International Research Foci of Sociology Faculty Members

Barbara Anderson
The interrelation of demographic and social change, especially in the former Soviet Union, China and South Africa.

Bill Axinn
Interrelationships among social change, the social organization of families, intergenerational relationships, marriage, cohabitation, and fertility especially in Nepal.

Jennifer Barber
Intergenerational processes in families in the United States and Nepal, focusing on the interrelationships among social change, attitudes, and behavior.

David Featherman
Aging and life course, social stratification, social psychology, social mobility with developing interest in South Africa.

Fatma Müge Göçek
Historical sociology, social change, gender, sociological theory in the context of the Middle East.

Michael Kennedy
The sociology of globalizing knowledge, of national identity, and of intellectuals and expertise in social movements and social transformations, especially in Central and Eastern Europe and the postcommunist world.

John Knodel
Social demography of aging particularly in Thailand and Cambodia; impact of AIDS epidemic on parents; family change in Vietnam; and gender and education in Southeast Asia.

Jayati Lal
Globalizing feminism, class and gender relations especially in South Asia.

Ching Kwan Lee
Labor, gender, socialism and postsocialist transformation especially in Chinese society.

James Lee
Comparative demography, contemporary population problems, and historical methods, with a special focus on Chinese society.

Gayl Ness
The intersection of population, economic development and environmental change (PDE), specifically in Asian cities, using dynamic modeling techniques to construct various scenarios.

Jeff Paige
Political sociology, revolution, Marxist social theory especially in the context of Latin American Societies.

Silvia Pedraza
Immigration, race and ethnicity especially in the context of Cuban society.

Sonya Rose
Historical sociology, sociology of gender, sociology of work, class formation, sociology of the family especially in the context of Britain.

Peggy Somers
Political sociology, law, sociology of citizenship, economic sociology, comparative history, social and political theory especially in the context of Western Europe.

George Steinmetz
Historical sociology, political sociology, sociology of culture, modern colonialism, social theory especially in the context of Modern Europe.
My work focuses Germany and its former colonies (Namibia, Samoa, and Qingdao, China) and on modern cities in crisis in Russia (Komsomolsk-on-Amur) and the U.S. (Detroit).

Arland Thornton
Family, demography, aging and life course, social change, gender / gender roles, intergenerational relations, marriage and divorce, especially in Taiwan.

Yu Xie
Social stratification, demography, statistical methods, and sociology of science, with special interest in China.

Geneviève Zubrzycki
National identity, religion and cultural sociology, with special interest in Poland.