Critical Whiteness Studies in Sociology

[CWS2017]

Hey all,

I'm undecided on applying to any Sociology PhD programs, and leaning heavily towards interdisciplinary programs. That said, I plan on doing my research primarily on whiteness in social movements in the U.S. (allyship, "woke"ness), as well as study political correctness, and white masculinity. A lot of these topics seemingly fall under Sociology, so I wanted to see if there were programs I should really look into. I will definitely apply to UC Santa Barbara and potentially UMASS Ahmerst. But am I missing on anything else? 

My academic profile is 3.86 undergrad GPA (History major, Philosophy minor), co-founded undergrad journal, 1 paper published, 2 conferences. Fulbright ETA, Humanity in Action fellowship, and worked on Bernie Sanders campaign as field organizer. Although not totally related, I was also a freelance journalist for NY Daily News in HS sports. Will be taking GRE in October. I expect to have strong references, and I'm a good writer, so I'm not very concerned about writing solid POS/SOP.

Any advice on programs would be much appreciated! Thanks!

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

You might do better in a cultural studies department--maybe even American studies. Critical race stuff is not really a part of the mainstream of the discipline and is often seen as being not analytical and too normative. You might reframe the issue in a way to appeal to sociologists...

[furryewok]

On 24 July 2016 at 0:28 AM, CWS2017 said:

Hey all,

I'm undecided on applying to any Sociology PhD programs, and leaning heavily towards interdisciplinary programs. That said, I plan on doing my research primarily on whiteness in social movements in the U.S. (allyship, "woke"ness), as well as study political correctness, and white masculinity. A lot of these topics seemingly fall under Sociology, so I wanted to see if there were programs I should really look into. I will definitely apply to UC Santa Barbara and potentially UMASS Ahmerst. But am I missing on anything else? 

My academic profile is 3.86 undergrad GPA (History major, Philosophy minor), co-founded undergrad journal, 1 paper published, 2 conferences. Fulbright ETA, Humanity in Action fellowship, and worked on Bernie Sanders campaign as field organizer. Although not totally related, I was also a freelance journalist for NY Daily News in HS sports. Will be taking GRE in October. I expect to have strong references, and I'm a good writer, so I'm not very concerned about writing solid POS/SOP.

Any advice on programs would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Don't listen to the above - this is sociological to its core... Bonilla-Silva at Duke would love to supervise something like this, I imagine. not to mention some of the usual suspects for racism, race, and ethnicity studies more generally (e.g. Harvard, Berkeley).  Matthew Hughey over at Connecticut is a good shout too, if you're interested in working with them

[CWS2017]

Thank you for the response and suggestions, I will definitely look at those programs. I was honestly a bit confused by the initial comment because I was looking into interdisciplinary programs, but got cold feet because of job concerns. Looking at sociology programs, I saw a lot of schools with emphasis on race/ethnicity and social movements, and the questions asked seemed to be -- at the least -- tangentially related. 

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

On 8/7/2016 at 9:33 AM, CWS2017 said:

Thank you for the response and suggestions, I will definitely look at those programs. I was honestly a bit confused by the initial comment because I was looking into interdisciplinary programs, but got cold feet because of job concerns. Looking at sociology programs, I saw a lot of schools with emphasis on race/ethnicity and social movements, and the questions asked seemed to be -- at the least -- tangentially related. 

Critical Whiteness Studies is not the same thing as race/ethnicity and social movements. Critical Whiteness Studies is normative research program often found in ethnic studies and communications departments. 

Instead of taking my word for it go look at the state of the field of American sociology. Look at what professors are publishing. 

[CWS2017]

I'm not trying to get into an argument because I'm new to the field and want to learn about best academic fits. I'm genuinely curious, but do want to push back a little bit. I understand CWS isn't something you can just lump into "race/ethnicity" and "social movement" subfield buckets. What I meant was that my interests in studying social movements (likely Black Lives Matter, but also interested in the environment justice movement [i.e. the People's Climate March] A transnational approach of looking at BLM a European city and BLM allies in a US city also interests me) and how white people conceive themselves in the justice movement (as an ally, as being woke, why they see joined it, etc.) fall into those subfields. I'm also interested in exploring the juxtaposition between "wokeness" from white progressives and trumpism/political correctness from white conseratives. I understand not every race/ethincity subfield will have professors who study/cover/are interested in this, but there are that do. Furthermore, I want to study in Sociology particularly because I want the training in qualitative methods (particularly ethnography, participant observation, data analysis), and yes some of the training in quant as well so I'm not producing just empty narratives.

However, to call CWS a normative research program solely in Ethnic Studies and Communications departments, just doesn't seem accurate. I've looked into a lot Ethnic Studies/American Studies programs, and no one has programs solely dedicated to critical whiteness. Yes, there are some professors who cover this from their programs, but it's not that widespread. And, a lot of them have backgrounds in sociology. From my research, it's similar to sociology, in that, there are professors that engage in exploring whiteness and scholarly work about it, and many who don't. It's clear this isn't a hot issue, and I'm comfortable in knowing that. I've always understood CWS has a line of inquiry into whiteness and challenging it, maybe I'm just mislabeling what I want to do.

Not to blow up the conversation into bigger picture things, but just because whiteness isn't always being published in sociology journals, does that mean it's not necessarily a sociological issue? Aren't there plenty of topics/research that could be published in different disciplines? Aren't some of the better research being done overlap with other disciplines?

Whiteness was/is explored by plenty of sociologists like Du Bois, McIntosh, Hughley, Bonilla-Silva, Joe Feagin, George Lipsitz, etc. I want a PhD in sociology, but understand I'll need a department that has a strength in interdisciplinary research with other departments (like an Ethnic Studies, History, etc.) 

 

I'm sorry for the long-winded response. It seems you're knowledgable and experienced in the field (like others on the board), so I want to know if I'm on the right track with my thinking.

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

No, your response is good. But here is the thing: the sociological study of whiteness is not the same thing as CWS. That's the point I'm trying to make. It's important to study whiteness sociologically; all for it and there's plenty of space in the discipline for it. The only point I'm trying to make is that CWS is a particular project founded with normative intentions. Usually the normative stuff doesn't fly well with mainstream American sociology departments. CWS is seen as not analytical enough because of its normative agenda. I'm not criticizing CWS, just want you to be informed about the state of the field. I wish people in good phd programs would have given me the same kind of (sometimes hard to swallow) advice when I was applying.  

Also, ethnic studies and communication use a lot of sociology. You don't need to be in a sociology department to do sociology. The reason I'm pushing the issue is that you would be wise to apply to departments that are doing the kinds of things that you're interested in, and there aren't many (worth going to) that do CWS. 

[CWS2017]

Thanks, all good to know. Any suggestions for sociologists who study white people and justice matters? (Who don't use the CWS normative approach)

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

You don't need to be in a program where there is someone studying whiteness etc. You need to be in a program that has a strong emphasis on race. In that case, your options are huge. Berkeley and UCLA are both good places to look. Try to frame your interests in generalist terms. Figure out how to get someone who doesn't study race at all to want to admit you into their department (remember, you can't be sure who is on the committee). I'd start reading the Annual Review Sociology (they are literature reviews that talk about the state of X subfield). Find out what basic theoretical problems need to be addressed and then explain how you can be the one to do it. That's what I did.