Min Zhou
Professor of Sociology & Asian American Studies
Walter & Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in US-China Relations and Communications
Director, Asia Pacific Center
She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was the Inaugural Chair of the Department of Asian American Studies (2001-05) at UCLA. During 2013 to 2016, she was Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor, Head of Sociology Division, and Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her main research interests include migration and development, Chinese diasporas, race and ethnicity, Asia and Asia America, and urban sociology. She has done extensive work on immigrant transnationalism, intra-Asian migrations, Chinese diasporas, the new second generation, Asian Americans, immigrant entrepreneurship, ethnic language media, and ethnic system of supplementary education. She has also done work on China, including housing reform, internal migration, migrant-sending communities, and African migration to China. She is the author of Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (1992); Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation (2009); The Accidental Sociologist in Asian American Studies (2011); Contemporary Chinese Diasporas (ed. 2017). She is the co-author of Growing up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States (with Bankston, 1998), The Asian American Achievement Paradox (with Lee, 2015), and The Rise of the New Second Generation (with Bankston, 2016); co-editor of Contemporary Asian America, 3rd ed. (with Ocampo, 2016); and co-editor of Asian American Youth (with Lee, 2004), Beyond Economic Migration: Historical, Social, and Political Factors in US Immigration (with Mahmud 2022). Her book The Asian American Achievement Paradox received five major academic awards. She is the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Career Award of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on International Migration and the 2020 recipient of the Contribution to the Field Award of the ASA Section on Asia and Asian America.
Education
Ph.D. (Sociology), State University of New York at Albany, 1989
M.A. (Sociology), State University of New York at Albany, 1985
B. A. (English), Sun Yat-sen University, China, 1982
Publications
Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (Temple University Press, 1992).
“Growing Up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants,” Annual Review of Sociology 23: 63-95, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.63
“Segmented Assimilation: Issues, Controversies, and Recent Research on the New Second Generation,” International Migration Review 31 (4): 825-858, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791839703100408
Growing up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States (with Bankston, Russell Sage Foundation, 1998).
“Ethnic Language Schools and the Development of Supplementary Education in the Immigrant Chinese Community in the United States,” New Directions for Youth Development: Understanding the Social Worlds of Immigrant Youth (Winter): 57-73, 2003 (with Li). https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.63
Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity. New York: Routledge, 2004 (eds. with J. Lee).
“Are Asian Americans Becoming White?” Contexts 3 (1): 29-37, 2004.https://doi.org/10.1525/ctx.2004.3.1.29
“Revisiting Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Convergences, Controversies, and Conceptual Advancements.” International Migration Review 38 (3): 1040-1074, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00228.x
“Community Forces, Social Capital, and Educational Achievement: The Case of Supplementary Education in the Chinese and Korean Immigrant Communities,” Harvard Educational Review 76 (1): 1-29, 2006 (with Kim). https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.76.1.u08t548554882477
“Success Attained, Deterred, and Denied: Divergent Pathways to Social Mobility among the New Second Generation in Los Angeles.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 620: 37-61, 2008 (with Lee, Agius Vallejo, Tafoya-Estrada, and Xiong). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716208322586
“Rethinking Residential Assimilation through the Case of Chinese Ethnoburbs in the San Gabriel Valley, California.” Amerasia Journal 34 (3): 55-83, 2008 (with Tseng and Kim). https://doi.org/10.17953/amer.34.3.y08124j33ut846v0
Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation (Temple University Press, 2009).
“How Neighborhoods Matter for Immigrant Children: The Formation of Educational Resources in Chinatown, Koreatown, and Pico Union, Los Angeles.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35 (7): 1153-1179, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830903006168
“Noneconomic Effects of Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Chinatown and Koreatown in Los Angeles, USA.” Thunderbird International Business Review 52 (2) 83-96, 2010 (with Cho). https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.20316
The Accidental Sociologist in Asian American Studies. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press, 2011.
“Transnationalism and Development: Mexican and Chinese Immigrant Organizations in the United States.” Population and Development Review 38 (2): 191-220, 2012 (with Portes). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00489.x
“Transnationalism and Community Building: Chinese Immigrant Organizations in the United States.” ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 647: 22-49, 2013 (with R. Lee). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716212472456
“Assessing What Is Cultural about Asian Americans’ Academic Advantage” (a commentary). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (23): 8321-8322, 2014 (with Lee). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1407309111
“Intra-Diaspora Dynamics in Generational Formation: The Case of Chinese America.” Diaspora 18 (1-2): 89-116, 2015. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.18.1-2.89
“Transnational Entrepreneurship and Immigrant Integration: New Chinese Immigrants in Singapore and the United States.” Research in the Sociology of Work 27: 69-201, 2015 (with Liu). https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-283320150000027021
Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader. Third edition. New York: New York University Press, 2016 (eds. with Ocampo).
