PhD in Sociology

The University of Guelph is a comprehensive public research university located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It is recognized for its strong programs in agriculture, veterinary medicine, life sciences, environmental sciences, business, and the arts. The university is committed to providing a transformative learning experience and fostering a supportive community for its students. With a focus on research, innovation, and community engagement, the University of Guelph prepares students to address global challenges and contribute to society.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology offers programs of study leading to the degrees of MA and PhD in Sociology in the following fields: Environment, Food, and Communities (MA, PhD) This field reflects sociological interests in understanding societal-ecological interactions more broadly. The specific focus may include environmental/natural resources/food systems and/or environmental justice/community sustainability. Students specializing in this field will be encouraged to draw on established methodologies in the field, including the comparative and historical approach. Attention will be given to the ways in which structure/power/culture and class/gender/race and ethnicity play out in at least one of the substantive topics comprising this field. Work and Organization (MA, PhD) This field reflects sociological interests in changing patterns of work and employment in comparative contexts, labour markets, gender and work, industrial and organizational change, economic restructuring and work, organizations and protest, education for work, and the regulation of work. These trends are located in the broader processes of globalization, economic restructuring and fundamental shifts in public policy. Students specializing in this field will be encouraged to focus on the dialectical relationship between the configurations of gender, class, race and ethnicity, and the transformation and re-organization of work. Crime and Social Control (MA, PhD) This field reflects sociological interests into how crime is defined, measured, explained and reacted to by society. Within this field students will be exposed to scholarly material on a broad range of topics including: cyberbullying, victimization, homelessness, intimate partner violence, drug policy, school violence, feminist criminology, critical criminology, restorative justice, sociology of risk, policing, the social construction of crime, inmate re-integration, youth justice, wrongful convictions, and life course criminology. Identities and Social Inclusion (MA, PhD) This field reflects sociological interests in the study of intergroup relations, with special emphasis on struggles over influence and power. Students specializing in this field will acquire a deeper understanding of the complex intersection as well as the overlap of forms of identity and group mobilization based on ethnic, linguistic, regional, class, gender, racial and other forms of social division. The field also provides students with the opportunity to study Indigenous issues and policies related to multiculturalism, equity and local or regional autonomy.