Personal Statement for PhD in Sociologya
I am applying for a PhD in Sociology because I am keen on academically exploring the increasingly complex issues of social stratification and its impact on health, medicine and education. I wish to receive theoretical and methodological training to prepare myself for a career which would provide avenues for creation and dissemination of knowledge in this field. This interest in academic research has arisen both from curiosity and exposure. I have been working on a few research projects since I was a freshman at North Eastern Hill University (a Central university) in India. While at North Eastern Hill University, I was one of the few undergraduate students selected by India’s premier scientific research institute, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), to pursue an independent research project under the National Initiative on Undergraduate
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Broadly, I intend to analyze how social structure shapes the lives of individuals in terms of health and wellbeing. Recent advances in medical science especially biomedicine, stem cell therapy and reproductive technologies have created concerns about health accessibility and health equity along with ethical considerations. With a rapid growth in genetics and its intersection with the healthcare technologies, social ramification of these practices is bound to create avenues for more sociological investigations. I wish to elucidate both theoretically and empirically the health behavior with respect to new medical ideas including “geneticization” of medicine and commoditization of assisted reproductive techniques in different social strata. Other questions that intrigue me include how social marginalization impacts the intertwined issues of health and education of the population in the developing