He originally enrolled in the graduate program in psychology at the University of Michigan, where he first took coursework from the sociologist Charles Tilly.
He soon realized that he wanted to study sociology as he felt psychology at the time neglected culture, institutions and history.
His dissertation was "Moral Education in American, 1830–1990" under the direction of Nathan Glazer (chair), Daniel Bell, David Riesman, and Theda Skocpol.
[7] Inspired by discussions at a series of mini-conferences organized by Harrison White at the Lazarsfeld Center,[8] Emirbayer began to write a systematic statement regarding the "relational turn" he felt was necessary for sociology.
"[10] In the article, the authors apply "relational pragmatics" to demonstrate the "dynamic interplay" of routine, purpose and judgement in explaining human agency.