Switch from Anthropology to Sociology?

[j_anna]

Hello all! I am thinking about the possibility of switching from Cultural Anthropology to Sociology for PhD programs. I have a BA and an MA in Cultural Anthropology, but after looking through faculty research in Anthro and Soc (and Education and American Studies!), I am starting to wonder if Sociology would be a better fit. I wrote my MA thesis on student activists in NYC, and my interests today are still student activism and social movements, but also labor and politics of higher education. So I guess my questions are 1) in your experience with Sociology or Anth, which field do you think would be more supportive of my research, and 2) if you switched from one to the other, what was your experience? During classes did you feel like you had a lot of catching up to do? As an anthropologist, I am more comfortable with qualitative methods, and I would like to continue working primarily with qualitative methods regardless of the program I end up in. 

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! 

[julesevar]

Well a lot of the top programs in sociology seem to make  you take a lot of statistics. I would research the programs themselves and see if the quantitative people are doing social movements, etc. 

[lkaitlyn]

On 5/9/2020 at 6:08 PM, julesevar said:

Well a lot of the top programs in sociology seem to make  you take a lot of statistics. I would research the programs themselves and see if the quantitative people are doing social movements, etc. 

You have to take stats (generally basic stats courses for a year or so) but you can certainly do qualitative projects, including dissertations. And some programs like Berkeley are notoriously qualitative.

[THS]

I made this switch and it has been fine. I would advise brushing up on your statistics, you'll need to be able to use quant methods if you want to make the switch work. That will actually be a benefit to you in your new program because you'll be one of the few of your peers who is actually trained in both (I found the qual training to be pathetic compared to what we get in anth which made me glad I did my MA there first)... I do qualitative (method for my dissertation) and survey (work for a center at my university) primarily now that I am in my dissertation phase- but I have been an RA doing quantitative analysis too- I definitely learned more quant skills in my soc department, however. Best of luck if you make the switch. Feel free to DM me if you have more questions! 

[Inspired]

As for me, Sociology is more interesting than Anthropology, but this should be your decision.