Research Description

Nicholas Vargas is an associate professor of Chicanx/Latinx Studies in the Department Ethnic Studies. Dr. Vargas is co-lead of the Latinxs and Democracy Cluster, Co-Director of the UCB Latino Social Science Pipeline Initiative, Associate Editor of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Past-Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, and sits on the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census. Prior to Cal, Vargas was Coordinator of Latinx Studies at the University of Florida’s (UF) Center for Latin American Studies, Associate Professor of Sociology at UF, and Assistant Professor in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas.

As a Latinx Studies scholar, Vargas’ research is situated within the social sciences with foci on ethnoracial classification, identification, and stratification. Most of his research draws from nationally representative data and explores questions of ethnoracial boundaries, patterns of label use, racial ideology adherence, contested racial identity, and Latina/o/x experiences in higher education, with particular attention paid to various markers of racialization.