed, represented, and maintained over time, (2) comprehensive training in both qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying inequality, (3) emphasis on international and historical inequality research, and (4) expertise in social movements as products of and challenges to inequality. Many members of the department study inequalities in workplaces, schools, markets, states, families, politics, law, and medicine.
Sociology of Science, Technology, and Medicine
A substantial fraction of the faculty has research and teaching interests focused on the interrelationships between science, technology, and medicine and modern society. Drawing on a range of sociological and historical methodologies, individual faculty are engaged in research on science and social movements, scientists and the state, biomedicine, the social history of madness and psychiatry, the historical sociology of scientific knowledge and practice, and sociological approaches to the Scientific Revolution. (For information on the interdisciplinary Science Studies Program, see below Specialized Programs of Study.)
Admission
Admission to the graduate program in sociology is open to students with excellent undergraduate records in any field. Some previous work in sociology or the social and behavioral sciences is advisable, but not required. New students are admitted in the fall quarter of each academic year. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university is a prerequisite for admission to the graduate program. Prospective applicants should submit the official online application for admission and awards (same form), one set of official transcripts from each institution attended after high school, official scores from the Graduate Record Examination, application fee, at least three letters of recommendation, and one or more samples of the applicant’s own writing, such as a term paper. Additionally, foreign applicants must submit official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Test of Written English (TWE). Applicants are encouraged to contact and communicate with the department to talk with faculty and graduate students. The application deadline is January 4, of each year.
Program of Study
The graduate programs in the University of California system work under the “normative time” standard. Normative time refers to the time period in which students, under normal circumstances, are expected to complete their requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Each department establishes a normative time for its doctoral program, and for the Department of Sociology, as for most graduate programs in the university, it is six years. To provide an incentive for students to complete the Ph.D. within the normative time period, partial fee grants are made to all students who have advanced to candidacy and whose accrued time does not exceed six years (eighteen quarters). Once a student exceeds six years, he or she must again pay the full fees quarterly until graduation.
Course Requirements
Students are required to enroll as full-time graduate students, to carry a minimum enrollment of twelve units of graduate-level courses each quarter, and to maintain a grade-point average of 3.5 or better.
Theory and Methods Requirements
Students take almost all the courses on theory and methods in their first year in the program. They are required to take two courses in classical sociological theory (Sociology 201A/B) and one in contemporary theory (Sociology 202), two in quantitative methods (Sociology 205 and 206), and two in qualitative methods (from among Sociology 203, Field Methods; Sociology 204, Text and Discourse Analysis; or Sociology 207, Comparative-Historical Methods). In addition, students enroll in a two-credit introduction to the faculty and their research (Sociology 208). Note: Sociology 208 is in addition to other requirements.
The remaining theory and methods requirements are Sociology 252 and 253, a two-quarter practicum sequence, which will be taken in the fall quarters of the second and third year. In these courses, students will complete a piece of research they have started in a previous seminar, write a paper, and revise it for submission to a journal. The emphasis in the first quarter will be on the completion of the research for this project, and the second quarter will focus on the writing of the results and revision of drafts.
Core Seminars
These are survey courses in major substantive fields. Students must take three out of the following eight, which the department offers regularly: Sociology 264, Economic Sociology; Sociology 226, Political Sociology; Sociology 216, Sociology of Culture; Sociology 234, Intellectual Foundations of the Study of Science, Technology, and Medicine; Sociology 212, Social Stratification; Sociology 267, Sociology of Gender; Sociology 244, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity; and Sociology 222, Social Movements. These are major areas of sociology and fields in which several of the members of our faculty specialize. Moreover, several of these seminars serve as introductions to the programs of specialization on which the program is based (see below).
Remaining Courses
Beyond these requirements, students must take four seminars, at least two of which must be in the program of specialization selected by the student. In total, sixteen graduate courses, plus the introduction to the faculty, are required for advancing to candidacy.
