Publications

Economic Inequality and Class Conciousness (collaborate with Frederick Solt and others; published on The Journal of Politics)

The class voting theory assumes income is the basis of social class, and it predicts individuals vote by their class interests. But why the poor sometimes do not always vote for candidates or parties with redistribution policies? In the study collaborating with Frederick Solt and others, we research multiple public opinion and inequality data in the US and argue that the poor people are more likely to be indoctrinated by the belief of “hard-working leads to success” in a local context of greater inequality. This study provides a new answer to the disjunctions between the classic theory and reality.

Economic Inequality and Belief in Meritocracy in the United States (collaborate with Frederick Solt and others; published on Research and Politics)

Public Policy Satisfaction in Urban China (collaborate with Wenfang Tang; published on East Asian Policy)

The Hovering Dragon: China’s Involvement in Afghanistan (published on Pittsburgh Policy Journal)

Excerpts of Working Papers

Language as a sign of loyalty: Mandarin Proficiency and Judicial Behavior (collaborate with Cassandra Tai; under Review)

It is believed that language proficiency indicates how much ethnic minority groups integrate themselves into the mainstream culture or the political system. In this study, we attempt to develop an audio algorithm to identify Mandarin oral proficiency with the Chinese courtroom videos. We hypothesize that Mandarin proficiency amplifies the effect of ethnic identity of both minority defendants and judges, which influences the judicial decisions.

Court Transparency and Judicial Legitimacy (Under Review)

How does the recent reform of online courtroom video in China affect people's trust in the judicial system? My recent pilot survey experiment of 200 Chinese college students in 2018 shows some preliminary evidences that giving the information of courtroom broadcast of a case, people are more likely to accept an unfavored case, while their support of the legal system is not affected significantly.

The Illusion of Social Mobility? A study of self-class identity of Chinese ethnic minorities (collaborate with Elise Pizzi)

Disproportional distribution of social benefits and inequality of political participation exist across different ethnic groups. It is assumed that some specific ethnic groups under unequal treatment or repression tend to have greater greivance, which could lead to civil unrest. However, the case is complicated in China. Using a nationally representative survey data, Pizzi and I find that some Chinese ethnic minorities with a stronger self cultural identify (such as Uyghur) have a higher self-position of social class, even they have less objective socio-economic statuses and are politically disadvantageous.