Funding

All admitted students are guaranteed funding for six years. Each year they receive a 10-month stipend/salary totaling $24,480, plus a summer stipend of $6,120, along with health benefits. In their first year in the program, they are on fellowship (no teaching is required); in their 2^nd year, students become teaching assistants, but have two additional semesters free of teaching obligations—the fall of their 3^rd year and the spring of their 4^th year. This arrangement gives them more flexibility to conduct research towards the qualifying paper and, later, the dissertation. Overall, students serve as teaching assistants for 8 semesters in total. In addition, various professors and programs at UVA hire our graduate students as research assistants, usually on a competitive basis, and subject to university guidelines on total hours worked.

Structure of the Program

The graduate curriculum is centered around a series of core course requirements and graduate electives, a first-year exam, a special fields paper, and a qualifying research paper. This is followed by the defense of the dissertation prospectus, the writing of the student’s dissertation, and the dissertation defense, leading to the awarding of the Ph.D.

At UVA, the faculty is dedicated to providing our graduate students access to a broad training in the essentials of sociology. In addition to required theory and methods courses, we offer—usually every other year—a variety of graduate seminars including, but not limited to, economic sociology, political sociology, the sociology of culture, comparative-historical sociology, the sociology of sex and gender, and the sociology of race and ethnicity. These courses are often then supplemented by various directed readings, informal reading groups, and other avenues of intellectual exploration.

Intensive advising and preparation

At UVA  faculty work closely with graduate students on a variety of projects, and provide extensive feedback on students’ work. In addition, a series of mentoring events and programs, both formal and informal, prepare students for the academic job market. Meanwhile,  our colloquium series and potential additional funding for graduate student travel to professional meetings connects our students to trends in the discipline at large.

A variety of foci

Although no sociology graduate program can claim to cover the entirety of the vast and varied discipline of sociology, at the University of Virginia our faculty supervise a wide variety of projects. A sense of the interests and expertise of the faculty can be gained by examining the faculty page of our website. 

Graduate dissertations from UVA

Graduate dissertations in sociology at UVA  go on to become published books and articles, including (but not limited to) the following:

Shannon Latkin Anderson, Immigration, Assimilation and the Cultural Construction of American National Identity. (Routledge, 2016).

Bradley Campbell, The Geometry of Genocide: A Study in Pure Sociology (University of Virginia Press, 2015).

Joseph E. Davis, Accounts of Innocence: Sexual Abuse, Trauma, and the Self (University of Chicago Press, 2005).

Jeffrey S. Dill, The Longings and Limits of Global Citizenship Education: The Moral Pedagogy of Schooling in a Cosmopolitan Age. (Routledge, 2013).

Matthew W. Hughey, White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race (Stanford University Press, 2012).

Dustin Kidd, Legislating Creativity: The Intersections of Art and Politics (Routledge, 2010).

Jason Manning, Suicide: The Social Causes of Self-Destruction. (University of Virginia Press, 2020).

James L. Nolan, Jr. The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End. (New York University Press, 1998).

Jennifer M. Silva, Coming up Short: Working-class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty. (Oxford  University Press, 2013).

Christina Simko, The Politics of Consolation: Memory & the Meaning of September 11 (Oxford  University Press, 2015).

Benjamin H. Snyder, The Disrupted Workplace: Time and the moral order of flexible capitalism. (Oxford  University Press, 2016).

Hephzibah V. Strmic-Pawl, Multiracialism and its Discontents: A Comparative Analysis of Asian-White and Black-White Multiracials (Lexington Books, 2016).

Julia Ticona, Left to Our Own Devices: Coping with Insecure Work in a Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Francesca Bolla Tripodi, The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy (Yale University Press, 2022).

Saundra Davis Westervelt, Shifting the Blame: How Victimization Became a Criminal Defense (Rutgers University Press, 1998).

Alumni Publications

Anderson, Shannon (Ph.D. 2007)

2015, Immigration, Assimilation, and the Cultural Construction of American National Identity  Routledge.

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Ali, Syed (Ph.D. 2001)

Contexts: Permanent Impermanence (Spring 2010)

Dubai: Gilded Cage. Yale University Press, June 2010.

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Arabandi, Bhavani (Ph.D. 2009)

Received Junior Scholar Best Paper Award at the V International Conference on Work and Family in Barcelona, July 2013. The conference called for papers addressing the "management of work, family and personal life in the rapidly changing context of the twenty-first century."

