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Does anyone have a set of interests that are connected by seem difficult to integrate into a coherent research program? Generally, I'm interested in political economy, economic sociology, social stratification, and slightly (but increasingly) interested in migration. Specifically, I'm interested in: how economic knowledge (theory, empirical observation, ideology, policy recommendations) is engendered, legitimized, and disseminated; social (particularly labor) movements during and after authoritarianism; identity in trade unionism; economic stratification; the sociology of authoritarianism; and migration due to oppression. Methodologically, I'm interested in quantitative methods, network analysis, and comparative/historical methods. I suppose I would like to pick up some qualitative methods as well so I can put a face on the numbers. Theoretically, I'm sympathetic to "conflict theory", or social theory in the Marxian tradition, augmented by Weber and social constructivists like Goffman, Berger, and (to an extent) Garfinkel. Regionally, I'm interested in Latin America and especially the Southern Cone. I'm not sure how I'll blend this motley mix into one proper proposal, but it's better than having nothing to build on at all I'm also intrigued by Erik Olin Wright's "Real Utopias" project. I see it as the torch bearer of critical theory in the tradition of Marx and the Frankfurt School and an exciting alternative discourse to the prevailing orthodoxy in a number of social sciences. Right now, my M.Phil thesis is on the economic determinants of regime type change in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay). It's basically a literature review of all of the theoretical stances on how economic factors might influence regime type change in Latin America and in general, a set of quantitative models to test those theories, and a discussion of similarities and differences between transitions from democracy to authoritarianism and vice-versa and between countries considered. I really don't think any credible quantitative work is done without resting on a solid theoretical foundation. As previously pointed out, a load of beta coefficients and significance stars might look pretty but doesn't say anything about causal mechanisms. I give professional sociologists enough credit to see this themselves and not be spellbound by results without a theoretical backing. Theory is the bread and butter of the discipline. I would think ( or at least hope) all sociology Ph.D.s come out of their training with a solid background in classical and modern social theory. That said, it does seem like, academically, sociology has "outsourced" theorizing to philosophy or European social science. I am inclined to think this isn't even totally accurate though; it's probably a function of my limited time in this discipline. But even if sociology became a discipline of empirical work that co-opts its theories from outside, there isn't anything "wrong" or "unscientific" about this. There is genuine debate surrounding the relative merits of inductive and deductive social science. What's more, there isn't anything "wrong" with a "division of labor" of sorts, in which one set of researchers pop out the numbers and another builds the theory around or that inspires it. It's my personal opinion that theory and empirics alone are pretty vapid, but that's just an opinion. Arguments can be made to the contrary. .....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand this is why sociology has trumped economics for me. There are legitimate methodological and philosophical debates in the discipline, and that's refreshing.

Congratulations you two . It seems like both of you have a star-studded list of graduate programs to pick from!

I got something similar. I received a very pleasant phone call from a faculty member saying they were excited about the possibility of me joining the department, that they are trying to put together a nice funding package (they asked what I've been offered so far and where), and asking if I had any questions. I also got a follow-up email from that same faculty member talking about all of the things going on on campus in terms of research related to Latin America. What areas of research are people attending the open days interested in? I'm excited to meet some people from this forum in real life

I haven't heard anything about funding yet. I believe the acceptance email said we'd hear about funding by the end of this month though, so I'm on the lookout for that! I'll definitely be coming to the open days. Have you (or anyone) had any contact with the department since getting the email?

It sounds like what you're really looking for is political economy and not economic sociology. Economic sociology, as was previous mentioned, is organizational sociology or sociology of work. Political economy can masquerade under such guises as political sociology, comparative/historical sociology, sociology of (economic) knowledge, or even nationalism and nation building. As you can probably guess, there are a number of big names in each of these subfields as they deal with political economy.

Being in Turkey right now sounds amazing... especially compared to dull, grey England I just want to echo what everyone else said about fit. I got a call last night from a professor at UCLA. He emphasized that what made my application stand out was my interest in Latin America. He said my interests also made it a bit easier to potentially find funding for me, since UCLA has a strong Latin American Institute that could foot part of the bill. I think this explains a trend I've noticed on here. It seems some people who are getting accepted with full funding to some top 10 departments are getting flat out rejected from others. The only possibly explanation for this is fit, and not individual credentials. I hope this dispels the neurotic obsession with numbers that is so easy to fall into.

Oh, and how rude of me, congrats to everyone getting in to AMAZING programs. It's really exciting to see the future of sociology take shape!

Question for the UCLA admits: has anyone else received a call from any faculty memebers from UCLA? I got a call from a faculty member today. A standard chat really, asking if I had any questions about the department, that they'd love to have me, keep it touch, etc. Hopefully this is a good sign!

This is true only to a limited extent. I've published two quantitative articles (one in econ and one in soc) and had extensive training in math as an undergrad, but scored a whopping 650 on the quant portion of the GRE. If you have solid quantitative publications or even a strong quantitative writing sample, I would think a low quant score on the GRE might mean diddly. I think a substantial math background kept my application out of the trash. I can imagine this would also apply for funding, given that a proven ability to do research is far and away more important than how well you remember high school geometry. Of course you want to do as well as you can on the GRE, but don't despair if you didn't hit the mark you were looking for... all is not lost!

Massive congrats to both of you... it seems like you'll be having some tough choices to make in the near future!

Just wondering if there are people out there who are applying to or are seriously considering doing their Ph.D. in disciplines other than sociology. I myself am an economist by training, but grew highly critical of the orthodox line taught in universities and decided to branch out into political economy. Since I've come across some compelling heterodox approaches to economics and now I'm tempted to head back into economics!

My BA is in economics with minors in math, philosophy, and sociology. Right now I'm doing an M.Phil in Latin American studies, focusing on political economy. I'm torn between doing sociology or economics

Also, though I think playing the "stats game" is pretty fruitless as well, I will say, as a word of encouragement, that my GREs were FAR below the average scores for those admitted in 2009.

I'm a UCLA admit as well :-) Anyone plan on going to the department visit days? I would love to but unfortunately I'm in England. And as always, congratulations to those caught up in the flurry of good news :-)

I'm also a Wisconsin admit Congratulations to everyone else who have been admitted to other outstanding programs!! One question for everyone about funding to Wisconsin: did your notification say you were awarded any funding, or merely direct you to a website with a list of funding opportunities?