Sociology of Organizations and Markets

About the Program

Organizations and markets have long been studied through a sociological lens that accounts for the social forces that enable and constrain action at the individual, group, and organizational levels. This work has developed in parallel in sociology departments and in business schools and encompasses a broad array of research methods ranging from ethnography to archival analysis. Given the explosion in digital trace data of social and economic interactions and the proliferation of computational and statistical methods for the analysis of such data sets, recent years have seen a surge of interest in computational approaches to the sociology of organizations and markets. The combination of sociological theory and computational methods is already starting to yield novel insights on topics as wide-ranging as innovation, entrepreneurship, careers and mobility, organizational culture, and labor market inequality.

The objective of the Designated Emphasis is to encourage and support theoretically grounded and methodologically sophisticated research on the sociology of organizations and markets. This training will be provided through course offerings in both Sociology and at Haas, as well as through participation in seminars and conferences organized by both groups.

Visit Program Website

Admissions

To be admitted to the Designated Emphasis in Sociology of Organizations and Markets, an applicant must already be accepted into either the Sociology PhD program or a Haas Business Administration PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley. For further information regarding admission to graduate programs at UC Berkeley, please see the Graduate Division's admissions website.

Designated Emphasis Requirements

Sociology PhD Students

Sociology PhD Students entering the Designated Emphasis must fulfill the standard Sociology course requirements as listed in the Sociology Graduate Student Academic Handbook. In addition, these students must take three courses to ensure they have a strong grounding in organizational theory:

Haas PhD Students

Haas PhD students entering the Designated Emphasis must fulfill the standard Haas course requirements as listed on the Haas PhD program website for the “macro” track in MORS. In addition, these students must take three additional courses: