Neil Guppy is a distinguished professor emeritus of Sociology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He has held numerous leadership roles at the university, including Head of the Department of Sociology, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Associate Vice-President of Academic Programs. He joined UBC in 1979 and is a recipient of both a University Killam Teaching Prize and a University Killam Research Prize, recognizing his excellence in both instruction and scholarly work. His research focuses on core sociological themes including social inequality and education, with his most recent work featuring issues of gender inequality.

Throughout his career, Dr. Guppy has authored or co-authored several influential books and articles. His works include The Schooled Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Education and Successful Surveys: Research Methods and Practice. He is well-regarded for his research on social inequality in Canada, with notable contributions on topics like gender equity and the changing landscape of Canadian education. In 2016, he was honored with the Canadian Sociological Association’s Outstanding Contribution Award, a testament to his significant and lasting impact on the field. A paper he co-authored with Nicole Luongo, written when she was a UBC undergraduate, won the Association’s Outstanding Paper Award: “The Rise and Stall of Canada’s Gender-equity Revolution” Canadian Review of Sociology, 2015 (an award shared with colleagues Sylvia Fuller and Natasha Stecy-Hilderbrant for a separate paper they wrote).

Currently he is working on four projects:

1. Canada’s Ongoing Gender Equity Revolution: a project mapping the historical transformation in the roles of women and men in Canadian society, including changes in family life, the economy, education, law and politics, and the social policies related to both progress and persistence in gender equity.
2. Cultural Patterns in the Given Names of Canadians: a project examining changes in the names parents give to their children, using data from British Columbia and Ontario between 1924 and 2023.
3. Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Post-Pandemic: an assessment of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning in higher education, with special attention to educational technology adoption, learning progress, assessment and standards changes, and student supports.
4. Social Change and Polarization around Feminism in Canada: a project that mobilizes multiple public opinion polls, with tens of thousands of Canadian respondents between 1990 and 2025. A key focus is the growing divide among younger women and men in their views of gender egalitarianism.

In Press and in the Pipeline:

Canada’s Ongoing Gender Equity Revolution: An Analytic History, manuscript under review

“Changing Patterns of Gender Representation in Canada’s Technology Sector and the Care Economy: Two Differing Tales” (with M. Balzarini, K. Lyons, and K. Kolpashnikova) in press, Canadian Review of Sociology

“Revisiting the STEM acronym: toward conceptual clarity” (with M. Balzarini, K. Lyons, and K. Kolpashnikova) in press, Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education.

“Naming Patterns for Canadian Children: Evidence from British Columbia (1924-2024), Ontario (1921-2023), and Canada (1991-2023)” (with K. Kolpashnikova) in press, Canadian Studies in Population

“Teaching and Learning in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic” with K. Lyon and D. Verpoorten, under review.

“Examining Public Opinion on Gender Egalitarianism in Canada” work in progress

Recently Published:

Guppy, Neil (2025) “Wealth Inequality” in G. Ritzer and C. Rojek (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons.

Guppy, Neil (2023) “Public Sociology” in G. Ritzer and C. Rojek (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2^nd edition, John Wiley & Sons.

Guppy, Neil (2023) “Income Inequality and Income Mobility” in G. Ritzer and C. Rojek (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2^nd edition, John Wiley & Sons.

Guppy, Neil, Silvia Bartolic, and 7 others (2023) “Student Confidence in Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Helped and What Hindered?” Higher Education Research and Development 42:4, 845-859.

Bartolic, Silvia, Neil Guppy and 13 others (2022) “Student vulnerabilities and confidence in learning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic” Studies in Higher Education, 47(12): 2460-72.

Guppy, Neil, Dominique Verpoorten, David Boud, Lin Lin, Joanna Tai, and Silvia Bartolic (2022) “The post-COVID-19 future of digital learning in higher education: Views from educators, students, and other professionals in six countries.” British Journal of Educational Technology 53(6): 1750-1765.

Guppy, Neil, Larissa Sakumoto, and Rima Wilkes (2022) “Changing Gender Time Distributions in Domestic Duties: 1986 to 2015” in E. Grabb, J. Reitz, and M. Hwang (Eds.) Social Inequality in Canada: Dimensions of Disadvantage, Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, pp. 196-205.

Guppy, Neil, Silvia Bartolic, and 10 others (2022) “Teaching and learning under COVID-19 public health edicts: the role of household lockdowns and prior technology usage” Higher Education 84(3): 487-504

Verpoorten, Dominique, Neil Guppy, Silvia Bartolic, and 6 others (2022) “’BasCulement vers le virtuel’ – Constantes et Variations Dans la Mise en œuvre par 50 enseignants” Spirale – Revue de Recherches en Éducation 69: 163-177.

Bartolic, Silvia, Neil Guppy, and 16 others (2022) “A multi-institutional assessment of changes in higher education teaching and learning in the face of COVID-19,” Educational Review, 74(3): 517-533

Chow, Alex, and Neil Guppy (2021) “Intergenerational educational mobility over the past century in Canada” Canadian Review of Sociology 58(3): 372-98.

Guppy, Neil and Jennifer Vincent (2021) “The Evolution of Canadian Pay Equity Legislation and the Social Organization of Public Opinion” American Review of Canadian Studies 51(2): 312-29.