Research Themes

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Kayla Preston, who was recently named a C. David Naylor Fellow. The Naylor Fellowships support exceptional students who come to U of T from an Atlantic Canada university. The fellowship is in honour of U of T’s 15th president, David Naylor, a leading voice for the importance of Canadian research who is presently … Read More

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah was recently featured in a CBC News article titled RCMP’s diversity hiring remains stagnant, new figures show by Catharine Tunney. The article opens with an overview of the lack of diversity in RCMP hiring practices over the last decade. In reference to the statistics provided by the RCMP, Professor Owusu-Bempah criticized their use … Read More

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah recently weighed in on the RCMP union’s endorsement of the ‘thin blue line’ symbol in an article titled “RCMP union pushes back against ban on ‘thin blue line’ symbol, says it has ordered custom patches” by Douglas Quan on The Star. In the article, he explains what the symbol means in today’s … Read More

Prof. Emine Fidan Elcioglu recently discussed her new book with Prof. Tom Medvetz, organized by UCLA and UCSD.  The recording is posted on the UCLA website and can be found HERE. Author: Emine Fidan Elcioglu, (PhD, UC Berkeley) Emine Fidan Elcioglu is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. At the intersection of … Read More

A recent report by Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah and Nazlee Maghsoudi of the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation about the diversity of Canada’s cannabis industry leaders was featured on a CBC News article by Joyita Sengupta and a CBC Radio One interview. In these appearances, Professor Owusu-Bempah and Nazlee Maghsoudi cite the findings of their policy … Read More

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Jillian Sunderland, who recently received the Barbara Frum Memorial Award in Canadian Scholarship. This competitive award is given to academically excellent Master’s and PhD students undertaking research related to Canada. Jillian is currently enrolled in her second year of Ph.D. studies in Sociology at the University of Toronto and was just awarded the SSHRC Bombardier Scholarship.  After … Read More

Dr. Ito Peng recently participated in a Massey Dialogue event titled “COVID, the old and Canada: What’s wrong with us?” alongside former Dean of Nursing Dr. Dorothy Pringle and doctoral candidate Husayn Marani, moderated by Senior Fellow Michael Valpy. This discussion was prompted by the overwhelming proportion of COVID-related deaths among the elderly in long-term care … Read More

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah recently co-authored an article titled “Who is profiting off of cannabis in Canada? Not those who suffered most under cannabis prohibition” on The Globe and Mail with Nazlee Maghsoudi, a Knowledge Translation Manager at the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) and a Doctoral Candidate in Health Services Research at the University of … Read More

Professor Scott Schieman recently published two articles on The Star about the changing work-life conflict and workplace culture for parents and non-parents during the pandemic. His first article titled “The pandemic has decreased work-life conflict for Canadians without kids — but parents aren’t so lucky” uses data collected from September 2019 to June 2020 to observe … Read More

Congratulations to Ph.D. student Eduardo Gutierrez Cornelius, who recently received the Faculty of Arts and Science Doctoral Excellence Scholarship. This award recognizes an academically excellent student who has a talent for research and knowledge mobilization and has demonstrated leadership potential.  Recipients of this award must show originality and significance in their body of work within their fields of research, … Read More

Manal Choudhry published an article entitled “Transnational Diplomacy and the Korean Wave” in the third volume of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ). Her work explores the Korean Wave (the global popularity of Korean culture and cultural products) and its use by the South Korean government as a tool on both international and domestic levels. Manal explains … Read More

Vinuja Sritharan authored an article titled “The basketball diaries: A case study of the national basketball association and political repression by China” that was published in the third volume of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ). The article dissects interactions between representatives of the National Basketball Association and China’s governmental authorities during the 2019 Hong Kong … Read More

Victoria Barclay recently published an article in the third volume of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ) during her 4th year titled “Race, class, and gender: The #MeToo movement & stigma.” In her article, Victoria outlines the ways that race, class, and gender can all intersect to affect stigma associated with the victimization of sexual violence. … Read More

Agha Saadaf published an article entitled “Dawn of the Black Hearts: Contextualising Fascism in Second Wave Norwegian Black Metal” in the third volume of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ). His work explores the historical context of Norwegian cultural power dynamics, the use of music to reflect political ideas, and the “lifestyle” perpetuated by prominent figures … Read More

Ariel Kenny authored two articles in the third volume of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ) published earlier this year. Their article “The family unfriendly city: The impact of public funding cuts against growing demand for child care in Toronto” reviews the child care market in Toronto in the wake of the 2019-2020 provincial budget cuts … Read More

Professor Tahseen Shams recently published a blog post titled “We need a more globalized response to pandemics for immigrant integration” on oecd-development-matters.org. This blog is part of a series observing COVID-19 in developing countries and analyses the roles of immigrants and their descendants in the U.S. society during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this blog post, … Read More

Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah recently appeared on an episode of The Agenda with Steve Paikin alongside former RCMP officer Chad Haggerty, London police chief Stephen Williams and staff lawyer at Black Legal Action Centre Fareeda Adam. They discussed the role of police in society, given recent events in the U.S. and Canada. In this conversation, Professor Akwasi … Read More

Professor Scott Schieman recently wrote an article The hidden ways working from home is affecting our health in the Toronto Star. In the article, Professor Schieman looks at how COVID-19 is changing the way workers view flexible time arrangements at work. While his research with PhD student  Philip Badawy in September 2019 showed both workers … Read More

MA student Abtin Parnia recently co-authored a paper entitled, “Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in premature and avoidable mortality in Canada, 1991–2016” in the CMAJ. The authors find that mortality inequalities between the rich and poor is widening in Canada.  One of the reasons for this increasing inequality is likely the retrenchment of the welfare state, … Read More

Ph.D. student Rebecca Lennox recently co-authored an article entitled, “‘You Gotta Be Able to Pay Your Own Way: Canadian News Media Discourse and Young Adults’ Subjectivities of Successful Adulting” in the Canadian Journal of Sociology. In the article, the authors use Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to identify dominant ideals of successful adulthood as they circulate in … Read More