The School offers graduate programs leading to the Ph.D. in Social Sciences with concentrations in Mathematical Behavioral Science, Social Networks, and Social Relations. Each program is administered by a different group of faculty.
Participating Faculty
Dennis J. Aigner: Applied econometrics, statistics, operations research
William Batchelder: Mathematical models, measurement, and cognitive processes
Bruce Bennett: Algebraic geometry, theory of perception
John P. Boyd: Mathematical anthropology and systems theory
Myron Braunstein: Visual perception and computer applications
David Brownstone: Econometrics and industrial organization
Michael Burton: Economic anthropology; gender, family, and households; cognitive anthropology; Africa, Oceania
Soo Hong Chew: Economics of information and uncertainty, preference theory
Carol Cicerone: Visual perception and the physiological bases of visual perception, with emphasis on human color vision and retinal mechanisms of sensitivity regulation
Linda Cohen: Political economy, social choice, government regulation and government policy toward research and development
Arthur S. DeVany: Theory of markets, transportation, labor economics, industrial organizations
John E. DiNardo: Labor economics, development economics, applied economics
Barbara Dosher: Memory, information processing, perception
Michael D'Zmura: Vision research
Jean-Claude Falmagne: Mathematical psychology
Linton C. Freeman: Network models of social structure
Michelle Garfinkel: Macroeconomic and monetary theory
Amihai Glazer: Public choice, especially concerning commitment problems
Bernard N. Grofman: Mathematical models of collective decision making, formal democratic theory, sequential decision making, politics of small groups
Donald Hoffman: Artificial intelligence approaches to human and machine vision, recovery of three-dimensional structure from image motion, visual recognition of objects by their shape
Tarow Indow: Mathematical models in visual space, color space, and human memory
Geoffrey Iverson: Cognitive science and mathematical models
Robin Keller: Decision analysis, risk analysis, problem structuring, management science
David LaBerge: Attention, pattern identification and language processing
Jaewoo Lee: Process and exchange rates, investment, economic fluctuations
Sung-Chull Lee: Mathematical modeling in social sciences, conflict resolution, East Asian politics
David M. Lilien: Macroeconomics, labor economics and applied econometrics
R. Duncan Luce: Mathematical behavioral science
Louis Narens: Measurement, logic, and metacognition
Robert Newcomb: Statistical and research methods for the social sciences
A. Kimball Romney: Experimental and psychological anthropology
Stergios Skaperdas: Economic theory, monetary theory
Brian Skyrms: Philosophy of science, metaphysics
Kenneth A. Small: Urban economics, transportation economics, discrete-choice econometrics, energy
George Sperling: Vision, perception, information processing
Carole J. Uhlaner: Comparative political participation, formal models of political behavior
Christian Werner: Mathematical geography
Douglas White: Social networks, longitudinal social demography
Charles E. Wright: Skill acquisition and generalization, human motor behavior, visual attention
John I. Yellott: Mathematical psychology and vision perception
The concentration in Mathematical Behavioral Science offers a program of interdisciplinary and mathematical approaches to the study of human behavior, providing high levels of training in current mathematical modeling and mathematical skills. The program is administered by an interdisciplinary group of faculty. The Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, an Organized Research Unit, provides research opportunities for graduate students.
The program leads to a Ph.D. in Social Sciences with a concentration in Mathematical Behavioral Science.
Admission to the program requires evidence of appreciable mathematical skill and knowledge. As an absolute minimum, a candidate should have taken one full year of calculus, including calculus of several variables, and one course in linear algebra. In addition, candidates must provide evidence of additional mathematical depth of knowledge, which can be manifested in a number of different ways including, but not restricted to, an undergraduate degree in mathematics or physical science, a high score in the GRE Mathematics Subject Test, or a strong undergraduate minor in mathematics. In addition, students should have some exposure to a behavioral science field; especially useful is some experience with behavioral science modeling.
Four major classes of requirements must be fulfilled. Since a number of options are available, the student will, in consultation with an advisor, submit a plan of study to the Graduate Committee of the program.
Quantitative/Mathematical. The quantitative methods requirement consists of completing, by the end of the third year, the following courses: (1) one each in analysis beyond calculus, abstract algebra beyond linear algebra, and logic; and (2) two quarters of mathematical statistics, with calculus as a prerequisite and covering the fundamentals of probability and random variables.
Language/Computer. All students must be sufficiently familiar with various computer programs and languages to be able to conduct serious research in their field of interest and must submit either proposed courses or some demonstration of competency as part of their plan of study. In addition, students must either (1) attain proficiency in reading social science technical publications in one foreign language or (2) demonstrate proficiency in computer programming considerably beyond that of the standard computer requirement. Because of the continually changing nature of computer languages and software, the conditions for fulfilling this additional computer expertise requirement will be left to the judgment of the faculty subcommittee on computers of the Ph.D. program.
