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    Sociology

  • Contact Us

    General Admission Contact
    The New School for Social Research
    Office of Admission
    72 Fifth Avenue, 1st floor
    New York, NY 10011
    212.229.5600 or 800.523.5411
    [email protected]

    Admission Liaison
    Aria Vaghayenegar

    Department of Sociology
    6 East 16th Street, 9th floor
    New York, NY 10003
    212.229.5737 x3125
    Fax: 212.229.5595

    Mailing Address
    79 Fifth Avenue, 9th floor
    New York, NY 10003

    Chair
    Benoit Challand

    Senior Secretary
    Charles Whitcroft

    Student Advisor
    Chang Liu

    Sociology Student Handbook

  • Admission Links

  • The Department of Sociology builds on its historical connections to European social science and further develops the ideas and thinking for today's world. Develop a uniquely insightful approach to the investigation of social life alongside faculty and students who conduct research and critical inquiry that engages with academic communities around the globe.

    The Department of Sociology emphasizes theoretically-informed ethnographic, historical, and interpretive inquiry into the significant social issues of our times in local, national, and transnational contexts. The department is a vibrant hub of scholarship and intellectual life for students, faculty, and visitors from many countries.

    Core areas of research in the department reflect the interests and research of our renowned faculty: social inequalities; culture and politics; law, rights, and citizenship; historical and comparative sociology; cities and publics; media and communication; and political participation in the Global South.

    Through the department's activities, our goal is to help students better understand the major transformations in modern and postmodern societies and to prepare them for the normative or analytical challenges these transformations continually pose.

    Students pursuing a degree in Sociology take part in the intellectual life of NSSR's many centers, including the Robert L. Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies, and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility. Students contribute to our online publication, Public Seminar, and engage with New York City's peerless array of scholarly and cultural institutions.

    Our alumni pursue doctoral study at The New School for Social Research and other top universities or put their training to use successfully in a wide range of non-academic careers.

  • Sociology Degrees

    The Department of Sociology offers master's and doctoral degrees in Sociology. At the PhD level, a minor field in Historical Studies is offered in association with the Committee on Historical Studies.

  • Featured Courses

    Our courses offer a scholarly approach to understanding how societies work, why societies change, and where societies will go next. These courses cover the theory behind societal transformation through advanced academic inquiry, spirited debate, rigorous research, and critical thinking. Graduate students must take four core courses in Classical Social Theory, Contemporary Social Theory, Historical Sociology, and Logic of Inquiry, and can choose from a range of electives from across the school.

    Explore the courses

  • Scholars and Work

    Look closer at our work that’s reshaping and rethinking modern societies:

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    Niina Vuolajarvi began her postdoctoral fellowship at NSSR in January 2021, bringing her long background of activism and academic research “at the intersection of sex work studies and migration studies” to the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility.

     Learn more about research
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    This Sociology MA grad discusses moving from academia to organizing

     Graduating student outcomes

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.