Jan Rath

Prof. Dr. Jan Rath received his MA degree in cultural anthropology and urban studies and his PhD from Utrecht University. He is now Professor of Urban Sociology, Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Member of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES) and the Center for Urban Studies in the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Master Program in Migration and Social Cohesion (MISOCO) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), Member of the IMISCOE Research Network, and the European Chair of International Metropolis.

He has been active in various other disciplines, such as political science, sociology of law, economics and economic sociology. He previously held academic posts at the Center for the Study of Social Conflicts (COMT) in Leiden University, the Center for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Society (SMES) in Utrecht University, the Institute for the Sociology of Law in the Catholic University of Nijmegen, and the Department of Sociology in the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

He has done research on a wide array of topics including (electoral) political mobilization; trade unions; integration policy; the political and theoretical foundations of social science; racism; school segregation; spatial segregation; popular culture; Islam; the informal economy; urban tourism; gentrification; immigrant entrepreneurship; public space; city objects; etcetera.

He is particularly interested in the ways in which cities in a globalizing world help shape unity and diversity. His research focuses on how the urban opportunity structure — notably its political, economic and symbolic dimensions — shapes life chances and social relations, and vice versa.

Previous academic positions

• 1 April 2011 to date, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Professor of Sociology (“in particular the academic study of cities and their ethnic and cultural diversity”), Program Board Member of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, and Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
• 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2011, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Professor of Sociology (“in particular the academic study of cities and their ethnic and cultural diversity”), Academic Director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, and Head of the Department of Socciology and Anthropology.
• 1 October 2005 to 1 April 2010, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Professor of Sociology (“in particular the academic study of cities and their ethnic and cultural diversity”), and Academic Director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies.
• 1 February 2000 – 1 September 2005, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Associate Professor (uhd) and Co-Director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies.
• September 1998 – January 1999, Department of Sociology, University of California – Los Angeles. Visiting Scholar.
• 1 February 1994 – 1 February 2000, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Senior Researcher.
• 1 March 1990 – 1 February 1994, Institute for Sociology of Law, Faculty of Law, Catholic University Nijmegen. Post-Doc.
• 1 June 1986 – 1 January 1991, Department of Cultural Anthropology, section Study of Multi-Ethnic Society (SMES), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Utrecht. Research Fellow.
• 1 July 1982 – 1 June 1986, Centre for the Study of Social Conflicts (COMT), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Leiden. Research Assistant.