M.S. in Sociology with a Concentration in Digital Sociology

Program overview

Digital Sociology @ VCU is a one of a kind program in the United States studying how inequalities are reproduced and enhanced in online spaces. Our program is skill-based, focusing on both the technological and theoretical skills needed to study the digital world. Cathy Davidson, a distinguished scholar of history and author in residence for HigherEdJobs.com, recently described our program as one that would ‘revolutionize the university’.

Digital Sociology has four main components:

1. Professional digital practice: Use digital tools as part of professional practice – build networks, construct e-portfolios, build online profiles, publicize and share research
2. Analyze digital technology use: Researching the ways in which people's use of digital technologies configures their sense of self and their embodiment of social relations, the role of digital media in the creation or reproduction of social institutions and structures
3. Digital data analysis: Use naturally occurring digital data for social research
4. Critical praxis: Reflexive analysis of digital technologies and power with informed social and cultural theory

Ready to apply to the master’s program? Follow the instructions on the VCU Graduate Admissions website. In addition to the materials required by graduate admissions (transcripts, application, and application fee), the Department of Sociology also requires a personal statement, a writing sample, and three letters of recommendation.

Apply now

Digital Sociology Lab

The Digital Sociology Lab is a research lab that provides skill-based training to students and faculty through workshops and hands-on research experience. We are dedicated to producing and disseminating rigorous research on the digital to inform policies, programs, and theories that will combat digital divides, digital inequalities, and their effects 

Contact us

Tara M. Stamm, Ph.D.

Graduate program director

Phone: (804) 828-9432