Affiliated Program: PhD in Race, Ethnicity, and Public Policy (Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration)
Race and ethnicity permeate virtually every aspect of life in the United States. Conflicts associated with race and ethnicity affect all institutions and social interactions of every type, and frequently dominate a range of policy debates. Those debates, of course, reflect competing theoretical perspectives on race and ethnic relations and underlying causes of inequalities associated with race and ethnicity. This field examines those competing perspectives, the range of policy outcomes, and simply what might be done to ameliorate conflicts associated with race and ethnicity in the U.S. For more information on this degree, go to the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration webpage for this PhD.
General Examination Core
SOC 6245: Race Relations - Systematic analysis of race and ethnic relations and inequality, primarily in the United States. Topics include current status and recent trends in inequality, the patterning of discrimination, the structure of racial attitudes, theoretical perspectives on race relations, and policy issues.
SOC 6248: Race and Urban Redevelopment - Examination of major theories of racial inequality and urban development, recent policy initiatives, and debates over future research and policy choices. The focus will be on the uneven development of metropolitan areas with particular attention devoted to the racial and ethnic implications of economic restructuring and spatial transformation of urban communities.
Students are also required to take two of the following three courses:
HIST 3360: African American History - Survey of the African American experience emphasizing the contributions of black Americans to, and their impact upon, American history.
PSYC 8236: Minorities and Mental Health - Examination of basic theoretical models of psychological research on ethnic, racial, and cultural issues.
SOC 6263: Race and Crime - Examination of research on racial disparities in crime and victimization and in the operations of the criminal justice system in the United States. Particular attention is given to problems and alternative policies with regard to minority involvement in criminal activity, racial discrimination by the police, sentencing disparities, and unequal application of the death penalty.
Field Electives
(students are required to take two additional courses from either the following list of electives or the remaining required courses)
AMST/HIST 3350: U.S. Social History
LAW 6595: Race, Racism, and American Law
LAW 6596/Hist/Soc 6252: Law and Social and Economic History
PSC 8211: State and Urban Politics
PSC 8212: State and Urban Policy Problems
PSYC 298: Current Topics, Cross-cultural Psychology
SOC 6250: Urban Sociology
SOC 6268: Race, Gender, and Class
SOC 0776: Public Policy Research
WSTU 6240: Women and Public Policy
WSTU 6265/SOC 6265: Women, Welfare, and Poverty
Field Advisors
Dr. Gregory D. Squires
Professor and Chair of Sociology
Phone: (202) 994-6894
E-mail: squires@gwu.edu
Dr. Steven A. Tuch
Professor of Sociology
Phone: (202) 994-7466
E-mail: steve@gwu.edu
Meet a Professor: Robert Cottrol
Professor Robert J. Cottrol's research focuses on the influence of legal institutions and social processes on race relations in the United States and Latin America. His most recent book Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution was selected as a "book of the month" selection by the History Book Club and received the 2003 Prize of the Langum Project for Historical Literature for the "best book in legal history accessible to the general educated public".