Dr. Rui Hou

Hey there! I’m Dr. Rui Hou and I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Saint Mary’s University (SMU). Prior to joining SMU, I worked as postdoctoral scholar at Toronto Metropolitan University (2022-2025) and University of Toronto (2020-2022). I achieved Ph.D. degree in sociology from Queen’s Univeristy at 2020.  Empirically, I work in two domains: (1) My primary research stream focuses on how technological innovation shapes the exercise of authoritarian power and how individuals experience and respond to the growing digitalization of control; (2) Beyond purely theoretical critiques, my second research direction focuses on community-based interdisciplinary collaboration, aiming to address the challenges that innovations in social media technology and artificial intelligence pose to the well-being of marginalized and racialized communities.