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Atkins, Randolph (Ph.D. 2000)

Atkins, Randolph G. and Hawdon, James E., “Religiosity and participation in mutual-aid

support groups for addiction,” Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, Volume 33, Issue 3,

October 2007, pages 321-331.  Available at NIH Public Access

Received Administrator's Innovation Award at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in November 2012. This award was "for notable authorship and exemplary performance of key traffic safety research that contributes to the agency's understanding of the problem of speeding and provides the foundations for new Department of Transportation speeding programs."

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Bare, Harold (Ph.D. 1996)

A Month of Sundays, 2008. ISBN: 0981700918

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Bibeau, Alana (Ph.D. 2010)

2015. “Interventions During Labor and Birth in the United States: A Qualitative Analysis of Women’s Experiences.” Sexual and Reproductive Health Care 5(4): 167-173.

2015. “Marriage Changes with the Times” (with Helen Mederer and Melanie Brasher).The Providence Journal, August 20.

2006. “The Political is Personal, or, God Bless America.” In Jacobs, Krista, ed. Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

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Bridges, Tristan (Ph.D. 2011)

Forthcoming. “Hybrid Masculinities: New Directions in the Sociology of Men and Masculinities.”Sociology Compass. Co-Authored with Dr. C.J. Pascoe.

 2014. “A Very ‘Gay’ Straight?: Hybrid Masculinities, Sexual Aesthetics, and the Changing Relationship between Masculinity and Homophobia.” Gender & Society 28(1): 58-82.

 2013. “Issues of Intimacy, Masculinity, and Ethnography.” In Men, Masculinities, and Methodologies, edited by B. Pini and B. Pease. Palgrave Macmillan.

 2011. "Engaging Men in the United States: Soft Essentialism and the Obstacles to Coherent Initiatives in Education and Family Policy." Pp. 159-173 in Men and Masculinities around the World: Transforming Men's Practices, edited by E. Ruspini, J. Hearn, B. Pease and K. Pringle. Palgrave Macmillan.

 2011. "Masculinity." In Oxford Bibliographies Online: Sociology. Ed. EIC. New York: Oxford University Press.

 2010. "Men Just Weren't Made to Do This: Performances of Drag at 'Walk a Mile in Her Shoes' Marches." Gender & Society 24(1): 5-30.

 2009. "Gender Capital and Male Bodybuilders." Body & Society 15(1): 83-107.

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Campbell, Bradley (Ph.D. 2008)

The Geometry of Genocide, 2015.  ISBN 9780813937410

Sociological Forum, Vol. 25, No. 2, June 2010

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Cooney, Mark (Ph.D. 1991)

"Ethnic conflict without ethnic groups: a study in pure sociology,"

The British Journal of Sociology 2009 Volume 60 Issue 3

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Deutschlander, Denise (Ph.D. 2018)

Roksa, Josipa, and Denise Deutschlander. 2018. Applying to College: The Role of Family Resources in Academic Undermatch. Teachers College Record, 120(6): 1-30.

Deutschlander, Denise. 2017. Academic Undermatch: How General and Specific Cultural Capital Structure Inequality. Sociological Forum. DOI: 10.1111/socf.12322.

Deutschlander, Denise. 2009. Immigration as a Perceived Threat to National Identity: An Austrian Case Study. Nationalities Affairs, 34: 41-63.

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Dill, Jeff (Ph.D. 2011)

2013. The Longings and Limits of Global Citizenship Education. New York: Routledge.

 

2012. “The Moral Education of Global Citizens” Society 49:6.

 

2012. “Global Citizenship Education and Evangelical Protestant Schools” pp 615-632 in International Handbook on Protestant Education. Edited by William Jeynes and David Robinson. New York: Springer.

 

2012. The Culture of American Families: Interview Report. Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

 

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Hightower, Michael (Ph.D. 2007)

Banking in Oklahoma Before Statehood.

University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.

The Pattersons (a novel). 2 Cities Press, 2012.

“Penn Square: The Shopping Center Bank that Shook the World, Part 1 – Boom.” Chronicles of Oklahoma, vol. XC (1), spring 2012: 68-99.

“Penn Square: The Shopping Center Bank that Shook the World, Part 2 – Bust.” Chronicles of Oklahoma, vol. XC (2), summer 2012: 204-36.

Frontier Families: The Records and Johnstons in American History.

Oklahoma City: Cottonwood Press, 2010.

Inventing Tradition: Cowboy Sports in a Postmodern Age. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Publishing, 2008.