The Programs of Specialization
The department currently offers specialized Ph.D. programs in comparative and historical sociology, sociology of culture, sociology of social inequalities, and the sociology of science, technology, and medicine. Affiliation to the clusters is voluntary and non-exclusive, and the department encourages multiple participation and joint activities among the groups. Students could qualify in more than one concentration, if they wish, and they will not be required to specialize in any one of them (although we are confident that most will find it advantageous to do so). The curriculum for each specialization is relatively light, in order to provide students with a solid common background in theory and methods, and allow for as much interface as possible between the programs. The requirements are: appropriate qualitative methods courses, one of the core seminars (see above) in areas relevant for the concentration, two specialized seminars, pertinent specialties for the field examination, and the dissertation.
The qualitative methods requirement varies according to the program of specialization. Students who concentrate in comparative and historical sociology must take Sociology 207, Comparative-Historical Methods. For sociology of culture, Sociology 203, Field Methods, is required. Students specializing in social inequalities should take at least one of the following courses: Sociology 203, Field Methods; Sociology 204, Text and Discourse Analysis; or Sociology 207, Comparative-Historical Methods. Finally, students specializing in sociology of science, technology, and medicine must choose two of the following three courses in qualitative methods: Sociology 203, Field Methods; Sociology 204, Text and Discourse Analysis; and Sociology 207, Comparative–Historical Methods. The required core seminars are survey courses in major substantive fields. Students must take three out of the following eight, which the department offers regularly: Sociology 264, Economic Sociology; Sociology 226, Political Sociology; Sociology 216, Sociology of Culture; Sociology 234, Intellectual Foundations of the Study of Science, Technology, and Medicine; Sociology 212, Social Stratification; Sociology 267, Sociology of Gender; Sociology 244, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity; and Sociology 222, Social Movements. These are major areas of sociology and fields in which several of the members of our faculty specialize. Moreover, several of these seminars serve as introduction to the programs of specialization on which the program is based.
The core seminars required for each program of specialization are the following:
Sociology 264, Economic Sociology or
Sociology 226, Political Sociology, for comparative and historical sociology
Sociology 216, Sociology of Culture, for sociology of culture
Sociology 212, Social Stratification or
Sociology 244, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity or
Sociology 267, Sociology of Gender,
for social inqualities
Sociology 234, Intellectual Foundations of the Study of Science, Technology, and Medicine, for sociology of science, technology, and medicine
Program Overview
First-year Evaluation
All students are evaluated by the department faculty toward the end of the academic year. At the end of the student’s first year in the program, student performance is also evaluated by the Graduate Program Committee, including the director of Graduate Studies, the faculty teaching the core sequences, and by their faculty advisor. Students whose performance is satisfactory are allowed to continue the regular course of study; others may be asked to repeat some courses or to do additional course work; others may be asked to withdraw from the program. Evaluations are communicated to students in writing.
Second-year Evaluation and the M.A. Degree
The master’s degree is earned as one of the requirements of the Ph.D. and is based on the quality of the student’s course work described below. At the end of the second year, students are evaluated by the Graduate Program Committee for the master’s degree. At that time, the committee ascertains the student’s suitability for doctoral work.
The fifteen core courses required to receive the M.A. degree are:
Sociology 201A: Classical Sociological Theory I
Sociology 201B: Classical Sociological Theory II
Sociology 202: Contemporary Sociological Theory
Sociology 205: Quantitative Methods I
Sociology 206: Quantitative Methods II
Sociology 252: Research Practicum I
Two courses chosen from:
Sociology 203: Field Methods
Sociology 204: Text and Discourse Analysis
Sociology 207: Comparative-Historical Methods
Three seminars from:
Sociology 212: Social Stratification
Sociology 216: Sociology of Culture
Sociology 222: Social Movements
Sociology 226: Political Sociology
Sociology 234: Intellectual Foundation of the Study of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Sociology 244: Sociology of Race and Ethnicity
Sociology 264: Economic Sociology
Sociology 267: Sociology of Gender
Three elective sociology graduate seminars.
One may be outside the department and may be taken S/U
At the beginning of the spring quarter of their second year in the program or at the beginning of the quarter in which they wish to to be considered, students must submit to the committee for evaluation, three papers they have written for seminars taught by different faculty. Reviewers assess the quality of the overall record and determine whether it indicates a potential for conducting doctoral research.