Substantive Minor. Students are expected to develop considerable expertise in some substantive field of social science and in the application of models to it. This requires the completion of three courses at the upper-division or graduate level that do not necessarily entail extensive modeling, and three courses or seminars in which the primary thrust is mathematical modeling.
Research Papers and Colloquia. A research paper reporting original research or a penetrating analysis of some subtopic of mathematical behavioral science is expected at the end of the second year. An oral presentation will be given to faculty and graduate students. Students also are expected to regularly attend the Colloquium in Mathematical Behavioral Science.
Master of Arts Degree
The M.A. degree is awarded only to Ph.D. students in any School of Social Science program who complete necessary requirements; students are not admitted for graduate study leading only to the Master's degree. Requirements include the submission of a petition to the Graduate Committee along with a proposed plan of study consisting of 36 units of relevant Mathematical Behavioral Science courses, normally including the core requirement in mathematical statistics.
Participating Faculty
William Batchelder: Mathematical models, measurement, and cognitive processes
Duran Bell: Formal models of social relations, economic anthropology, formal analysis of inter- and intra-group resource allocation process
James S. Boster: Cognitive anthropology, social networks, study of intracultural variation, ethnopsychology, ethnobiology
John P. Boyd: Mathematical anthropology and systems theory
R. Duncan Luce: Mathematical behavioral science
A. Kimball Romney: Experimental and psychological anthropology
Danching Ruan: Personal networks, networks in China
David A. Smith: Urbanization, comparative/historical sociology, political sociology, world-system analysis
Christian Werner: Mathematical social science
Douglas R. White: Anthropology, social networks and relations, cross-cultural comparison, mathematical models of social constraints, decision-making networks, and social processes
The Departments of Anthropology and Sociology jointly offer a concentration in Social Networks that focuses on the patterns or forms of relations that link persons or other social actors together in coherent wholes. Thus, Social Networks stresses the structural interests of several disciplines including sociology, anthropology, and cognitive science. It is concerned with problems of representing such structures, both statically and dynamically, and with exploring the implications of structural form for individual and collective behavior. In addition, the networks perspective has important applications in the study of international relations, organizational behavior, health and mental health, and human communications research.
The program leads to a Ph.D. in Social Sciences with a concentration in Social Networks.
The graduate concentration in Social Networks seeks qualified graduate students who are well-trained in either (a) a structural approach in some traditional social science discipline or (b) mathematics. Students also should be willing to learn either a set of social science orientations and models or the appropriate mathematical skills to do research in social networks, depending upon their prior training.
Students are encouraged to develop their own research foci and specializations within the general social networks perspective. All students are expected to become acquainted with the general perspective and to develop a minimum set of formal and methodological skills.
A set of core courses has been developed that is aimed at acquainting incoming students with theoretical, mathematical, and methodological tools for the study of social networks. The courses are Social Sciences 201G (Analysis of Relational Data), 241A (Interaction Models), and 241B (Network Theories of Social Structure). These courses, or equivalent training, are required of all graduate students. In addition, students are required to complete one year of training (or demonstrate equivalence) in mathematics, statistics, and research methodology. Selection of other courses will be by agreement between student and advisor. In addition to relevant courses offered throughout the School, courses specifically tailored for students in Social Networks are offered by faculty on a regular basis.
Students must demonstrate proficiency in reading social science publications in one foreign language or demonstrate a higher level of proficiency if required by the nature of the student's research plans.
Reviews and Examinations
Students enrolled in the concentration are expected to meet the requirements of UCI and the School as well as those of the concentration. In addition, each student is reviewed three times to ascertain progress.
The first review is of the student's first-year performance. The review results in a faculty-student conference in which a recommendation is made for continuation or withdrawal.
The second review is the oral examination for the student's qualification for advancement to candidacy. It is designed to assess the likelihood of the student successfully completing the Ph.D. dissertation and is based on the student's dissertation research proposal as well as on the progress in course work. Students are expected to complete this examination on or before the end of their third year of residence.
The third review is a dissertation defense. The defense will be in the form of a public colloquium presentation. The faculty may recommend revisions, after which the dissertation may be submitted for the doctoral degree in Social Science.
