The New Black Middle Class in the Twenty-First Century by Bart Landry

Professor Emeritus Bart Landry first published his classic book "The New Black Middle Class" in the 1980s.  Now thirty years later, Landry takes a look again at how the new Black middle class has changed by investigating educational and occupational attainment, income and wealth, methods of child-rearing, community building priorities, and residential settlement patterns of this understudied population.

You can order a copy of Landry's new book on Amazon.

Landry, Bart. 2018. The New Black Middle Class in the Twenty-First Century. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

New Demography Minor!

The Department of Sociology invites you to explore our new minor in Demography, the interdisciplinary study of human populations. 

Changes in population processes have helped to shape many of the most pressing problems facing the world today.  Whether one considers the key roles of population growth and aging, reflecting trends in fertility and mortality, or the impact of population flows through migration and immigration, demographic processes are funamentally linked to the lives of individuals, families, communities and nations. 

UMD Events at the 2018 ASA Annual Meeting

August 10, 2018 marks the first day of the American Sociological Association's 113th Annual Meeting hosted in Philadelphia, PA.  The theme for this year's conference is "Feeling Race: An Invitation to Explore Racialized Emotions." 

Many of our faculty and graduate students will be at the meetings presenting their research and participating in other concurrent sociology conferences. A schedule of the sessions of faculty and students are participating in can be found here.

Andres Villarreal's research in ASR article featured in The Economist

On July 30th, The Economist published an article titled "Immigrants and the Wage Gap," which highlighted research conducted by sociology professor Dr. Andres Villarreal. 

Our Newly Minted PhDs Start New Jobs in the Fall

On Saturday, May 19, 2018, seven students in our graduate program completed the long journey of completing their doctoral degrees.

During the last year, these 7 students were also on the job market preparing for the next step in their careers.  They applied to hundreds of jobs, wrote dozens of cover letters, and gathered letters of recommendations from their mentors to present their best case to institutions that best fit their expertise. 

Here is where our new alums will go come Fall 2018:

Ann H. Dubin, Political Consultant for the MirRam Group

In Remembrance- Carmi Schooler

Carmi Schooler, an affiliate of the Department of Sociology since 2007, passed away on Friday, May 11th. Carmi came to the department after nearly 50 years at the National Institute of Mental Health, where he spent many years directing the Socioenvironmental Studies Laboratory. At Maryland, he taught courses, mentored students, collaborated with fellow faculty members, and served on dissertation committees. Carmi’s research focused on relationships between social structure and various individual outcomes that included cognitive functioning and health.

Margaret Moose Swallow, SOCY '75, to Speak at 2018 Commencement

Former corporate executive turned social entrepreneur to serve as the 2018 Spring Commencement speaker for the UMD Department of Sociology

When Margaret Moose Swallow (SOCY ’75) looks back on her life journey so far, she can point to a number of significant events that shaped her path—one of which was receiving a scholarship to study at the University of Maryland.

“Going to Maryland was a dream and it wouldn’t have happened without that scholarship,” said Moose Swallow, who grew up in Silver Spring, Md. and was the second oldest of nine children in her family.

PhD Candidate Joey Brown Receives Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship

Congratulations to PhD candidate, Joey Brown, for being awarded a 2018 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship! The fellowship will support Joey as he completes his dissertation, "Childhood Grandparent Wealth and the Well-Being of Black and White Young Adults".

PhD Student Saswathi Natta Receives 2018-2019 Fulbright Award

Congratulations to PhD student, Saswathi Natta, who has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for 2018-2019!