Higher education policy and reform. The community college. College students. Sociology of education. Political sociology. Economic sociology.
Prof. Dougherty's current research is focused on two main topics: (1) class and race inequalties in information about higher education and the role of those inequalities in the production and legitimation of class and race gaps in college access and success; (2) post-Lukesian theories of political power integrating insights from post-structuralist theory and the sociology of culture. In the past, Professor Dougherty has done extensive research and writing on neoliberalism and higher education policymaking; the origins and impacts of state performance funding programs; state policies affecting access to, and success in, community colleges by low-income students and students of color; policies affecting immigrant student access to higher education; the historical origins and educational impacts on students of community colleges; the role of higher education in economic and workforce development; and industrial policy and state programs for science and technology-based economic development.
Willard Waller Award for the Outstanding Book in Sociology of Education, 1994-1996, Section on Sociology of Education, American Sociological Association, August 1997, for The Contradictory College (SUNY Press, 1994)
Critics' Choice Award, American Educational Studies Association, 1995, for The Contradictory College (SUNY Press, 1994)
Analysis and critique of who are the US supporters of infrastructure and industrial policy on both the left and the right and the political implications of their policy differences.
The role of information inequality in producing class and race differences in higher education choices, both going into, during, and aftger college.
Analysis of the content of the guided pathways approach to improving college success for community college entrants.