Marketability of Sociology PhDs

[That_One]

Hi all,

Now that I am done with all applications, I have been doing some research concerning the marketability and prospect of soc PhDs and I thought a general discussion will help some of us pass time as we anxiously wait for more results to come in. I raise two issues here. First, I am particularly interested in variations in job outcomes that result from differences in sub-fields or specializations. I am really surprised to learn that Criminology is the most sought after, but I only have one source and I am a newby to sociology. Do you guys know of any data available out there that will allow us to judge which specializations have the most prospect? Of course, one should not choose specializations based entirely on marketability, but it's an important variable to consider. Second, I am aware that some of the other social sciences put a lot of weight to the rank (reputation) of the PhD-granting institutions when it comes to hiring and climbing up the academic ladder. Economics, for instance, is infamous for punishing those who come from low ranked universities. How is sociology with regard to this?

Jop Openings - Below is the stats from 2006:

Field Open 227

Criminology/Delinquency 86

Quantitative Methods/Statistics 29

Theory 21

Urban/Community 19

Race and Ethnicity 19

Law and Society 15

Medical 13

Race, Class and Gender 12

Demography 11

Family 11

Social Psychology 11

Culture 10

Organizations/Economic 10

Stratification/Labor Markets 9

Policy Analysis/Public Policy 8

Education 7

Environment 7

Latino/Latina 7

Political/Social Movements 7

Aging/Social Gerontology 6

Applied Sociology/Evaluation Research 5

Social Welfare/Social Work 5

Other Fields 75

Total 610

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[coqui21]

Unfortunately, sociology is the same. The likelihood of one graduating from a lower ranked PhD program than the one they end up teaching at is very slim. Of course, the top 5 or 10 programs have to hire their scholars from somewhere, so there is a lot of inter-mingling there, but beyond that, the vast majority of PhD's end up working at departments that are ranked lower than the ones they graduated from.

Crim is definitely the most sought after sociology position. Still, a number of institutions have created their own crim departments over the past two decades, so to be fair, this is almost an entirely different (but related) field.

Beyond that, your list looks about accurate. I'm always interested in how the job market looks and check out www.higheredjobs.com frequently. ASA also has a job list database (usually with larger programs than the former website) which is very helpful.

We obviously do not want to have a particular area of study just because the job market is good, but it is important to think about how we can cast a wide net. For example, my primary area of study (religion) is in a field that is not even on your 2006 jobs list. Nobody is really looking for somebody like me. It's important that I'm aware of this so that I can intersect my interest with more marketable fields like race, class, gender, and families. Thus when I'm finally applying for jobs, I can market myself as a race, class, gender, or families scholar who studies religion, as opposed to the other way around.

Good topic. It's never too early to start thinking about the job market.

[ewurgler]

Nick--no one does want religion anymore

We are screwed

[Tritonetelephone]

Well, since it's going to take us at least 5 yrs to finish our PhD's, what's available/popular now may not be relevant.

That being said, I've heard that cognitive sociology is very hot right now, as are cultural sociology and environmental sociology (this coming from my full-of-himself prof who specializes in each).

I'm doing sex/gender and one of my profs said that this is a good time to start grad school for that because there's a generational turnover on the horizon and a lot of sex/gender profs are going to be retiring in the next 10 yrs... I'm guessing a lot of them are from the women's movement of the '70's.

[doctoraldude]

I'm shocked to see SM being in such low demand - doesn't anybody care anymore ?

or do the polsci folks do that stuff now ? :roll:

[doctoraldude]

on the marketability thing - in case you dont like academe - there's always the marketing / Consumer Behavior type jobs around.

But they're mostly about pop-sociology gone wild

Or you could join some no profits / lobbying groups, but you might find stimulating conversations hard to come by !

[migrationdude]

Yay for quantitative methods people I definitely am a quant person (also Race and Ethnicity), so if I were on the post-PhD job market this year, I guess my situation would probably be easier. Alas, you can never know what the situation will be like in 5-8 years from now. I am thinking though, that if I end up doing something fairly number heavy, there will always be a back door into industry afterwards: mind you, I'm not doing my PhD for this, and see a Professor's life as the ideal career, but you can never know, and I guess it's good to have a litle bit of insurance just in case.

[coqui21]

Ewurgler- It is quite sad that departments aren't that interested in religion scholars. One would think, since all of the first sociologists were fairly concerned with religion in one way or another that it would be a relatively lucrative area of study. Unfortunately, this just isn't the case. We're going to have to be creative!

Tritonetelephone- It would be interesting if the market would change drastically in a matter of five years, but that just isn't likely. Scholarly progress is fairly slow, particularly in the social sciences, and thus changes in the field of sociology overall tend to be slow as well. I'm certainly not a prognosticator, but I foresee the market being fairly similar when we get there (with a possible increase in economic soc...given our nation's current situation). With that said, you're definitely right about environmental soc. It seems that a fair amount of programs are attempting to hold a stake in the new field. Zerabuvel/Rutgers has definitely broadened cognitive soc...but it may take a while longer for it to really catch on. I don't think there are enough graduate students studying it right now for it to take off yet.

migrationdude- You certainly won't have problems if you're interested in studying quant/methodology! Every department needs somebody to teach stats and methods, and few people actually enjoy doing it. You'll be fine!

doctoraldude- I've noticed that there are faculty that study social movements at almost every PhD granting school in the nation. Usually though, it's their secondary or third area of study which directly relates to their primary. Ex. Environmental sociologist who studies environmental social movements/ Sex & Gender who studies LGBQT social movements, etc.

[jonathan]

Having been very involved with my department as an undergraduate (at a relatively large public liberal arts college), I have some idea of what happens in the hiring process. My professors may have afforded me a rare opportunity, as I am not sure many students have the experience of interviewing Ph.D.'s seeking to be hired as a professor. I will try to share some of the key lessons I learned, although I will have to be somewhat generic as a matter of courtesy, and out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved.

(a) While sometimes faculty are sought because funding exists for a particular field, one might actually be well advised to choose a field for idealistic reasons. It should come across that you truly care about your research. Not only should you be able to answer for why your research is of social significance, but also for why it is significant on a personal level. Passion counts.

( Be careful not to get bogged down in your own research. Your advisors may do you a disservice if you or they are preaching to the choir. Anticipate questions from faculty not particularly interested in your area. You may not always agree with contrarian advice, but advice from those with an ideology antithetical to your own can help as not only will you improve your paper, clarifying and improving your arguments, but you will be ready when questions inevitably come up during your presentation in front of a hiring committee.

© Do something interesting. Take risks. Even the most highly awarded individuals, by playing it safe, can do surprisingly bad when presenting their research. A novel idea can be more attractive than a well-written, well-researched dissertation. Just be sure that you know your stuff, methodologically.

(d) Do not coast. A paper of convenience might be okay, but a dissertation...

[Tritonetelephone]

© Do something interesting. Take risks. Even the most highly awarded individuals, by playing it safe, come do surprisingly bad when presenting their research. A novel idea can be more attractive than a well-written, well-researched dissertation. Just be sure that you know your stuff, methodologically.

I'm especially glad to hear this one. Creativity is one of my strong suits