Yao Li

Biography

Yao Li, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in Sociology from John Hopkins University in 2015. Dr. Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Florida State University. Before coming to FSU, She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, and a lecturer at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Playing by the Informal Rules—Why the Chinese Regime Remains Stable despite Rising Protests (Cambridge 2019; Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics). Her research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to address debates in the fields of social movements, environmental studies, political sociology, and race. She is currently working on a new book project on waste management with a focus on China, Taiwan, and the United States.

Education

Johns Hopkins University: Ph.D. Sociology, 2015; M.A. Sociology, 2010

Peking University (Beijing): M.A. Sociology, 2007

University of International Business and Economics (Beijing): B.A. Economics, 2004

Courses Taught

Instructor at Florida State University

Social Inequality

Instructor at the University of Florida

Social Movements (graduate seminar)

Law, Politics, and Society in China

Social Inequality (included in Intersections Scholar Program)

Law and Society

Social Movements (undergraduate course)

Course Assistant at Harvard University

The Political Economy of Transition in China (giving lectures on social protest sessions)

Instructor at the University of Kansas

Chinese Society

Social Protest in China

Instructor at Johns Hopkins University

Governance and Politics in China

Social Protest in Contemporary China

Teaching Assistant at Johns Hopkins University

Introduction to Sociology

Migration and Development

Medical Sociology

Revolution, Reform, and Social Inequality in China

Becoming an Adult: Life Course Perspectives on School, Work and Family Transitions

State-Society Relations in Modern India

Social Control and Social Organization in Schools

Education and Inequality

Medical Sociology

Revolution, Reform, and Social Inequality in China

Awards & Honors

2021 Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Fund, University of Florida

2019-2020 Global Fellow, University of Florida

2016-2018 China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University

2015 Exemplary Diversity Scholar, University of Michigan

2015 Travel grant, Association for Asian Studies

2014 Outstanding Student Paper Award: “Mapping the Space for Protest in China,” North American Chinese Sociologists Association (now International Chinese Sociological Association)

2014 Stephen & Lynn Browne Teaching Fellowship: “Governance and Politics in China,” Johns Hopkins University

2014 Dean’s Teaching Fellowship: “Social Protest in Contemporary China,” Johns Hopkins University

2012 Research Grant, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

2011 Research Grant, Program in East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University

2010 Travel Grant, Program in Comparative Sociology and International Development, Johns Hopkins University

2009 Travel Grant, Program in East Asian Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Professional Experience

Florida State University – Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, 2023

University of Florida – Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, 2019-2023 (with courtesy appointment in Political Science)

Harvard University – Postdoctoral Fellow, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation John F. Kennedy School of Government, 2016-2019

University of Kansas – Lecturer, Center for East Asian Studies, 2015-2016

Selected Publications

Books

Yao Li. Playing by the Informal Rules—Why the Chinese Regime Remains Stable despite Rising Protests. 2019. New York: Cambridge University Press (Paperback 2021).

• Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics series
• Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute series, Columbia University

Academic Reviews: Contemporary Sociology, International Sociology Reviews, Mobilization, Democratization, The China Quarterly, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Asian Politics & Policy, Global Change, Peace & Security, etc.

Media coverage: ChinaFile (2020), New Books Network podcast (2021)

Peer-reviewed articles and book chapters

[*Graduate Student Co-authors]