The final decision regarding the M.A. degree is based on the student’s GPA, the three papers, and yearly faculty evaluations. The committee makes one of the following three recommendations: pass, M.A. only, and non-pass. Pass means that students may proceed toward the Ph.D. Those given M.A. only evaluations are granted the degree but may not continue toward the Ph.D. Students who received non-pass evaluations are asked to withdraw without a graduate degree.
Students admitted for a Ph.D. with a master’s degree in sociology may not be candidates for a second master’s degree.
The Field Examination
In the quarter in which students expect to finish the theory and methods requirements, the three core seminars, and the six elective seminars, students become eligible to take the field examination. This examination must be completed by the end of the student’s third year in the program. The object of the field examination is to demonstrate mastery of two established, broad, and distinct fields of sociological inquiry, selected from a list of fields provided by the department. The examination is carried out by a faculty committee composed of no fewer than four departmental faculty, one of whom serves as chair. The choice of fields and the composition of the committee must be approved by the Graduate Program Committee before the student starts preparing for the exam. Faculty from departments other than sociology may be added (or, if necessary, substituted) by petition to the Graduate Program Committee.
The demonstration of mastery has both written and oral components. The written part consists of two papers, one in each field, and a course syllabus for a course they would teach in one of the two fields in which they take their orals. In these papers, students are expected to demonstrate a grasp of key issues and debates, and of the broad, conceptual history of the field. These reviews are based on a bibliography drawn up by the student in consultation with relevant committee members and other faculty in each field. Students are expected to know the central arguments of all the books and papers in the bibliographies, regardless of the extent to which these books and articles have been used in the papers. Field papers must be a minimum of thirty and a maximum of fifty pages each, exclusive of notes and should include at least twenty to thirty books or article equivalents. The two bibliographies may not significantly overlap, either in literature surveyed or in specific titles. The papers, the bibliographies, and the syllabus must be submitted to the committee at least two weeks before orals, or the orals cannot go forward.
The oral part lasts two hours and covers both fields. It is given by the examining committee, sitting as a whole, and is based on the bibliographies, papers, and course syllabus submitted by the student. The exam does not focus on the papers, but on the students’ knowledge of the fields. Following the oral examination, the committee evaluates the student on the basis of both the written and the oral components of the examination. Possible grades are high pass, pass, conditional pass, and no pass. High pass recognizes exceptional performance. Conditional pass indicates that the committee has passed the student pending the completion of additional work. Students receiving a grade of no pass will have an opportunity to retake the examination, should they so desire, no later than the end of the subsequent quarter. Students electing not to retake the examination or receiving a grade of no pass a second time will be asked to withdraw from the graduate program.
Students will have to constitute their field exam committee two months before the proposed date of the exam. Once the committee is constituted it can be changed only if a faculty member becomes unavailable. Students will have to submit one copy per member of a substantial draft of their field papers one month in advance to the graduate coordinator, who then distributes them to the committee members. Faculty, in, turn will commit to read and comment on the papers in two weeks time.
All papers (as opposed to the drafts) and the syllabus must be submitted to the committee two weeks before the fields.
The Dissertation Prospectus and Hearing
The central intellectual activity leading to the award of the Ph.D. degree is the doctoral dissertation: an original contribution to knowledge, based on substantial, original research on a topic of intellectual significance within the field of sociology.
Following successful completion of the field examination, the student establishes a doctoral committee to supervise dissertation research. This is a five-person committee, including three faculty from within the department and two from other departments within the university. The committee should include the faculty members whose fields of expertise make them most appropriate for supervising the students’ research. The student approaches the faculty member he or she would like to include, but the committee must be approved by the director of Graduate Studies and the department chair before the student starts working on the prospectus. The composition of the committee may or may not overlap with the committee that carried out the field examination. If the student elects to have a six member committee, the sixth member has all the same obligations as the other committee members.
By the end of the spring quarter of the fourth year in the department, the student must have a dissertation prospectus approved by his or her doctoral committee. The dissertation prospectus is a document that presents the research topic of the dissertation, places it in the context of the relevant literature, discusses its significance, specifies and justifies the methods the student intends to use, establishes the feasibility of the research, and indicates the anticipated steps leading to completion.
