|
Sociology Doctorates Awarded Since 1930
 The number of sociology doctorates awarded by colleges and universities has grown dramatically since 1930. A sharp rise in the number of doctorates followed World War II and continued for several decades. While the 1950s witnessed considerable fluctuations, the annual growth rate in the number of degrees averaged about 11 percent per year. During the 1970s, 6,356 doctorates were awarded, by far the largest number in any decade before or since. A decline in the number of degrees followed the peak years of 1976/77 and continued until 1991. The 1990s brought a reversal of this trend, with an average annual growth of about 3 percent. Although the 1990s are marked by several year-to-year swings, the average number of degrees awarded has held fairly steady until the end of the decade when the number of doctorates reached a ten-year high. The new millennium brought initial declines until 2003 when the number of PhD's rose again to levels just shy of year 2000 levels.
Click here to view a tabular version of this data in EXCEL format.
| 
