Emphasizing a variety of approaches to interpretation and research, the Department of Sociology provides diverse opportunities for both master's and doctoral study. Students combine study of major sociological texts with exploration of topics that speak to the major questions of our times, including the development of cyberspace and the network society; the rise of new cultural forms; the articulations of race, class, and ethnicity in cities and nations; the role of religion and ideals in social and political life; the relations between citizens, constitutions, and rule of law; and democracy, civil society, and the public sphere.

The Department of Sociology at The New School for Social Research builds on its historical connections to European social science and their development in an American context by emphasizing a unique mix of critical, historical, comparative, and theoretical sociology. Although the department offers specialized inquiry in six areas—social thought, culture, media, cities, politics, and comparative and historical analysis of social change—the program is structured to emphasize the intellectual connections and substantive linkages among these concerns.

Our aim at the level of the MA is to provide a thorough grounding in the historical and theoretical development of the field of sociology and to give students the tools to make this knowledge relevant to the world around them. This is accomplished by emphasizing classical writings in the field and their general application to at least two of the department's six subfields of inquiry. At the PhD level, the program seeks to provide students with the theories and methods to develop new forms of sociological study that will cross disciplinary boundaries and/or subareas of the field in innovative and imaginative ways, albeit through sustained treatment of a single topic. At both levels, the department's aim is to help students better understand the major transformations in modern and postmodern societies and to prepare them for the normative or analytical challenges these transformations have posed.

To encourage this engaged and interdisciplinary intellectual work, the faculty offers courses and projects developed in tandem with several other programs and departments at The New School. In addition to working closely with the faculty and staff of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, Liberal Studies, and the Departments of Political Science and Philosophy, the department offers a joint degree in sociology and history (with the school's Committee on Historical Studies) and in sociology and media (with the Media Studies Program of The New School for General Studies).