The Internal Structure of Sociology Departments: The Role of Graduate Students and Other Groups

It is possible to understand the social dynamics of academic sociology departments only once the set of groupings within each department have been delineated and the relations between each analyzed. In this paper such a structural analysis is attempted, with the analytical approach stressing the competition among the groupings for control over resources and symbolic capital. The paper focuses on the particular complex role within which graduate students are placed and the constraints imposed by and the opportunities opened by this structural location.