

Unn-Doris K. Bæck
Job description
I work as a professor, with primary interests in the sociology of education and youth sociology.
My research focuses on various distinction categories, such as social and geographical background as well as gender, and explores how these categories manifest themselves in different contexts and settings. This leads me to examine various social systems and institutions relevant to children and youth, related to education, work, and leisure among others. How do different background variables play out within these systems and institutions, and how can this lead to the production and reproduction of social differences?
The 50 latest publications is shown on this page. See all publications in Cristin here →
Research interests
- education and social inequality
- education policy
- home-school cooperation and parental involvement in school
- geographical educational differences
- youth in the north and in the Arctic
- rural education
Chair of the research group EDU-NOR EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE HIGH NORTH
LATEST PUBLICATIONS:
Books:
Aakvaag, Gunnar C. & Unn-Doris K. Bæck (Eds.) (2024): Robuste fellesskap. Sosiologiske perspektiver på fellesskap i Norge (Robust community. Sociological perspectives on community in Norway). Oslo, Norway: Fagbokforlaget. Open access
Archer, Margaret S., Unn-Doris K. Bæck, and Tone Skinningsrud (Eds) (2022). The Morphogenesis of the Norwegian Educational System. Emergence and Development from a Critical Realist Perspective. Routledge. Routledge Studies in Critical Realism.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters:
Bæck, Unn-Doris K. (upcoming Aug 2025): Navigating Change – Adult Learning Systems in Norway from 1990 onwards, in Desjardins, Richard & Kalenda, Jan (Eds.): A Modern Guide to Adult Learning Systems. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bæck, Unn-Doris K. (2024): Utdanning som fellesskapsskapende prosjekt (Education as a community creating project”, in Aakvaag, Gunnar & Unn-Doris K. Bæck (Eds.): Robuste fellesskap (Robust community). Oslo, Norway: Fagbokforlaget.
Aakvaag, Gunnar C. & Bæck, Unn-Doris K. (2024): Å studere det norske fellesskapet som robust fellesskap (Studying the Norwegian community as a robust community), in Aakvaag, Gunnar & Unn-Doris K. Bæck (Eds.): Robuste fellesskap (Robust community). Oslo, Norway: Fagbokforlaget. https://doi.org/10.55669/oa240201
Bæck, Unn-Doris K. (2024): Approaches to spatial inequalities in a Nordic welfare state – the case of Norway. Research in Education, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00345237241242992
Bæck, Unn-Doris K. (2022): Towards a critical realist ontology of spatial education analysis, in Archer, Margaret S., Unn-Doris K. Bæck, and Tone Skinningsrud (Eds). The Morphogenesis of the Norwegian Educational System. Emergence and Development from a Critical Realist Perspective. Routledge. Routledge Studies in Critical Realism. Routledge.
Archer, Margaret S., Unn-Doris K. Bæck, and Tone Skinningsrud (2022): Introduction, in Archer, Margaret S., Unn-Doris K. Bæck, and Tone Skinningsrud (Eds). The Morphogenesis of the Norwegian Educational System. Emergence and Development from a Critical Realist Perspective. Routledge. Routledge Studies in Critical Realism. Routledge.
Teaching
My teaching is primarily related to social science perspectives on education and upbringing, as well as social science methods (qualitative and quantitative research methods).
Member of research group
Member of project
Attachments:
- Avhandling (pdf)