“Willard Johnston: Homesteader and Frontier Banker, 1881-1904.” The Chronicles of Oklahoma, 87

(winter 2009-10): 408-31.

“The Businessman’s Frontier: C.C. Hightower, Commerce, and Old Greer County, 1891-1902.”

The Chronicles of Oklahoma, 86 (spring 2008): 4-31.

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Hughey, Matthew (Ph.D. 2009)

2012. White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

2011. The Obamas and a (Post) Racial America? (w/ Gregory Parks). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

 

2011. Black Greek-Letter Organizations, 2.0: New Directions in the Study of African American Fraternities and Sororities (w/ Gregory Parks). Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi.

 

2010. 12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America (w/ Gregory Parks).  New York, NY: The New Press.

 

2011. “Backstage Discourse and the Reproduction of White Masculinities.” The Sociological Quarterly 52: 132-153.

 

2011. “Re-membering Black Greeks: Racial Memory and Identity in Stomp the Yard.” Critical Sociology 37(1): 103-123.

 

2010. “A Paradox of Participation: Nonwhites in White Sororities and Fraternities.” Social Problems 57(4): 653-679.

 

2010. “Navigating the (Dis)similarities of White Racial Identities: The Conceptual Framework of ‘Hegemonic Whiteness.’” Ethnic and Racial Studies 33(8): 1289-1309.

 

2010. “The White Savior Film and Reviewers’ Reception.” Symbolic Interaction 33(3): 475-496.

2009. “Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in ‘Magical Negro’ Films.”

Social Problems 56(3): 543–577.

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Kidd, Dustin (Ph.D. 2004)

2014. Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

The book is accompanied by a number of social media resources including a blog (http://popculturefreaks.tumblr.com/) and a Twitter account (@PopCultureFreak).

 

2012.  “Public Culture in America: A Review of Cultural Policy Debates.” The Journal of

Arts Management, Law and Society 42:11-21.

2012.  “’She’d Have Been Locked Up in St. Mungo’s for Good’:

Magical Maladies and Medicine.” In The Sociology of Harry Potter, edited by Jennifer

Patrice Sims and Brittany Nicole Sims.  Zossima Press.

2012.  “Fire in Our Bellies and Fear in out Arts.”  Contexts 11(1):54-55.

2010.  Legislating Creativity: The Intersection of Art and Politics.  New York: Routledge.

With Christina Jackson.  2010. “Art as Propaganda: Bringing Du Bois into the

Sociology of Art.”  Sociology Compass 4/8: 555-563.

2009.  “Democratic Practices in Arts Organizations.”  The Journal of Arts Management,

Law and Society 38: 296-309.  

2007.  “Harry Potter and the Functions of Popular Culture.”  The Journal of

Popular Culture 40: 70-90.

2004.  “Sexual Politics in the Defense of Art.”  Research in Political Sociology 13: 79-112.

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Kuan, Ping-Yin (Ph.D 1993)

2011. "Effects of Cram Schooling on Mathematics Performance: Evidence from Junior High Students in Taiwan." Comparative Education Review 55 (3): 342-368. (The winner of the 2012 CIES George Bereday Award; the best article published in the Comparative Education Review in 2011).

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Marshall, Doug (Ph.D. 2003)

"Temptation, Tradition, and Taboo: A Theory of Sacralization", Sociological Theory 28:1 March 2010

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McCoy, Charles (Ph.D. 2013)

 "Watching 'Bad' Television: Ironic Consumption, Camp, and Guilty Pleasures." Poetics, Vol. 47: 41-59, December 2014 (with Roscoe Scarborough).

  "Moral Reactions to Reality TV: Television Viewers Endogenous and Exogenous Loci of Morality." Journal of Consumer Culture, In-press (with Roscoe Scarborough).

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Rutherford, Markella  (Ph.D. 2004)

2011. Adult Supervision Required: Freedom and Boundaries in Popular Parenting Advice. 

Rutgers University Press.

2011. “The social value of self-esteem: Emotional capital in the reproduction of class privilege” Society.

2011.  “Great Expectations: Legitimating Out of Hospital Maternity Care” (w/ Selina Gallo-Cruz)

Social Theory and Health.

2009. "Children’s Autonomy and Responsibility: An Analysis of Childrearing Advice."

Qualitative Sociology  32:4

2008. “Selling the Ideal Birth: Rationalization and Re-enchantment in the Marketing of Maternity Care.” (w/ Selina Gallo-Cruz) In Susan Chambre and Melinda Goldner (eds.) Patients, Consumers, and Civil Society: Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 10.  Bingley, UK: Emerald.

