Xiaoshuo Hou
Professor of Sociology and asian studies
Office: Tisch Learning Center 216
Phone: (518) 580-5427
Email: xhou@skidmore.edu
EDUCATION
- Ph.D. in Sociology, Boston University, 2008
- B.A. in English (with a concentration on International Business Communication), Nanjing University, China, 2002
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Development sociology, economic sociology, and the sociology of organizations with a particular focus on China and Asia
COURSES
- FYE: Eating and Being: Food, Culture, and Identity
- Sociological Perspectives
- Introduction to Asian Studies
- China and Globalization
- Food and Society
- Social Research Methods
- Economy and Society
BIOGRAPHY
In college, I was an English major with a concentration on international business communication for which I took a number of courses in economics and business. While I did well in those courses, grade-wise, I discovered that I was not particularly interested in studying the economy through the lens of economics (no offense to our exemplary colleagues in economics). Then I was exposed to the world of sociology right before I started to apply to graduate schools. I continued my journey in sociology as a PhD student at Boston University, and found my passion in studying the economy and development from sociological perspectives and using qualitative methods such as ethnography. My research focused on China’s experiences of development and an exploration of alternative models of development to the current neoliberal version of globalization. After receiving my PhD in Sociology from BU, I taught a year at UMass Amherst and six and a half years at St. Lawrence University where I discovered another passion of mine – teaching. At Skidmore, my passions in economic and development sociology and in teaching have continued to grow, and I hope to share these passions with students who are interested in learning about the social, economic, and political dynamics of development and globalization and about Asian societies.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Books
Young and Restless in China: Informal Economy, Gender, and the Precariat
Cambridge University Press, 2024
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
Wiley-Blackwell, 2020, co-edited with John Stone, Rutledge M. Dennis, and Polly Rizova.
Community Capitalism in China: The State, the Market, and Collectivism
Cambridge University Press, 2013 (Hardback), 2014 (Paperback)
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism
Wiley-Blackwell, 2016, five volumes, co-edited with John Stone,
Rutledge M. Dennis, Polly Rizova, and Anthony D. Smith
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
- Xiaoshuo Hou and Ping Li. 2020. “Whose Legitimacy? China’s Drive for Electric Vehicles.” Sociology of Development 6(1): 66-90. DOI: 10.1525/sod.2020.6.1.66.
- Xiaoshuo Hou. 2014. “Dissecting China’s Rise: Controversies over the China Model.” China Perspectives 2014(2): 61-67. (French version: Perspectives chinoises, 2014/2: 67-74).
- Xiaoshuo Hou. 2011. “From Mao to the Market: Community Capitalism in Rural China.” Theory, Culture & Society 28(2): 46-68. DOI: 10.1177/0263276410396917.