Following submission of the dissertation prospectus, the student must defend it at a hearing before the doctoral committee. The purpose of the hearing is to certify that the prospectus is significant and feasible, that the research design is appropriate, and that the student is prepared to carry it out successfully. Based on the written prospectus and the hearing, the committee may choose to approve the prospectus or to ask for revisions and resubmission. The prospectus hearing serves, in effect, as a qualifying examination, and approval of the dissertation prospectus is the final step to advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D. Degree
Students will have to constitute their dissertation committee three months before the proposed date of the exam. Once the committee is constituted it can be changed only if a faculty member becomes unavailable. Students will have to submit one copy per member of a substantial draft of their prospectus one month in advance to the graduate coordinator, who then distributes them to the committee members. Faculty in turn, will commit to read and comment on the papers in two weeks time.
The Doctoral Dissertation
Upon approval of the dissertation prospectus, the student proceeds with dissertation research. Students are expected to consult with committee members as the research progresses and to keep the committee chair advised of progress made.
Once the dissertation is substantially completed and committee members have had the opportunity to review drafts of the written work, the committee meets at least one month before the defense takes place, with or without the student present, to consider the progress made and to identify concerns, changes to be made, or further work to be done. Once the committee members are substantially satisfied with the written work, the student, in consultation with the committee, schedules the oral defense of the dissertation. By university regulation, this defense is open to the public.
The final version of the dissertation must be approved by each member of the doctoral committee. All members of the committee must be present at the defense. Exceptions may be made only under very restrictive conditions. Further, the student must consult with the Office of Graduate Studies to be told of appropriate requirements for the thesis to be filed. Having obtained this approval and successfully defended the dissertation in oral examination, the student is eligible to receive the Ph.D. Degree The final version of the dissertation is then filed with the university librarian via the Office of Graduate Studies. Acceptance of the dissertation by the university librarian is the final step in completing all requirements for the Ph.D.
Ph.D. Time Limit Policies
Students must be advanced to candidacy by the end of four years (PCTL—Precandidacy Time Limit). Normative time is six years. Total university financial support (SUTL—Support Time Limit) cannot exceed seven years. Total registered (TRTL—Total Registered Time Limit) time at UCSD cannot exceed eight years.
Interdisciplinary Programs of Study
Sociology of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Science Studies Program
Students interested in the interrelationships between science, technology, and medicine (STM) and the larger social order can opt for one of two specialized programs of study. The first of these is undertaken wholly within the department (see above). The second approach is to seek admission to the Science Studies Program, a joint doctoral program that brings together graduate students from the Departments of Sociology, History, Philosophy, and Communication. Students in the Program pursue a cross-disciplinary curriculum leading to dissertation research in the sociology of science, technology, or medicine, broadly conceived. Sociology faculty affiliated with this Program have research interests across the broad spectrum of science studies, from the philosophy and history of science to the organization of scientific discovery and the culture of specific work.
Students may seek admission to the Science Studies Program at the same time they apply for admission to the Department of Sociology, or may, in certain circumstances, request to be accepted into the Program at some point after entering the University of California, San Diego. The requirements of the Science Studies Program are similar to those of the standard graduate program. However, there are some distinct curricular requirements in the first two years of the Program, as well as some distinct emphases in the qualifying examination. The core of the Program is a two-quarter team-taught seminar sequence taken in the first year, the first quarter being an interdisciplinary introduction to science studies and the second quarter (or core seminar) being devoted to special topics in science studies which vary from year to year.
For details on the Science Studies Program, including information about requirements, write to the University of California, San Diego, Coordinator, Science Studies Program 0104, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0104; or telephone the program coordinator at (858) 534-0491. Visit their Web site: http://sciencestudies.ucsd.edu
Interdisciplinary Program in Sociology and Cognitive Science
This program allows students to earn a Ph.D. in sociology and cognitive science. Students must complete all the regular sociology requirements. In addition, they take six cognitive science seminars and select a dissertation committee composed of three Sociology and three Cognitive Science Program faculty. Admission to this program requires a separate application and is contingent on acceptance into the Department of Sociology. For more information, contact the coordinators in the Department of Sociology, (858) 534-4626, or the Cognitive Science Department, (858) 534-7141. Please view our Web site for application and department handbook information: http://sociology.ucsd.edu.