Participating Faculty
Duran Bell: Models of social relations, economic anthropology
Victoria Bernal: Economic development, peasants, gender, political economy, Africa, Muslim societies
József Böröcz: Comparative international sociology, development, state socialism and its demise, tourism, social change, east-central Europe
James S. Boster: Cognitive anthropology, social networks, study of intracultural variation, ethnopsychology, ethnobiology
John P. Boyd: Mathematical anthropology and systems theory
Michael L. Burton: Economic anthropology; gender, family, and households; cognitive anthropology; Africa, Oceania
Teresa Caldeira: Urban violence; spatial segregation and urban changes in multicultural societies; citizenship, individual rights, and conceptions of the body; racism; gender, critical urban studies, and contemporary developments in social theory; Brazil
Francesca M. Cancian: Gender sociology of the family, peace and war
Frank Cancian: Social stratification, economic anthropology, Mexico
Leo R. Chávez: International migration, urban anthropology, medical anthropology, public policy, Latin American anthropology
Benjamin N. Colby: Empirical anthropology, cognitive science, psychology and personality, behavioral medicine, culture theory, evolution, social pathology
James Ferguson: Political anthropology, economic anthropology, systems of thought and discourse
Robert Garfias: Expressive culture, ethnomusicology, politics and the arts, Japan, Burma
Susan Greenhalgh: Political economy, transnational studies, feminism/gender, politics of reproduction, critical demography, disciplinarity, China, Taiwan, Pacific Rim
Jerome Kirk: Comparative sociology, urban anthropology, research methods
Karen Leonard: Anthropology and social history, society, caste, and family in India, comparative family history, Asian-American history
Liisa Malkki: Historical anthropology, ethnicity and nationalism, refugees and exiles, east and central Africa
Duane Metzger: Cognitive anthropology, belief systems and semantic analysis
Nancy Naples: Women in poverty, sexual abuse, women's community activism
A. Kimball Romney: Cognitive anthropology, social networks, mathematical social science
Arthur Rubel: Medical anthropology, peasant social organizations, social stress analysis
David A. Smith: Urbanization, comparative historical sociology, political sociology, world-system analysis
Judith Stepan-Norris: Sociology of work, political sociology, historical and comparative sociology, American society
Judith Treas: Population studies, sociology of aging, social stratification, sociology of family
Douglas R. White: Cross-cultural research, mathematical anthropology, social networks
Faculty with Related Interests
Mark Baldassare: Urban sociology, public opinion research
Jonathon E. Ericson: Archaeological sciences, prehistoric ecology, exchange, social organization and dietary reconstruction
Howard B. Waitzkin: Comparative health care systems, primary care and community medicine, doctor-patient communication
Roger Walsh: Asian psychologies, philosophies and religions, meditation, exceptional psychological health, consciousness, contemporary global crisis
The graduate concentration in Social Relations is administered jointly by the Departments of Anthropology and Sociology. It centers on interdisciplinary research in social science, particularly where the traditional concerns of sociology and anthropology converge. Because of a low student-to-faculty ratio, each student works closely with a faculty committee to develop an individualized course of study. Students may work on a broad range of topics, including cognitive anthropology, the sociology of culture, culture and health practices, family and gender, Third World development and social change, and social structure and networks.
The program leads to a Ph.D. in Social Sciences with a concentration in Social Relations.
A graduate emphasis in Feminist Studies also is available. Refer to the Women's Studies section of the Catalogue for information.
The faculty welcomes students from diverse educational and social backgrounds. Students who have research interests corresponding to those of specific faculty members are especially encouraged to apply to this apprenticeship-type program.
Each new student is assigned an advisor who serves until a three-person committee is formed. The committee oversees the student's academic work and ordinarily is chaired by the faculty member with whom the student plans to work most closely.
A core seminar which meets two quarters in the first year and two quarters in the second year is required. Additionally, three basic courses in particular substantive areas of anthropology and sociology are offered each year as core courses. In each of their first two years, students must take two of these three focused seminars. Two quarters of statistics are required; one quarter must be taken in the first year. In addition, two quarters of research design or data collection methods are required; one quarter must be taken in the first year. Students also take additional seminars pertinent to their own research interests.
Course work usually takes two years, during which time students choose an area of concentration. By the end of the third year, students are expected to have selected a faculty committee and to have made plans for their doctoral dissertation research. All students are expected to continue to participate in both the Social Relations Colloquium Series and in less formal aspects of intellectual life in the program.
During the second year each student will prepare an original paper, which will be presented by the student at a meeting during the spring quarter. The group will provide the student with a detailed written critique of the paper as part of the second-year evaluation of the student's overall progress.
The advancement-to-candidacy examination should ordinarily be taken no later than the spring quarter of the student's third year.
A speaking or reading knowledge of one foreign language is required.