2004. “Authority, Autonomy, and Ambivalence: Moral Choice in Twentieth-Century Commencement Speeches.” Sociological Forum 19:4; 583-610.

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Scarborough, Roscoe (Ph.D. 2015)

Scarborough, Roscoe C., and Charles Allan McCoy. Forthcoming. “Moral Reactions to Reality TV: Television Viewers’ Endogenous and Exogenous Loci of Morality.” Journal of Consumer Culture.

McCoy, Charles Allan, and Roscoe C. Scarborough. 2014. “Watching ‘Bad’ Television: Ironic Consumption, Camp, and Guilty Pleasures.” Poetics47:41-59.

Scarborough, Roscoe C. 2012. “Managing Challenges on the Front Stage: The Face-work Strategies of Musicians.” Poetics 40 (6):542-564.

Scarborough, Roscoe C. 2013. “The Jazz Solo as Ritual: Conforming to the Conventions of Innovation.” Pp.81-90 in Music Sociology: An Introduction to the Role of Music in Social Life, edited by S. T. Horsfall, J. Meij, and M. Probstfield. Boulder CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Scarborough, Roscoe C. 2013. “Lowbrow Entertainment to Highbrow Art Form: The Case of Jazz and Heavy Metal.” Pp. 124-134 in Music Sociology: An Introduction to the Role of Music in Social Life, edited by S. T. Horsfall, J. Meij, and M. Probstfield. Boulder CO: Paradigm Publishers.

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Silva, Jennifer (Ph.D. 2010)

2013. Coming Up Short: Working-Class Adulthood in an Age of Uncertainty. Oxford University Press. 

*Mirra Komarovsky Book Award, Honorable Mention - 84th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society, February 22, 2014

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Silver, Blake (Ph.D. 2017)

Silver, Blake R., and Josipa Roksa. 2017. “Navigating Uncertainty and Responsibility: Understanding Inequality in the Senior-Year Transition.” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 54(3): 248-260.

Silver, Blake R., and Jakeman, Rick. 2016. “College Students’ Willingness to Engage in Bystander Intervention at Off-Campus Parties.” Journal of College Student Development, 57(4): 472-476.

Jakeman, Rick, Blake R. Silver, and Tracae McClure. 2015. “A Closer Look at Bystander Intervention Behaviors of Off-Campus Party Hosts.” Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 59(3): 7-24.

Silver, Blake R., and Rick C. Jakeman. 2014. “Understanding Intent to Leave the Field: A Study of Student Affairs Master’s Students’ Career Plans.” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 51(2): 170-182.

Jakeman, Rick C., Blake R. Silver, and William Molasso. 2014. “Student Experiences at Off-Campus Parties: Results from a Multi-Campus Survey.” Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 58(2): 64-85.

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Simko, Cristina (Ph.D. 2013)

2015. The Politics of Consolation Memory and the Meaning of September 11 Oxford University Press. 

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Snyder, Benjamin (Ph.D. 2013)

Books

Snyder, Benjamin H. (2016) The Disrupted Workplace: Time and the Moral Order of Flexible Capitalism. New York, Oxford University Press.

 

Journal Articles

Snyder, Benjamin H. (2013). From Vigilance to Busyness: A Neo-Weberian Approach to Clock Time. Sociological Theory 31(3):243-266.

 

Oishi, Shigehiro, Selin Kesebir, and Benjamin H. Snyder (2009). Sociology: A Lost Connection in Social Psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Review 13(4):334-353.

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Strmic-Pawl, Hephzibah (Ph.D. 2012)

Strmic-Pawl, Hephzibah. 2014. “The Influences Affecting and the Influential Effects of Multiracials: Multiracialism and Stratification.” Sociology Compass. 8(1): 63-77.

 

Strmic-Pawl, Hephzibah. 2014. “Orange in Black and White: Teaching About Race, Gender, and Sexuality on TV.”  The Badass Sociologist: Society for the Study of Social Problems, Teaching Social Problems Newsletter.

 

Strmic-Pawl, Hephzibah. 2012. “Systems of Inequality- Syllabus” TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology.

 

Strmic-Pawl, H. & P. Leffler. 2011. “Black Families and Fostering of Leadership.” Ethnicities. 11(2): 139-162.

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Westervelt, Saundra (Ph.D. 1996)

2012. Saundra Westervelt and Kimberly Cook. Life after Death Row: Exonerees' Search for Community and Identity. Rutgers University Press.