Programs for Political Economy

[YKB]

I know very little about what is done in sociology departments, and I've only taken a total of one course in a sociology department. So this question I have is probably more novice-like than most of what is posted here.

I have seen cases where a Ph.D. student in a sociology department was writing articles that are, more or less, political economy thought. Some of it is inspired by the ideas of Marx, Lenin, and Gramsci. I've seen students who are writing about what has been called a "global capitalism school", or about the ideas of William Robinson, Jerry Harris, Leslie Sklair.

Some students, in this case not me, might be interested in a Ph.D. granting program that would allow them to work on writing stuff that is comparable in style, but opposite in the political/economic ideology.

By "opposite", I am referring to young folk who are very interested in the ideas of guys like Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Robert Nozick, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig Lachmann, Israel Kirzner, Joseph Schumpeter or Don Lavoie.

So, do any of you know of a Ph.D. granting program in a sociology department (or for that matter any type of department other than the economics department of George Mason University) that would be appropriate for this type of work? If so, please mention any suggestions or possibilities of which you are aware.

[That_One]

You might want to consider Sociology departments that are strong and do research in Economic Sociology: UW-Madison, UC-Berk, Michigan, Cornell and so on. If you haven't already, check out the writings of Richard Swedberg, Mark Gannovetter and Neil Smelser (including their handbook in econ soc and "The Sociology of Economic Life"). Of course, one would not say that they are political economy scholars, but they certainly focus on the intersections of the economy and society and take excursions to politics/state.

[Lev Bronstein]

I haven't seen anyone doing work on the austrian school, or I think that's what you are talking about. It seems like most political economy work in sociology is based on historical materialism. Some discussion/correction here would be great. If there is a sociological movement in this area, I'd be interested in seeing who and what departments are there.

[YKB]

I haven't seen anyone doing work on the austrian school, or I think that's what you are talking about. It seems like most political economy work in sociology is based on historical materialism. Some discussion/correction here would be great. If there is a sociological movement in this area, I'd be interested in seeing who and what departments are there.

Indeed I am referring to the Austrian school tradition. I still haven't seen any cases where there is a sociology department movement in this area. A better question might be to try and figure out which sociology departments would be most receptive to graduate students who want to start writing about the Austrian tradition ideas, even if there is no professor there already studying exactly what the students are reading about. I think this might be a case where the students should contact the director of graduate studies for a range of departments, ask them how appropriate their department would be for this, and consider the answers they get from the DGS for various departments.