Lisa Eklund

Associate Professor | Senior Lecturer

Sociology

Main research or teaching areas

• Family sociology
• Political sociology
• Gender, Population and Development

Current research and teaching

Since defending my PhD thesis in sociology at Lund University in 2011, I have pursued a research agenda that is situated within the fields of family sociology and political sociology, with a special interest in the politics of gender, population and development. My previous research has focused on fertility desires and son preference in the context of China’s one-child policy, sex-selective abortion policies, as well as mate selection and intimate relations in high sex ratio settings. More recently, I have studied parenting support policies in Sweden, as well as parenting strategies and care work around children’s education in urban China, as well as gendered precarity at work, including sexual harassment in the Chinese workplace. Another theme I have explored is health and wellbeing among vulnerable groups. Currently, I am the PI for a project on outsourcing domestic work and changing gender and class relations in Sweden. 

Central perspectives cutting through my research include power relations, the role of the state and the intersections of gender, generation and class, and to some extent ethnicity. Embracing methodological pluralism, my research is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods and spans several national and regional contexts, such as China, India, Sweden and the UK, as well as East Asia and Europe. My research is further characterised by collaborations beyond the field of sociology, including demography, development studies, gender studies, occupational therapy, political science, psychology, and social anthropology. Being fluent in Mandarin, I have conducted extensive fieldwork in China over the years.

My teaching spans all levels, from BA, to MA to PhD levels, including PhD supervision. I have taught a wide range of courses in sociology and development studies, including both methods courses and theory-oriented courses. Together with my colleague Bo Isenberg, I edited the anthology Sociologins klassiker – Upptäckter och återupptäckter (The Classics in Sociology – Discoveries and Rediscoveries), where I also wrote about Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Apart from research and teaching, I served for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Beijing and Geneva for 4.5 years spread over the years 2001-2007, directed the LUMID programme 2011-2014 (3.5 years) and was heading the Department of Sociology at Lund University 2021-2023 (2.5 years). Currently, I am a member of the Agenda 2030 Graduate School steering group, representing the Faculty of Social Sciences.