Coordinator: Mansoor Moaddel

The Social Movements and the State area at the University of Maryland builds on the faculty's expertise in social movements, collective action, and political decision-making. Our program spans research and teaching around topics related to activism, civic engagement, collective action, political economy, political ideology, policy networks, and social movements at the national, comparative, and global levels.

The Social Movements and the State specialty connects with the many foci in the department and with affiliated faculty conduct cross-cutting research around the campus. Faculty members' expertise spans the areas Development and Social Stratification, Environmental Sociology, Military Sociology, Race and Ethnicity, Social Demography, and Social Psychology.

The principal faculty active in the area include: 

• Muna Adem
• Lester Andrist
• Brian Connor
• Julia Chuang
• Meyer Kestnbaum
• Roberto Patricio Korzeniewicz
• Jeff Parsells-Johnson
• Chris Malackany
• Mansoor Moaddel
• Wayne Santoro

Graduate Student Research Opportunities and Employment

In addition to working with individual faculty on research, graduate students can find employment as research assistants in a variety of projects within the sociology department, around the University of Maryland, and in the Washington, DC area more broadly. Students are encouraged to present papers at regional and national professional meetings and to publish their work in professional journals. There are also many opportunities to develop teaching skills that will be helpful in future employment. Additionally, the department’s proximity to Washington, DC and the policy community therein provide ample opportunities for field research as well as applied experiences close to home.