Jun (Philip) Fang
@philipjfang.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto | Culture, creativity, globalization, censorship, ethnography | Book on China & Hollywood in progress | philipjunfang.com
"There are two lessons from the history of the C.I.A. book program... One is that censorship — whether by Communists, fascists or democratic governments — tends to create demand for the works it targets. The other is that the totalitarians lost the Cold War, and freedom of thought won the day."
Opinion | ‘1984’ Hasn’t Changed, but America Has
nytimes.com
Amazing story about the MingKwai Chinese typewriter, invented by Lin Yutang! Thanks, @tsmullaney.bsky.social!
A Professor’s Hunt for the Rarest Chinese Typewriter
nytimes.com
It’s a privilege to be recognized alongside two incredible scholars. 👍👍
Jun (Philip) Fang@philipjfang.bsky.social · last yr.Excited to share that I’ve won the 2025 Clifford Geertz Prize for Best Article from the ASA Sociology of Culture Section. I'm grateful to the award committee for this honor, and to my intellectual community whose constructive feedback helped shape the piece. doi.org/10.1177/0003...
Excited to share that I’ve won the 2025 Clifford Geertz Prize for Best Article from the ASA Sociology of Culture Section. I'm grateful to the award committee for this honor, and to my intellectual community whose constructive feedback helped shape the piece. doi.org/10.1177/0003...
The Culture of Censorship: State Intervention and Complicit Creativity in Global Film Production - Jun Fang, 2024
How does state censorship shape global creative production? To explore the merger of art and the state in a global context, I adopt a micro-sociological approac...
doi.org
I'm delighted to share that Max Besbris and I won the 2025 Distinguished Scholarly Publication Award from the ASA Consumers and Consumption Section for our article, "Relational Brokerage: Interaction and Valuation in Two Markets," published in Qualitative Sociology. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Relational Brokerage: Interaction and Valuation in Two Markets - Qualitative Sociology
Across various markets, consumers rely on brokers to help them select goods. How do brokers shape consumers’ valuation? We address this question by drawing from two independent but analogous ethnograp...
link.springer.com
Kicking off the first day of classes by giving the students in my Contemporary Chinese Society seminar red envelopes 💸💸 🧧 from the funniest Ronny Chieng
Is the TikTok saga a drama or a comedy? Or the perfect dramedy? 😅
Zeyi Yang 杨泽毅@zeyiyang.bsky.social · 2y agoI know I will write about Xiaohongshu/RedNote one day, but I didn’t expect it to be today: It’s #1 downloaded app in the US today. Why? Because the TikTok ban is pushing users to join another Chinese app out of spite. Also, they call themselves the “TikTok refugees.” www.wired.com/story/red-no...
Even more inspiring, the filmmakers of "Sing Sing" experimented with an alternative model of film financing—paying everyone on set, from PAs to the director and star, the same wage and giving all equity. In an industry rife with inequality, it’s refreshing to see some folks pushing for real change.
‘Sing Sing’ Filmmakers Paid Everyone On Set the Same, and Now Their New Company Wants to Do It Again
Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley are launching a new company with the hopes of making independent filmmaking more sustainable. Part of their pitch? Paying everyone on set — from the PAs to the star — the...
hollywoodreporter.com
Jun (Philip) Fang@philipjfang.bsky.social · 2y agoJust watched A24's "Sing Sing," a powerful film about incarcerated men finding purpose by acting. It brought me back to a piece I wrote for the NYTimes a decade ago, featuring Tim Robbins and his team’s inspiring work using theater to help inmates rebuild their lives. cn.nytimes.com/education/20...
Just watched A24's "Sing Sing," a powerful film about incarcerated men finding purpose by acting. It brought me back to a piece I wrote for the NYTimes a decade ago, featuring Tim Robbins and his team’s inspiring work using theater to help inmates rebuild their lives. cn.nytimes.com/education/20...
铁栏与面具之后：用戏剧影响囚犯
曾出演《肖申克救赎》的美国演员蒂姆·罗宾斯发起“监狱计划”，连续八年将戏剧培训带入加州监狱，以达到艺术矫正囚犯的效果。这一项目对中国的监狱也有借鉴意义。
cn.nytimes.com
The entire December issue of our flagship journal is quantitative. And among the seven articles, six are solely about the United States.
My new book (Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Epidemic Politics in China) drops! Wanna know how China gained capacities dealing with COVID-19? Why gay rights can be illiberal? Etc. check it out! www.amazon.com/Authoritaria...
Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Epidemic Politics in China
Amazon.com: Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Epidemic Politics in China: 9780190900199: Long, Yan: Books
amazon.com
It’s grading season, and this poem hits close to home for many of us 😅
This new book, Authoritarian Absorption, by @yanlong-soc.bsky.social is my most anticipated read of the year! It’s a must-read for anyone interested in transnational institutions, public health (HIV/AIDS policy in China), and authoritarianism. 📚👍
Part 1 of our special issue "Thirty Years of the Internet in China" is out, open-access, with 10 articles & an Introduction journals.sagepub.com/toc/ctpa/9/4. The remaining 14 pieces are out OnlineFirst. Thank you to our contributors! @annenbergpenn.bsky.social @cdcspenn.bsky.social
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
I was quoted in this very interesting story on nationalism among overseas Chinese youth. Why and how do some young nationalists start questioning their unwavering loyalty? Read Shen’s report.
Shen Lu@shen-lu.bsky.social · 2y agoThe patriotic zeal of "little pinks" doesn’t go deep, said @weirongguo.bsky.social, who found half of the students she interviewed embraced democratic ideals. Within this group, a third were former "little pinks." For many, the trigger was Beijing's Covid response. www.wsj.com/world/china/...
I created a starter pack for sociologists studying China: go.bsky.app/NetJdDm. We study China’s labor, gender, family, inequality, organizations, education, professions, media, civil society, protests, immigration, as well as politics and history. Let me know if you want to be added (or removed).
In these troubling times, we should return to Stuart Hall, a remarkable political thinker and cultural analyst. #socialtheory #sociology
Stuart Hall, An Intellectual for Times of Reaction
In troubling times, we should return to Stuart Hall, a remarkable political thinker and cultural analyst.
theorybrief.com
The article is out in ASR! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
The Culture of Censorship: State Intervention and Complicit Creativity in Global Film Production - Jun Fang, 2024
How does state censorship shape global creative production? To explore the merger of art and the state in a global context, I adopt a micro-sociological approac...
journals.sagepub.com
Jun (Philip) Fang@philipjfang.bsky.social · 3y agoForthcoming in ASR: “The Culture of Censorship.” In it, I develop a micro-sociological model of censorship and coin the term “complicit creativity” that captures the censor-creator symbiosis. 🎬
Forthcoming in ASR: “The Culture of Censorship.” In it, I develop a micro-sociological model of censorship and coin the term “complicit creativity” that captures the censor-creator symbiosis. 🎬