1. Yao Li, Marion Cassard*, and Brooke Holmes*. Does Violent Protest Receive Negative Coverage? —Media Framing of Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Bill Movement and French Yellow Vest Movement. 2023. International Journal of Sociology, Vol. 53, No. 3, 205–227, (org/10.1080/00207659.2023.2202992).
2. Yao Li. “Beyond Regime Types: Assemblies, Repression, and Political Impacts of Contentious Politics.” Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly, Tabatha, Abu EI-Haj, Michael Hamilton, Thomas Probert and Sharath Srinivasan (eds) Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
3. Yao Li. “Environmental Movements.” Encyclopedia of Environmental Sociology, Christine Overdevest (ed), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, forthcoming.
4. Yao Li. “Contentious Politics.” Routledge Encyclopedia of Chinese Studies, Chris Shei (ed) Routledge, forthcoming.
5. Yao Li. “Official Framing—Portraying the Implementation of an Unpopular Policy as Responsive Governance.” 2022. Social Movement Studies, Vol. 21, Issue 5, 571-589 (doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2021.1929145). Impact factor: 2.266
6. Yao Li and Harvey L. Nicholson Jr. “When ‘Model Minorities’ Become ‘Yellow Peril’—Othering and the Racialization of Asian Americans in the COVID-19 Pandemic.” 2021. Sociology Compass, Vol. 15, Issue 2, 1-13 (DOI: 10.1111/soc4.12849). Impact factor: 2.538. (*Top Cited Article 2021-2022 in this journal)
7. Yao Li and Manfred Elfström. “Does Greater Coercive Capacity Increase Overt Repression? Evidence from China.” Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 30, Issue 128, 186-211 (doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2020.1790898). Impact factor: 2.345
8. Wenming Xiao and Yao Li. “Building A ‘Lofty, Beloved People’s Amusement Center’: The Socialist Transformation of Shanghai Dashijie (1950-1958).” 2020. Modern Asian Studies, 1-42 (doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X20000141). Impact factor: 1.129
9. Manfred Elfström and Yao Li (equal co-authorship). “Contentious Politics in China: Causes, Dynamics, and Consequences.” 2019. Brill Research Perspectives in Governance and Public Policy in China, No. 1, 1-90.
10. Yao Li. “A Zero-Sum Game? Repression and Protest in China.” 2019. Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics, Vol. 54, No. 2, 309-335 (doi:10.1017/gov.2017.24). Impact factor: 2.582
11. Huixuan Wu and Yao Li. “Mobility and Volatility: What Is Behind the Rising Income Inequality in the United States.” 2018. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, Vol. 492, 2345-2352 (doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2017.11.157). Impact factor: 3.295
12. Qiangqiang Luo, Joel Andreas, and Yao Li. “Grapes of Wrath: Twisting Arms to Get Villagers to Cooperate with Agribusiness in China.” 2017. The China Journal, 77, No. 1, 27-50. Impact factor: 2.750
13. Yao Li. “Fragmented Authoritarianism and Protest Channels: A Case Study of Resistance to Privatizing a Hospital.” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 42, No. 2, 195–224. Impact factor: 1.43
14. Yao Li. “Saving Face: Self-Esteem Maintenance among Laid-off Workers.” 2008. Journal of China Agricultural University, Vol. 25, No. 3 (in Chinese).
    1. Reprinted in Wen Fang (ed.), The Transition of Chinese Society, 2013, Renmin University Press.
15. Yao Li. “Jewish Emigration and Ethnicity Maintenance in China.” 2006. Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 65 (in Chinese).

Book reviews

• Asian American Connective Action in the Age of Social Media: Civic Engagement, Contested Issues, and Emerging Identities by James S. Lai. Contemporary Sociology, 2023.
• Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China by Lynette H. Ong. Asian Policy (Book Review Roundtable) Vol. 18, 2023.
• Urban Chinese Governance, Contention, and Social Control in the New Millennium edited by William Hurst. The China Journal, Vol. 86, 2021.

Other publications

Yao Li. “Waste Incineration and the Anti-incineration Movement in the U.S.” Tianxia Wufen. December 12, 2019 (in Chinese).

Yao Li. “Trash Politics: Grassroots Objection and the Incineration Boom in China.” Asia Dialogue. December 13, 2018.

Works under review

Joel Andreas, Yao Li, and Peiyao Li. The Staff and Workers Congress under Three Iterations of Chinese Corporatism (1949-2021)