Thomas Abrams
Associate Professor
Ph.D. (Sociology, Carleton University)
Sociology
Queen's University
Disability Studies, Sociology of Health and Illness, Medical Sociology, Digital Platforms and Assistive Technology, Social Inequality, Social Policy, Sociological Theory, Qualitative Research
I’m currently working on three main projects. The first is historical, exploring disability policy in Canada, the US, and France after the second world war. Here I'm doing archival research to see how governments, activists, and other groups organize disability politics around conceptions of freedom. The second project is qualitative, exploring how disabled youth use digital platforms in their romantic lives. Finally, I continue to work with colleagues in the rehabilitation sciences, exploring how disability is managed and made meaningful in the clinical space. Most recently, I've been looking at how clinical disability measures are translated into income support program eligibility.
Before coming to Queen’s in 2018, I was a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in the department of Social Justice Education, OISE / University of Toronto (2014-2016), and later, a Killam postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie’s department of Sociology and Social Anthropology (2016-2018). I completed my doctoral work at Carleton’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
I teach courses on the sociology of health and illness, sociological theory, and disability studies.
In 2025-2026:
- SOCY 200: Sociology of Health
- SOCY 301: Disability and Society
- SOCY 410: Sociology of Health, Illness, and Disability (Undergraduate Seminar).
- SOCY 425: Sociology of Health, Citizenship, and Welfare (Undergraduate Seminar).
In the past I have taught:
- SOCY 226: Central Concepts in Sociological Theory
- SOCY 227: Theorizing Contemporary Society
- SOCY 936: Disability Studies (Graduate Seminar)
I am accepting prospective graduate students, and undergraduate thesis supervisions, for the 2026-2027 academic year. I'm especially open to students with interests in disability studies, sociological theory, and the sociology of health and illness.
Please include a CV and draft project statement if you get in touch with me via email.
Recent publications include:
Zuzunaga Zegarra, D, and Abrams, T., (2025) “Sick Kids versus Whom? Childhood Disability and Charitable Campaigns on Instagram.” Convergence 31(2):540–58. doi:10.1177/13548565231211310.
Abrams, T and Orsini, M. (2022) Waves of Ableism: Affective Arrangements in the Time of COVID-19. Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. 11(3):154-180.
Abrams, T., Thille, P., and Gibson, B.E. (2021), “Putting Affect Theory to the Breathing Test,” https://doi.org/10.1057/s41286-021-00125-0.
Abrams, T., (2021) “Towards a Social Psychoanalysis of Rehabilitation Practice”, Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.
Abrams, T. and Abbott, D., (2020) “Disability, Deadly Discourse, and Collectivity Amid COVID-19.” Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 22(1): 168-174.
Richardson, S., and Abrams, T. (2020) “Assistive spectacles: A vision for the future”. Social Theory and Health. 20: 37-53.
Please see my Google scholar profile for an updated list.