Department of Sociology

Around the world, children’s education becoming more closely tied to their mother’s

A new study has found that a mother’s educational status—the highest level of education that she has attained—plays an increasingly important role in shaping her children’s educational status, while the importance of the father’s educational status has declined.

Mar 10, 2023

B.C. Legislature in Victoria. Credit: Shutterstock.

UBC experts on 2023 B.C. budget

The B.C. government is to present its 2023 budget today. UBC experts will be available to comment on various areas of provincial spending:

Feb 28, 2023

UBC experts on decriminalization of hard drugs

From Jan. 31, the federal and B.C. governments will decriminalize possession of small amounts of certain drugs—opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy—intended for personal use. UBC experts are available to comment.

Jan 26, 2023

In her new book Eco-Types: Five Ways of Caring about the Environment, Dr. Emily Huddart Kennedy, an associate professor in UBC’s faculty of arts, proposes five new categories to describe how people interact with the environment.

Which of these five eco-types are you?

When it comes to environmental politics there’s a tendency to associate the Left as pro-environment and the Right as anti-environment, but a UBC sociologist says this polarization might actually slow down our collective progress on environmental issues.

Nov 30, 2022

How students are preparing for a climate-changed future

Feeling like the world has gone to pot in the run up to COP27? Why not take a climate class?

Nov 3, 2022

Artwork by Diné (Navajo) artists Dale Deforest and Vanessa Bowen. Concept by Native Realities.

Pandemic shows how social factors impact health of Indigenous peoples

Dr. Kimberly Huyser has worked throughout the pandemic to understand the social factors that impact Indigenous populations’ vulnerability to COVID-19.

Apr 5, 2022

Study highlights pandemic impact on adolescent mental health

Adolescents who were in a good headspace before COVID-19 suffered a decline during the pandemic, whereas those with poor mental health fared better, according to new research.

Jun 28, 2021

D'Arcy Island lies 18 kilometres from Victoria off the Saanich Peninsula.

How a tiny island off Victoria became part of B.C.’s racist history

British Columbians who spent the spring locked down due to COVID-19 are now making up for lost time by getting outdoors and enjoying B.C.’s parks.

Jul 27, 2020

As the Canadian economy re-opens, men are returning to work more quickly than women.

Gender employment gap among parents increases over first three months of pandemic

As the Canadian economy reopens, mothers are much less likely to be back at work than fathers—a gender gap that has been widening since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Jul 7, 2020

New UBC course explores how COVID-19 is impacting society

Even if you’re tired of COVID-19—and who isn’t?—hundreds of UBC students are preparing to embark on a new credit course examining the pandemic on a worldwide scale.

Jun 29, 2020

Social circles of visible-minority youth become less diverse as they get older

Even if they were born in Canada, visible-minority children of immigrants tend to stick more closely with their own ethnic groups as they get older.

Jun 26, 2020

Trend toward gender balance in workforce reflected in housekeeping chores

Women’s increasing participation in the workforce since the mid-1980s has helped narrow the gap between the amount of housework being done by men and women, new UBC research suggests.

May 28, 2019

Gay and lesbian spaces in the city becoming more diverse, not going away

Gay and lesbian spaces in cities are dispersing and diversifying rather than disappearing, new University of British Columbia research has found.

Mar 7, 2019

UBC experts on national housing strategy

The federal government is expected to announce details of its national housing strategy on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

Nov 21, 2017

UBC experts on national housing report

The federal government is expected to release its housing report on Nov. 22, which is also National Housing Day. UBC experts are available to comment.

Nov 21, 2016

Despite more education, women still tend to choose husbands with higher incomes

More women earn university degrees than men today. But a new UBC study looking at heterosexual marriage patterns shows that women, especially when marrying less educated men, still tend to choose husbands who have higher incomes than themselves.

Oct 28, 2016

Single-family houses ‘a dying breed’ in Vancouver: UBC expert

Vancouver is seen as one of the most livable cities in the world. UBC sociology professor Nathanael Lauster believes that’s because more people live in condos and townhouses than single-family homes in this city.

Oct 19, 2016

Citizens of democratic countries live 11 years longer: UBC study

Living in a democratic country may add 11 years to your life expectancy, according to new research from the University of British Columbia’s department of sociology.

Jun 21, 2016

UBC study: Gay couples face pressure to marry, conform to relationship status quo

Unmarried same-sex couples in Canada are feeling pressure to tie the knot, according to a recent study published in the Canadian Review of Sociology that examined their experiences.

Jan 27, 2016

What musical taste tells us about social class

Love the opera? Hungry for hip hop? It turns out that your musical likes and dislikes may say more about you than you think, according to UBC research.

Jun 3, 2015