YA-WEN LEI
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email: yawenlei@fas.harvard.edu
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​Welcome to my website! I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University.  I am also affiliated with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Asia Center, and Committee Regional Studies East Asia at Harvard. 

​I grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. Trained in both law and sociology, I hold a LL.M. and a J.S.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. After graduating from Michigan in 2013, I was a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard University (2013-2016).  In academic year 2018-2019, I was a visiting professor at Sciences Po in France. 

​My research interests include political sociology, sociology of media and information technologies, law & society, sociology of work and labor, development, economic sociology, science and technology studies, and China studies. I am the authors of The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China (Princeton University Press, 2018) and The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China (forthcoming with Princeton University Press in fall 2023). Most of my work draws on qualitative and comparative methods. I have published in general sociological journals (American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, and Socius), specialized social science journals (Law and Society Review, Work, Employment and Society, and Political Communication), and an area study journal (China Quarterly). My publications have received various awards from the American Sociological Association, the Law and Society Association, and The China Quarterly—the leading interdisciplinary journal in China studies.



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  • About
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Teaching, advising, and mentoring
  • Talks
  • My paintings