Research Specialties
The breadth and depth of our faculty's research specialties are highlighted below. Much of this research, transdisciplinary and transnational in scope, expresses a strong sense of civic engagement and a dedication to addressing the pressing problems of our times.
We recognize that we flourish only when all students, staff, faculty, and external supporters have a community in which to grow and thrive. Learn more about our commitment to equity & diversity here.
Demography, Family, & Life Course
Demography, Family & Life Course conducts research on topics such as family formation and dissolution, employment patterns and consequences, migration, and population health and mortality. Faculty and graduate students in these areas are affiliated with the nationally renowned Minnesota Population Center and the Life Course Center, attracting graduate students and post-doctoral students from all over the world to conduct studies of the life course.
Global, Transnational, & Comparative Sociology
Global, Transnational & Comparative Sociology focuses on ideas, practices, literature, and information from beyond the United States' borders—geographic and intellectual—to find varieties of analytic tools to understand complex and connected social worlds.
Inequalities & Culture
Inequalities & Culture analyzes the meaning, making, and significance of key boundaries and documents patterns of discrimination and prejudice in policies and practices to unpack the mechanisms by which these inequalities are perpetuated and reproduced.
Law, Crime, Punishment, & Human Rights
Law, Crime, Punishment, & Human Rights focuses on the social origins, transformation, and consequences of law and legal systems in the US and around the world.
Learn about faculty members and their areas of interest in the Faculty Research Brochure.