Min Zhou

About

Min Zhou is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies at UCLA, holding the Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in U.S.-China Relations & Communications. She is also the Director of the UCLA Asia Pacific Center. Dr. Zhou is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her research focuses on migration and development, race and ethnicity, Chinese diaspora studies, urban sociology, and the sociology of Asia and Asian America. She has published extensively in these areas, including over 20 books and more than 230 journal articles and book chapters. Her notable works include 'Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave' and 'Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation.' Dr. Zhou has held academic leadership roles, including serving as the founding chair of UCLA's Asian American Studies Department and taking a leave of absence to serve as the Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor and Head of Sociology Division at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is actively involved in various scholarly organizations, serving on editorial boards and research associations, contributing significantly to the fields of migration, ethnicity, and Asian American studies.

Research topics

• Social Science
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Demographic economics
• Law
• Economic growth
• Geography
• Economics
• Demography
• Gender studies

Selected publications

• 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 · 24 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  In this study, we examine the Vietnamese population of the United States as a case study in the integration of a refugee group. We first offer a brief review of Vietnamese refugee resettlement in the US and the making of a new ethnic community. We then provide a quantitative analysis of socioeconomic mobility among Vietnamese refugees using American Community Survey data from 1980 to 2015 and other national-level data. We examine how this ethnic population has changed over time by focusing on ke…

  DOI

• Divergent experiences and patterns of integration: contemporary Chinese immigrants in metropolitan Los Angeles, USA

  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · 2021 · 21 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Since China’s open-door and economic reform in 1979, new waves of emigration from the country have been increasingly diverse with highly skilled immigrants on one hand and unskilled or undocumented immigrants on the other. Based on data from an online survey and in-depth interviews of contemporary Chinese immigrants in metropolitan Los Angeles, we explore two main questions: (1) How do Chinese immigrants negotiate integration and identity as they navigate multiple pathways to resettlement? (2) W…

  DOI

• Segmented assimilation: some reflections on a three-decade concept

  Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2025-01-09 · 8 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Reflecting on the theory of segmented assimilation: an introduction

  Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2025-01-08 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This symposium draws from a panel of the Section on International Migration (IM) at the 2024 American Sociological Association (ASA) Annual Meeting.As a dual celebration of the 30th anniversary of the ASA IM Section and publication of segmented assimilation theory, the panel's theme was to reflect on segmented assimilation theory and three decades of immigrant integration research.Four authors offer their critical commentaries on the theory with a rejoinder by the theory's original authors.This…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Involuntary transnationalism and regulated precarity: Lived experiences of skilled Chinese and Indian migrants in Singapore

  International Migration · 2024-12-06 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Transnationalism is often perceived as an agentic practice in migration studies. While acknowledging such agency, we argue that transnationalism also involves forced‐choice decision‐making by migrants whose work and daily lives are subjected to structural constraints beyond individual control. We employ the concept of ‘involuntary transnationalism’ to capture this often‐neglected dimension of transnationalism. Based on analysis of survey data and in‐depth interviews of skilled Chinese a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Carl L. Bankston

  Tulane University

  32 shared

• Alejandro Portes

  14 shared

• Jennifer Lee

  University of California, Irvine

  13 shared

• John Logan

  John Brown University

  8 shared

• Glenn C. Loury

  Brown University

  8 shared

• Wang Jun

  Texas A&M University

  7 shared

• Hong Liu

  University of California, Davis

  7 shared

• Dwaine Plaza

  Oregon State University

  6 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Sociology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1992

• M.A., Sociology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1988

• B.A., Sociology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1985

Awards & honors

• Member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Sta…
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Similar researchers at University of California, Los Angeles

• Natalie Masuokah-19
• Purnima Mankekarh-19
• Cindy Sangalangh-16