The Sociology Department brings together a faculty of nationally recognized scholars who are committed to teaching with talented undergraduates.
A member of the Hamilton faculty since 1981, Chambliss earned a master's and Ph.D. from Yale University. His research interests are formal organizations, social psychology and research methods. His 1996 book, Beyond Caring: Hospitals, Nurses and the Social Organization of Ethics, won the Eliot Freidson Prize in 1998 for the best book in the preceding two years in medical sociology from the American Sociological Association. He is also the winner of the ASA's Theory Prize for his work on organizational excellence. Chambliss is also the author of Champions: The Making of Olympic Swimmers, which was named the 1991 Book of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee, and co-author, with Russell Schutt of Making Sense of the Social World, a research methods textbook currently in its fourth edition. He was appointed to the Eugene M. Tobin Distinguished Professorship in 2005. Chambliss is co-author with Christopher Takacs '05 of How College Works, to be published in January 2014 by Harvard University Press.
Gilbert, who joined the Hamilton faculty in 1976, earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Cornell University. His primary research interests are Latin American society and history and the American class system. Gilbert is the author of The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality (Sage, 2011), Mexico's Middle Class in the Neoliberal Era (University of Arizona Press, 2007), Sandinistas: the Party and the Revolution (Blackwell, 1988), and La Oligarquía Peruana: Historia de Tres familias (Horizonte, 1982). In 1990, he was research director to the successful congressional campaign of Bernard Sanders (Independent-VT) and later served as legislative assistant in Sanders' congressional office. In collaboration with the polling firm Zogby International, Gilbert and his Hamilton students have conducted a series of widely reported national surveys, most examining the views of high school students, on such topics as gun control, gay rights, abortion, Muslims in America, and patriotism.
Jenny Irons earned her doctorate in sociology from the University of Arizona, Tucson, and her bachelor’s degree in sociology-anthropology from Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. Her research interests include gender, race, health and social movements. Currently, Irons is developing new projects related to women’s reproductive health, including a study of women’s responses to unplanned cesarean sections. Irons is the author of Reconstituting Whiteness: The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, published by Vanderbilt University Press in 2010. She has published articles in Gender & Society, Mobilization, and Sociology Compass. In 2006 Irons received the John R. Hatch Class of 1925 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Elizabeth M. Lee joins the faculty as a visiting assistant professor in the Sociology Department. She completed her doctorate in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania (2011). Her dissertation, based on ethnographic and interview data, focused on the ways low-socioeconomic status students construct feelings of belonging at an elite liberal arts college, and the ways that the college as an organization impacts upon this process. Her teaching at Hamilton will be in the areas of education, inequality and socioeconomic mobility.
Yvonne Zylan, associate professor of sociology and department chair, earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale University, a Ph.D. in sociology from New York University and a juris doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law. She has published articles in the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Michigan Journal of Law Reform, Gender & Society, Social Forces, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Zylan's book - a study of sexuality, social theory and the law titled States of Passion: Law, Identity, and the Social Construction of Desire - was published by Oxford University Press in spring 2011. Her areas of scholarship include law and society, sexuality, social theory, political sociology, and the state and social policy. Prior to joining the Hamilton faculty, Zylan practiced law for three years in the litigation department at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
Back to Sociology overview.
We believe that intellectual life should be both serious and fun. The sociology program provides training in essential principles and standards of scientific and statistical research, but it also encourages original, creative thinking. Sociology is about making connections and looking past the surface.
The Hamilton program produces a senior fellow — a top honors student who undertakes a single project for his or her entire senior year — every other year, on average. Our senior fellows reflect the innovative curriculum and high standards of the sociology program as a whole.
The College's emphasis on strong communication skills is underscored by the sociology faculty's ongoing commitment to publishing in a variety of fields. Faculty members have written and edited eight books, ranging from a highly regarded textbook to award-winning studies of medical ethics and Olympic athletes to works on social inequality, sexuality and religion.
Many students have the opportunity to work on one of sociology's front lines by studying public opinion polling and conducting surveys in collaboration with the locally based Zogby International polling organization. Recent surveys, widely reported in the national media, have covered such topics as gun control, gay rights, Muslims in America and patriotism.
Hamilton's program offers training for researchers, but another key mission is to encourage a high level of analytical, critical and creative thinking. These are abilities that produce leaders in a wide range of fields. Recent sociology graduates have found success in health care, law, entertainment finance, educational psychology, labor relations, social work and teaching at a variety of levels.
We believe that intellectual life should be both serious and fun. The sociology program provides training in essential principles and standards of scientific and statistical research, but it also encourages original, creative thinking. Sociology is about making connections and looking past the surface.
