<p>Hello,
I am currently a senior Political Science major. This semester I will begin applying to Ph.D programs following my GRE in October. I am very interested in studying demographic disparities in health and access to care within the United States healthcare system. My advisor who is a Political Science professor, believes that I should obtain an MPP and then a Ph.D in Public Policy specializing in domestic healthcare policy. He has been downright denigrative about studying demographic disparities in healthcare within a Sociology Ph.D program. He says that the job prospects for Sociologists in academia are on the decline and furthermore believes that public policy is a more reputable field of study. On the other hand studying health care disparities within a Sociology program seems somewhat intuitive. Moreover I have another Sociology professor that believes Sociology is a completely appropriate discipline to study demographic disparities in healthcare. What are the (dis)advantages of a Sociology Ph.D in terms of studying healthcare? How about Public Policy? Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>He’s right. Unless the plan is to ultimately sell a one sided conservative study to the Heritage foundation.</p>
<p>He’s half-right, I would say, as there are pros and cons to studying it in a sociology department.</p>
<p>On a purely theoretical level, you can study what you want to study from a varieyt of departments:</p>
<p>Political science
Sociology
Demography
Economics
Business
Health policy and management (in a school of public health)
Health services research (ditto above)
Public/social policy
Public administration</p>
<p>And probably a few other more specialized programs, too.</p>
<p>What you should do will depend on what you want to do.</p>
<p>Do you want to be a professor/academic at a university? If you do, getting a PhD in a disciplinary field (sociology, econ, poli sci) <em>might</em> actually be better. Your professor is right that job prospects in the social sciences are declining, but academic jobs overall are declining. The other thing is that academic departments are kind of snobby about their disciplines. A person with a PhD in sociology could get a position in a sociology department (which are everywhere), plus a public policy department or a school of public health or even a business school with the right credentials. But a person with a PhD in public policy can’t work in a sociology department. You could teach in a public policy/administration department, probably a school of public health. But your choices are more limited.</p>
<p>But if you want to go work in the non-academic world - NGOs, think tanks, private industry - it doesn’t really matter what you get your PhD in, as long as you have the skills they want.</p>
<p>Anyway, your professor seems a little biased against sociology for some reason, but there’s nothing wrong with studying demographic disparities in health and access to health care from a sociological perspective. It just depends on the perspective you want to take.</p>
<p>There are also hybrid or interdisciplinary programs. Harvard and Princeton both have PhD programs where you can study in one social science (sociology or political science at Harvard; politics, sociology, psychology, population studies or economics at Princeton) and social policy. Brandeis has a PhD in social policy that allows you take courses across the social sciences. Northwestern has a PhD in social policy and human development. Penn has a program in sociology and demography; they also have one in social welfare…etc. If you look around, you’ll find more.</p>
<p>I looked into this a few weeks ago as I looked at post-college options, so I’ll throw in my two cents, whatever it’s worth. As far as I could tell, it may be difficult to find teaching jobs in public policy, as those are generally small programs. For instance, I found that getting a PhD in political science may be more rewarding and offer better job prospects (also takes longer). Note that Harvard Kennedy School also offers a PhD in Health Policy or some sort. </p>
<p>The saying here at Princeton is that if you don’t know what you want to major in, major in the Woodrow Wilson School (public policy). That’s because if you want to go into politics, you major in political science. If you want to go into sociology, you major in sociology. If you want to go into economics, you major in Econ. Rarely is there a specific use for a degree as specific as public policy. </p>
<p>That said, I am looking at MPH (Master of Public Health) in conjunction with other types of doctoral-level degrees. I want to study health as part of the bigger picture. I also want to be a physician and save lives at the individual level. So I thought the MD/MPH was a much better option for me.</p>
<p>Yes ultimately my goal is to become a professor. What about the possibility of entering a Political Science Ph.D program and studying health policy? Or is this of no concern to a Political Scientist?</p>
<p>Of course it is - there are many political scientists who study health policy. The American Political Science Association has a whole section on health politics and policy, and a quick look at the political science departments of various universities shows some scholars interested in health policy from a variety of angles. So you can go into a political science program and study health policy from the perspective of a political scientist.</p>
<p>If your ultimate goal is to become a professor, your choice of discipline will also reflect that. As both I and 93tiger16 have stated, public policy programs are pretty specialized and there aren’t as many of them as there are sociology and political science departments, so you will find your academic job options more limited if you go that route.</p>
<p>I’m sure you could find/work out a program where you could study health policy as part of a political science PhD program. But again, you may want to look at an MPH. There may be programs where you can get one of those on your way to getting a PhD in political science.</p>
<p>Thank you. You guys have been very helpful.</p>