School of Social and Political Science

Background

Last updated date：23/09/2024

Digital Public Sociology

In an Orwellian nation, sociologists carry certain responsibilities.

I am a public sociologist in the digital age. I establish the largest sociology social-media platform in the Chinese-speaking world (2016 - ) based on WeChat（微信），Xiaohongshu(小红书),  and BiliBili(‎哔哩哔哩), with a subscription count exceeding 540,000, encompassing both videos and texts. I have hosted over 20 public lectures, offered over 50 sociology courses, posted over 1000 essays. The names of the platforms are "Sociology Tank"(“社会学理论大缸”), "Social SciencePortal"(“社会科学传送门”), and "Yufan Talks Academic"(“宇凡聊学术”).  Through my social media platform, I strive to translate sociological insights into publicly comprehensible essays and videos related to issues such as gender, youth, artificial intelligence, employment, education, consumption, nationalism, etc.  My experience in digital public sociology has been shared with audiences at Oxford University and Tsinghua University.

Recently, I have established an English website showcasing the achievements and impacts, which you can view through the link below. https://www.sociologytank.com/

Education and Work Experience

Upon earning my B.A. in Sociology from Anhui University in 2013, I obtained a research position within a local government (2013-2014) and subsequently at a prominent think tank (2013-2017) in China. As my aspirations evolved towards a more profound theoretical inquiry, I embarked on a Master’s program in Philosophy at the National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan (2017 - 2020). However, I preferred to deepen my academic pursuits in the ivory tower while maintaining a connection to practical and real-world experiences. Between 2018 and 2019, I held a position at Bloomfield (Xingtai) Specialty Paper Co. Ltd. in China. Subsequently, I was entrusted with the role of Project Manager for its abaca fiber processing facility located in Mindanao, the Philippines. And since 2020, I extended my social media platform publicizing sociological insights. To operate the organization, I form a team including more than twenty members. 

Armed with these professional and industrial experiences, I dislike any question that is not part of a larger question and refuse to be locked into a narrow specialty. Although I am mainly a social theorist, my research outputs range from organizational studies, political economy, historical sociology, to sociological theory.

Professional Service

2024 - Present, Board Member, RN29 - Social Theory, European Sociological Association

2024 - Present, Editorial Assistant, Social Transformations in Chinese Societies. 

2023 - 2024, Guest Editor, Innovation in the Social Sciences.

2022 - Present, Founding Editorial Board, Journal of Intelligent Society (in Chinese).

Invited Lecture (2023 - Present)

2024 "From Explanation of Evil to Hope of Good: The Normative Turn in Sociology." East China Normal University. 

2023 “Diversity is Just Taking A Detour? My Journey.” Oxford China Forum.

2023 “Public Sociology in  Second Person Pronouns: The New Power of We-Media” Tsinghua University

PhD Thesis

A Pragmatist Reads Sociological Texts: Recontextualizing Weber's Ideal Type Methodology

Publication

· Download link: https://edinburgh.academia.edu/YufanSUN

Book (in Chinese)

2021. Logics of Historical Sociology : A Transdisciplinary Exploration of Social Theories. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House.

· This book is included in the collections of the Harvard University and Yale University libraries.

· This book includes commentary on certain chapters by sociological theirsts: Xueguang Zhou, Pingkeung Lui, Fei Yan, Chih-Chieh Tang, Tsuo-Yu Cheng, and Jupeng Li.

Hear and Say: Collected Emails in Sociology 2012-2013. Beijing: China Social Sciences Publishing House (coauthored with Lui, Ping-keung, Yuet-man Li, and Yohua Liu).

Journal Article (in English)

2024. "Emerging Dialogue on Postpositivist Philosophies of the Social Sciences An Introduction to the Special Issue and the Book Symposium." Innovation in the Social Sciences 2(2): 119-122.

2024. "Recontextualizing Max Weber's Ideal Type: Lessons from Idealization in the Philosophy of Natural Science and Economics." Innovation in the Social Sciences 2(2):194-234.

Book Chapter (in English)

"Failed Moral Panics and Justification." (co-authored with Alice Su)  Accepted.

