Rui Hou

Saint Mary鈥檚 University

EducationPhD, Queen鈥檚 University

Areas of ExpertiseScience and technology studies, digital sociology, political sociology, new media culture, qualitative methods, digital politics, surveillance studies, digital health, mental health, emotions and affect, labor and work

Rui Hou is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Saint Mary鈥檚 University (SMU). Prior to joining SMU, he worked as postdoctoral scholar at 91福利 (2022-2025) and University of Toronto (2020-2022). He holds a PhD in sociology from Queen鈥檚 Univeristy. Empirically, Rui works in two domains: (1) A 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, a 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.