Sociology (PhD, MA)

Program Overview

Due to space limitations, the Sociology Department strongly recommends that you contact Chair and Graduate Director Marina Sitrin, (msitrin@binghamton.edu) prior to submitting your application.

The Sociology Department's graduate program offers a transdisciplinary learning environment where students may pursue critical studies of labor, migration and capitalism, carceral and surveillance, and power and the politics of resistance. Our faculty engage critically with how scholars do ethnography and historical research across the disciplines. Our program invites doctoral students to take history seriously in formulating the problems and interpretations of the present. It encourages students to contemplate transnational and world-historical processes within which apparently local and national problems arise. We welcome faculty and students from around the world.

Doctoral students may earn masters degrees on route to earning their PhD. A fast-track BA + MA program is also available for exceptional Binghamton undergraduate sociology majors who wish to pursue both a BA and a MA in 5 years.

Funding is available in the form of graduate teaching assistantships, which typically include medical benefits. Qualified students meeting the department's benchmarks for normal progress are typically eligible for up to 4 years of funding. The University also offers Clark Fellowships for students from underrepresented populations.

Degrees Offered

  • PhD in Sociology
  • MA in Sociology

After You Graduate

Graduates of our doctoral program find meaningful careers, both in and outside of academia. About two thirds or our PhDs over the past 10 years hold full-time academic positions in the US and internationally. For some, doctoral research becomes a springboard for investing in social and research initiatives through non-profits or government agencies. See PhD recipients and Placement for examples of doctoral research and where our most recent graduates have landed.

Admission Requirements

Funding/Scholarships

There are many funding and scholarship opportunities at Binghamton. We encourage prospective students to review available program-specific scholarships and awards, and visit the program's website for additional information. PhD students who are registered and/or certified full-time will receive a scholarship that covers the cost of broad-based fees (this does not include international student fees). Note: Master's students are generally self-funded, although funding opportunities occasionally arise.

Accelerated/4+1 Degrees

You may also be interested in our accelerated/4+1 degree programs which allow students to complete their bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in just 5 years!