“Cross-Space Consumption: Grassroots Transnationalism among Undocumented Chinese Immigrants in the United States.” Sociology of Development 2 (2): 158-182, 2016 (with Li). https://doi.org/10.1525/sod.2016.2.2.158
“Homeland Engagement and Host-Society Integration: A Comparative Study of New Chinese Immigrants in the United States and Singapore.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 57 (1-2): 30-52, 2016 (with Liu). https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715216637210
“Encountering Strangers in an Emerging Global City: Chinese Attitudes toward African Migrants in Guangzhou, China.” The International Journal of Sociology 46 (2): 141-161, 2016 (with Shenasi and Xu). DOI: 10.1080/00207659.2016.1163984
“Entrepreneurship and Interracial Dynamics: A Case Study of Self-Employed Africans and Chinese in Guangzhou, China.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 39 (9): 1566-1586, 2016 (with Xu and Shenasi). https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1125008
“Hyper-Selectivity and the Remaking of Culture: Understanding the Asian American Achievement Paradox.” Asian American Journal of Psychology 8 (1): 7-15, 2017 (with J. Lee). https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000069
Contemporary Chinese Diasporas. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (435 pp.).
“Remittances for Collective Consumption and Social Status Compensation: Variations on Transnational Practices among Chinese Migrants.” International Migration Review 52(1):4-42, 2018 (with Li). https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12268
“Global Dynamics of Immigrant Entrepreneurship: Changing Trends, Ethnonational Variations, and Reconceptualizations.” International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, American Behavioral Scientist 63(2): 165-185, 2018 (with Nazareno and You). https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218793684
“Promoting Research on Global Chinese Philanthropy: An Introduction to the Special Issue” (guest-editor). China Nonprofit Review 11(2):193-204, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1163/18765149-12341362
“The Model Minority Stereotype and the National Identity Question: The Challenges Facing Asian Immigrants and Their Children.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(1): 233-253, 2019 (with Bankston). https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1667511
“Divergent Destinies: Children of Immigrants Growing up in America.” Annual Review of Sociology 45:383-99, 2019 (with Gonzales). https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022424
“Challenges and Strategies for Promoting Children’s Education: A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Immigrant Parenting in the United States and Singapore.” Genealogy 3(20), 2019 (with J. Wang). https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3020020
“Involuntary Migration, Context of Reception, and Social Mobility: The Case of Vietnamese Refugee Resettlement in the United States.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2020 (with Bankston). https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1724411
“The Reigning Misperception about Culture and Asian American Achievement.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 13 (3): 508-515, 2020 (with J. Lee). https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1678760
“Precarious Talent: Highly Skilled Chinese and Indian Immigrants in Singapore.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(9): 1654-1672, 2020 (with Zhan). https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1648847
“New Dynamics of Multinational Migration: Chinese and Indian Migrants in Singapore and Los Angeles” Geographical Research 58 (4): 365-376, 2020 (with Zhan and Aricat). http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12397
“Understanding Intraethnic Diversity: The Formation of a Taiwanese American Identity.” Journal of Chinese Overseas 17(1): 58-83, 2021 (with B. Wang). doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341434
“Family, Gender, Ethnicity, and Pragmatism in Contemporary Diasporic Chinese Entrepreneurship: An Introduction to the Special Issue.” Journal of Chinese Overseas 17 (2): 1-8.
“Chinese Entrepreneurship in a Globalized World: Place, Space, and Mobilities” (introduction to a special issue). Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (with Lin) https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2021.1999106
Forever Strangers? Contemporary Chinese Immigrants around the World《長為異鄉客？— 當代華人新移民》(traditional Chinese edition). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2021. https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/g480
“Differentiation from above and below: Evolving Immigration Policy and the Integration Dilemma in Singapore.” Asian and Pacific Migration Journal 31(1): 3-25 (with Zhan and Huang) https://doi.org/10.1177/01171968221083703