The Hamilton program produces a senior fellow — a top honors student who undertakes a single project for his or her entire senior year — every other year, on average. Our senior fellows reflect the innovative curriculum and high standards of the sociology program as a whole.
The College's emphasis on strong communication skills is underscored by the sociology faculty's ongoing commitment to publishing in a variety of fields. Faculty members have written and edited eight books, ranging from a highly regarded textbook to award-winning studies of medical ethics and Olympic athletes to works on social inequality, sexuality and religion.
Many students have the opportunity to work on one of sociology's front lines by studying public opinion polling and conducting surveys in collaboration with the locally based Zogby International polling organization. Recent surveys, widely reported in the national media, have covered such topics as gun control, gay rights, Muslims in America and patriotism.
Hamilton's program offers training for researchers, but another key mission is to encourage a high level of analytical, critical and creative thinking. These are abilities that produce leaders in a wide range of fields. Recent sociology graduates have found success in health care, law, entertainment finance, educational psychology, labor relations, social work and teaching at a variety of levels.
We believe that intellectual life should be both serious and fun. The sociology program provides training in essential principles and standards of scientific and statistical research, but it also encourages original, creative thinking. Sociology is about making connections and looking past the surface.
The Hamilton program produces a senior fellow — a top honors student who undertakes a single project for his or her entire senior year — every other year, on average. Our senior fellows reflect the innovative curriculum and high standards of the sociology program as a whole.
The College's emphasis on strong communication skills is underscored by the sociology faculty's ongoing commitment to publishing in a variety of fields. Faculty members have written and edited eight books, ranging from a highly regarded textbook to award-winning studies of medical ethics and Olympic athletes to works on social inequality, sexuality and religion.
Many students have the opportunity to work on one of sociology's front lines by studying public opinion polling and conducting surveys in collaboration with the locally based Zogby International polling organization. Recent surveys, widely reported in the national media, have covered such topics as gun control, gay rights, Muslims in America and patriotism.
Hamilton's program offers training for researchers, but another key mission is to encourage a high level of analytical, critical and creative thinking. These are abilities that produce leaders in a wide range of fields. Recent sociology graduates have found success in health care, law, entertainment finance, educational psychology, labor relations, social work and teaching at a variety of levels.
We believe that intellectual life should be both serious and fun. The sociology program provides training in essential principles and standards of scientific and statistical research, but it also encourages original, creative thinking. Sociology is about making connections and looking past the surface.
The Hamilton program produces a senior fellow — a top honors student who undertakes a single project for his or her entire senior year — every other year, on average. Our senior fellows reflect the innovative curriculum and high standards of the sociology program as a whole.
The College's emphasis on strong communication skills is underscored by the sociology faculty's ongoing commitment to publishing in a variety of fields. Faculty members have written and edited eight books, ranging from a highly regarded textbook to award-winning studies of medical ethics and Olympic athletes to works on social inequality, sexuality and religion.
Many students have the opportunity to work on one of sociology's front lines by studying public opinion polling and conducting surveys in collaboration with the locally based Zogby International polling organization. Recent surveys, widely reported in the national media, have covered such topics as gun control, gay rights, Muslims in America and patriotism.
Hamilton's program offers training for researchers, but another key mission is to encourage a high level of analytical, critical and creative thinking. These are abilities that produce leaders in a wide range of fields. Recent sociology graduates have found success in health care, law, entertainment finance, educational psychology, labor relations, social work and teaching at a variety of levels.
We believe that intellectual life should be both serious and fun. The sociology program provides training in essential principles and standards of scientific and statistical research, but it also encourages original, creative thinking. Sociology is about making connections and looking past the surface.
The Hamilton program produces a senior fellow — a top honors student who undertakes a single project for his or her entire senior year — every other year, on average. Our senior fellows reflect the innovative curriculum and high standards of the sociology program as a whole.
The College's emphasis on strong communication skills is underscored by the sociology faculty's ongoing commitment to publishing in a variety of fields. Faculty members have written and edited eight books, ranging from a highly regarded textbook to award-winning studies of medical ethics and Olympic athletes to works on social inequality, sexuality and religion.
Many students have the opportunity to work on one of sociology's front lines by studying public opinion polling and conducting surveys in collaboration with the locally based Zogby International polling organization. Recent surveys, widely reported in the national media, have covered such topics as gun control, gay rights, Muslims in America and patriotism.
Hamilton's program offers training for researchers, but another key mission is to encourage a high level of analytical, critical and creative thinking. These are abilities that produce leaders in a wide range of fields. Recent sociology graduates have found success in health care, law, entertainment finance, educational psychology, labor relations, social work and teaching at a variety of levels.
