Reputation/Rankings by sub-discipline?

[Chuck]

I realize this question is a little bit obtuse. Nevertheless, as someone who is relatively new to the discipline, I am interested in a quick and dirty shorthand illumination of the reputation and ranking of departments by sub-field.

Does anyone know of a publication or resource that has this information all in one place? I'm actually less interested in rankings in the traditional sense (#1 on down the line). What I'd really like to see is a resource that, for a particular sub-discipline, tells you which departments have been the traditional powerhouses, and which ones are doing up-and-coming groundbreaking work.

If I look at the different section pages on the ASA website, do the section officers (and their respective institutions) necssarily represent the best work being done in a particuar sub-field? Is this useful information?

Edited May 3, 2012 by Chuck

[ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid]

I'd be interested in this information as well. I know there are speciality power-houses (penn state demography, yale cultural, etc.) and I'm sure if we found where the best placements were for recent grads we'd get a good idea of which places have the most prestige for sub disciplines.

[RefurbedScientist]

Not sure if such a list exists, but I bet if you surveyed the members of this board on where they applied based on fit with their sub-disciplinary interests, then you might get a good picture. This might not get you a "ranked" list as much as a cluster of programs that have strong contingent in a particular field.

Also USNWR does have a rough break down of "sub-fields" of sociology, but it's over-broad. I think the categories are economic, historical, cultural, stratification... and I'm not sure anyone pays attention to them.

[Ladril]

US News and World Report includes a ranking of sociology programs:

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/sociology-rankings

There is a drop-down menu titled "Specialty". It gives you a list of the best Sociology departments in a number of subfields. If you rank by specialty you will find several departments that, while not top 20 in the general ranking, are quite strong in a specific area (Florida State for demography, UC Santa Barbara for culture, Iowa for social psychology/social movements, etc.).

[Ladril]

Also check out these surveys made by Prof. Fabio Rojas from Indiana. They are more of a rumour mill but they can help:

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/soc-phd-programs-1-stratification/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/soc-phd-programs-2-education/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/soc-phd-programs-3-organization-studies/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/soc-phd-programs-4-culture/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/soc-phd-programs-5-urban-sociology/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/soc-phd-programs-6-social-psychology/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/soc-phd-programs-7-demography/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/soc-phd-programs-8-political-sociology/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/soc-phd-programs-9-health/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/soc-phd-programs-10-gender/

http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/soc-phd-programs-11-race-and-ethnicity/

I'm almost certain that's all of them.