The Program on Political Economy and Global Social Change (PEGSC) is a specialization within the Sociology graduate program at the University of California, Riverside. PEGSC focuses on classical and contemporary political economy, social movements, and the historical development of social systems.

Political economy includes the works of Marx, Weber and Polanyi as well as contemporary research and theorizing in economic and political sociology and studies of transformations of modes of accumulation. The focus on social movements includes research on organizational instruments and strategies as well as the institutional contexts of struggles. The historical development of social systems includes comparative and historical sociology, social evolution and studies of global social change in deep temporal perspective.

Our program bring together a diverse and exciting range of faculty interests: world cities, ethnic entrepreneurship, immigration, global democracy, transnational social movements, class analysis, civil society, welfare, corporate mergers, worker’s cooperatives, and political violence across the globe. We provide unique opportunities for students to explore the cutting-edge theoretical and substantive issues by breaking interdisciplinary boundaries.

PEGSC collaborates with the Center for Women in Coalition, the Program on Global Studies (UCR affiliate of the Institute for Global Cooperation and Conflict), the Institute for Research on World-Systems, the Program on Comparative Ancient Civilizations, and the Biotechnology Impacts Center.