Social movement people: soc or anth?

[RefurbedScientist]

Hello to the board,

I apologize in advance for a long post, but I have a question about the best best disciplinary fit for a student of social movements interested in movement culture and using qualitative methods. Read on if you have any advice.

My background (BA) is in political science and I've done original research on social movements in Chile and Bolivia. I know I want to study social movements as a professional academic and I know my methods will be qualitative (ethnography, participant obs, interviews). The question is, sociology or anthropology?

I know this is the sort of thing I should have figured out by now, as I am well on my way to applying to sociology programs this Fall (taken the GREs, drafted my SOP, identified POIs, spreadsheet of all my programs). I have a pretty good background in canonical sociology and social movement literature from coursework, research, and self-education. There are a number of professors at several soc. departments who interest me. But the more I casually investigate anthropology programs, the more I see some professors doing exciting work at the intersection of social movements, culture, semiotics, etc., which is where I locate my own research interests precisely. So in each discipline, there are professors with whom I could see myself working. Hence my dilemma.

Pros and Cons:

The pros for sociology include my extant comprehension of the literature, and that I would be sharing a department with sociologists of gender, stratification, economics, culture, race, etc.; all topics in which I am conversant and interested. The con is, as I see it, an apparent methodological bias toward quant methods at many departments and my weakness in that area.

The pros for anthropology include the relative heterodoxy of theory and methods, higher esteem/seriousness for ethnographic research, and less of an admissions emphasis on quant. reasoning GRE (on which I scored a mediocre 670). The cons are my absolute lack of background in anth literature (besides theorists common to the social sciences) and that I will be studying in the same department as people doing, for example, forensic anth and archeology, areas that I am not into. Not that I have any antipathy for these areas, but I might feel more out of place in the department/discipline over the long-run if I don't share interests with my colleagues.

More about my interests: contentious politics, power and social change, Latin America, urban space, symbolic meaning, media and culture. Overall strong admissions profile, so consider this question on the basis of fit.

So, social movement scholars, am I destined for sociology or anthropology?

Edited August 22, 2011 by SocialGroovements

[rising_star]

Based on your interests, I think you'd fit in pretty well in a geography department. It's sort of a happy mix of anthropology, sociology, and so much more. There are a number of social movement scholars in geography, using methods you list and sharing some of your interests in things like urban space. Take a look at Wendy Wolford (UNC), as one example.

[RefurbedScientist]

Great advice, rising_star. I've never actually seriously considered geography programs, although my thesis advisor was trained as a geographer (and now works in political science of Latin America and Southeast Asia). I guess it's been out of ignorance that I overlooked these programs.

Nice tip on Wolford. I found that she now works at Cornell's Soc. of Development program. Still, UNC has some interesting geographers. The only geography I've ever read, I think, is Edward Soja's Seeking Spatial Justice. He's at UCLA. The book combines some social movement stuff (LA bus drivers' union) and concepts of space and power.

I get the impression, especially from the Wolford example, that one can ultimately end up working in a department based more on the work you produce as a professional and less on your graduate training. I'm just worried about pigeon-holing myself.

I will keep looking into geography, but this doesn't get me much closer to deciding what discipline I fit best with. Any one else want to weigh in? Sociology, anthropology, or, now, geography?

[rising_star]

One way to decide (that someone I know used) is this: when you look at the core courses in each type of department, which are most appealing to you to teach? Would you be happier teaching SOC 101 or ANTHRO 101? That sort of thing matters since all faculty teach introductory courses at some point.

[supplicant]

Depending on where you go, choosing between sociology and anthropology might not matter. I don't know how widespread it is, but the institutions where I obtained my BSocSc in sociology and where I'll be doing my MA both have sociology and anthropology in the same department. I never took a course in anthropology, but the two programs shared a qualitative research course, so one of my references was an anthropologist, and my MA program allows sociology students to take anthropology courses.

[RefurbedScientist]

That's another good tip rising_star. Although most advice on this board strongly recommends "think like a research, not a teacher," I think that you're getting at a good way to capture the "feeling" of one discipline or another.

Unfortunately, Supplicant, none of the programs I am interested in have Soc/Anth rolled up into one, unless you can recommend some good ones for social movements/ political sociology.

Here's a question I posted on the anthropology board:

Is it in bad form to apply to two departments, say soc. and anth., at the same school? I've seen, one some program's websites, that it's explicitly prohibited. I've seen more that don't mention it. Does it reflect badly on an applicant? Are there exceptions?