Journal Article (in Chinese)

I have been commissioned to write a series of contributions for the Tsinghua Sociological Review, where I produce annual reviews that introduce and reorient cutting-edge trends in sociological theory. Often, I go beyond the field of sociological theory and even transcend the discipline of sociology. The issues I have reviewed are as follows:

· Canonizing W. E. B. Du Bois 

· Theorizing the algorithmic society (e.g., Marion Fourcade)

· Bourdieuian Theories after Bourdieu such as Bernard Lahire and Will Atkinson

· Practices of theorizing launched by Richard Swedberg

· Assessing sociological classics and thinkers using scientometrics (e.g., Philipp Korom)

· Normativity as valuation mainly related to Andrew Sayer's research

· Grounded normative theory focusing on Bernardo Zacka's work and its impact

· Social epistemology, especially Miranda Fricker's theory of epistemic injustice

2024. "Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries: Trends in Sociological Theory Research in 2023." Tsinghua Sociological Review (21): 174-217.

2023. "A Critique of Three Consensuses on Sociological Theory: Recent Advances." Tsinghua Sociological Review (19): 124-148.

2023. "The Structure of Relational Presentism: The Temporal Dimension of George Herbert Mead's Social Theory." Academic Monthly 55(3): 126-139 (coauthored with Liu, Yonghua).

"Taste Distinction, Hedonist Desire, and Intimacy: Three Contemporary Themes of Sociology of Consumption." International Social Science Journal (Chinese) 39(3): 149-174.

“Structures, Events and Temporalities: An Immanent Critique of William H. Sewell Jr.’s Logics of History.” Tsinghua Sociological Review (12).

2018. “Bringing the Discipline of History Back in: A Trans-disciplinary Imagination and its Strategy of Historical Sociology.” Journal of Social Theory 20(2):379-401.

2018. “The Boundary of the Project System: Production, Dissimilation and Institutional Formation: Evidences from the Policy Process of ‘Community Welfare’ in District L.” Journal of Gansu Administration Institute (6): 81-92 (coauthored with Cai Hong).

2018. “What is a ‘Mechanism’? The Historicization and the Theorization of a Terminology in Government Documents.” Journal of Social Development (1): 180-208 (coauthored with Cai Hong).

· Reprinted in part in Social Sciences Digest 2018 (4):61-63.

2017. “For Ideological Legitimacy: The Mandate-of-heaven-cum-orthodoxy and the Ming-Qing Transition.” Tsinghua Sociological Review (8):60-86.

2017. “Time, Causalities and Sociological Imagination: A Discussion with Cheng Bo-qing.” Journal of Social Theory 20(1): 155-181.

2016. “Monarch and the Enigma of Incarnation: A Study that Starts from Philip A. Kuhn’s Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768.” Sociological Review of China (6):76-93.

· Reprinted in China Social Sciences Excellence 2017(4).

Chapter (in Chinese)

2018. “Virtual Realities, Personal-pronoun Changes, and Hypothesis Testing Methods: On Jonathan Spence’s Hermeneutic Rules in Historiography.” Pp.325-352 in European Sinology at the Intersection between the East and the West, edited by Ya-Hwei Yang. Taiwan: Center for the Humanities, National Sun Yat-sen University.

Conference (2021 — present)

2023. Midterm Conference of the Research Network 29 - Social Theory, European Sociological Association)

2023. New Direction Sociology Conference, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

2023. British Sociological Association's Annual Conference

2021. International Social Theory Consortium

2020. New Direction Sociology Conference, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

Award

2020 The Outstanding Master’s Thesis, Taiwanese Sociological Association

· This is the first recipient to be recognized for contributions to sociological theories.

2017 Research Residency Grant, University of Chicago Center in Beijing

Grant

Prior to embarking on my postgraduate journey, I collaborated with a think tank located in Guangzhou City, China, an entity deeply involved in socio-administrative and economic reforms. Between July 2013 and March 2017, I participated or directed 20+ policy projects. All clients were governmental entities, spanning every level in China from national to town. The cumulative grant funding amounted to 2,820,000 RMB (approximately 402,858 USD).

Qualification

2020, M.A., Philosophy, National Sun Yat-sen University

Thesis: Structure, Actor and Eventful Temporality: Towards A Neo-Sewellian Theory of Logics of History (in English)

2014, B.A., Sociology, Anhui University

Job Position

2022 - present, Founder and Director, Bourdieu and Cultural Communication Center

2019, Project Manager, Hong Kong Feng Sheng Heritage Philippine Incorporation in Balabagan, the Philippines

2018, General Manager Assistant, Bloomfield (Xingtai) Specialty Paper Co. Ltd., China

2013 – 2017, Assistant Researcher and Deputy Director (2015 - 2017), Guangdong Institute for Reform and Development, China

2013 – 2014, Joint Staff (full-time), Policy Research Office, Guangzhou Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone, China