Graduate Program

Overview of the program
Foreign language requirement
Course requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees
Master’s paper
Field examinations
Field examination schedule
Oral qualifying examinations
500-series course limitations
Final oral examination following completion of the dissertation
Time to degree
Candidate in philosophy degree
Disqualification and appeal of disqualification
Advising
Ethical Code of Conduct for Graduate Students and Graduate Student Instructors

For detailed course descriptions, please refer to UCLA General Catalog

Course requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees

In addition to the Departmental requirements, some field examinations have their own course requirements for students who plan to take that field exam.

Before the Master’s Paper Review. Departmental Requirements for All Students.

Total number of required courses: nine (36 units) graduate level plus Soc. 201ABC (6 units)

(1) Sociology 201ABC, Pro‑Seminar in Sociology. This course is an introduction to the variety of research conducted by departmental faculty. It must be taken in the first year.

(2) Sociology 202AB, Theory and Research in Sociology.

This course, an examination of the interrelations of theory, method, and substance in classical and substantively‑focused contemporary works, must be taken in the first year.

(3) Sociology 204, Topics in Sociological Theorizing. One of the courses offered in this series must be taken within the first two years.

(4) One two‑quarter graduate level methodology sequence from those numbered 208AB, 211AB to 213AB, 216AB, 217BC, and C244AB. In choosing a methodology sequence, the student should note that some of the field examinations require or recommend particular methodology sequences.

If the student has equivalent graduate‑level methodological training elsewhere, s/he should file a petition with the Director of Graduate Studies via the Graduate Affairs Advisor for exemption from the methodology requirement (along with pertinent evidence and an advisor's recommendation).

(5) Four 200 level courses in Sociology, excluding 202AB, 204A-Z, and the methods sequences 208AB, 211AB to 213AB, 216AB, 217BC, and C244AB.

(6) See below for recommendations about the timing of the statistics requirement.

Statistics ‑ Required for post‑MA Field Examination

Soc. 210AB (8 units) must be completed before students can take the first field exam (typically in the third year). Students are advised to take 210AB early in their graduate training. Those with interests in areas with substantial quantitative literature should take 210AB and 210C in their first year.

After the Master’s Paper Review: Departmental Requirements for All Students.

Total number of required courses: two (8 units)

An additional methodology sequence (from the series 208AB, 211AB to 213AB, 216AB, 217BC, C244AB) must be completed before the awarding of the Ph.D. degree. Some field examinations specify required or recommended methodology sequences. In order to ensure breadth and diversity of methodological training, only one of 212AB and 216AB can meet the two methodology sequence requirement.

After the Master’s Review: Course Requirements and Preparation for Field Examinations.

Students are required to take and pass field examinations in two of the areas listed below. Students should contact the Graduate Affairs Advisor or field examination coordinators for more specific details of the requirements and procedures of each such area.

A. Comparative Ethnicity, and Nationalism 

(Students who have previously taken exams in the related race and ethnicity or international migration fields must submit questions previously answered at the time when they declare the intent to take this exam; overlapping questions will not be allowed.)

Required: Soc. 230ABC, Comparative Ethnicity, Race and Nationalism

B. Conversation Analysis
Required Courses: 244AB, Conversational Structures I & II; C258, Talk and Social Institutions.
Recommended Courses: 289A, Practicum in Conversation Analysis

C.  Economic Sociology 
Required Courses: There are no required courses for this field examination.
Recommended Courses:  Sociology 260, Economy and Society, is the cornerstone course for this exam. Students are strongly encouraged to take it. Other recommended courses include Soc. 237, Comparative Social Analysis; Soc. 254, Forms of Capital: Human, Cultural, and Social; Soc. 259, Social Structure and Economic Change: Historical and Comparative Perspectives; and special topics courses in economic sociology, e.g. Soc. 265, Organization Theory; Soc. 285, Sociology of Labor and Unionism.

D. Ethnographic Methodology

Required: Soc. 217A, Analyzing Ethnographies; Soc. 217BC, Ethnographic Fieldwork; and one substantive graduate course in ethnographic studies directed by a member associated with the exam.

E. Ethnomethodology

Recommended: Soc. 222, Foundations of Ethnomethodological, Phenomenological and Observational Sociology.

F. International Migration

(Students who have previously taken exams in the related race and ethnicity or comparative ethnicity and nationalism fields must submit questions previously answered at the time when they declare the intent to take this exam; overlapping questions will not be allowed.)

Required: Soc. 236AB, International Migration; at least two quarters of Soc. 295 (section for migration working group)

Recommended: 236C, International Migration 230AB, Comparative Ethnicity and Nationalism; 235, Theories of Ethnicity; 261, Ethnic Minorities.  In addition, students planning to do dissertation work in this area are encouraged to take substantive courses focusing on the broader thematic field with which the study of international migration connects.  In particular, we recommend courses in demography, stratification, political sociology, and economic sociology.

G. Political Sociology

Required: Soc. 233, Foundation of Political Sociology

Recommended: Soc. 230AB, Comparative Ethnicity and Nationalism; Soc. 232, Class, Politics & Society; Soc. 237, Theory and Research in Comparative Social Analysis; Soc. 272, Topics in Political Sociology; any Soc. 285 on relevant topic.

H. Social Demography

Required: Soc. M213A, Introduction to Demographic Methods and Soc. M213B, Applied Event History Analysis; Soc. 226AB, Introduction to Theory & Major Empirical Research in Social Demography.

Recommended: 210C, Intermediate Statistical Methods III; 212AB, Survey Data Analysis; other seminars related to social demography; 295, CCPR working group.

I. Race/Ethnicity
Required courses: Soc. 235, Theories of Ethnicity; Soc. 261, Ethnic Minorities.  In the event both of these courses are not offered the same year, students should take 235 or 261 AND one of the recommended courses (see below).
 
Recommended courses: Soc. 230, Comparative Ethnicity, Race, and Nationalism; Soc. 236B, International Migration.

J. Social Stratification and Social Mobility

Recommended; Soc. 239AB, Quantitative Research on Social Stratification and Social Mobility, Soc. M263, Social Stratification.

K. Sociology of Culture

Required: Soc. 245, Cultural Sociology: Classical and Contemporary Approaches; Soc. 246, Sociology of Culture.

L. Sociology of the Family

Recommended: At least two courses from among the following:  Sociology 205, Family and Social Change; Sociology 226B, Introduction to Theory and Major Empirical Research in Social Demography; Sociology M252, Selected Topics in Sociology of Gender; Sociology 257, Demography of Marriage Formation and Dissolution. The content of these courses will vary across instructors, as will their relevance to the Sociology of the Family field exam.

M. Sociology of Gender

Required: Any two courses offered by affiliated faculty that concern gender issues, e.g., Soc. M238, Feminist Theory; Soc. 241 Theories of Gender and Society; Soc. M252, Selected Topics in the Sociology of Gender.  Courses taught in other departments can also be used for this requirement with the approval of the director of the field exam committee and the student's faculty advisor.

N. Urban and Suburban Sociology

Required: Soc. 297, Urban and Suburban Sociology of the U.S.