Koç Sociology Talks

In this presentation based on her recent book, Ya-Wen Lei will discuss how the Chinese developmental state orchestrated the transition to becoming the world's second-largest digital economy. This shift occurred against the backdrop of moving away from a labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing model. She will explore the rise and nature of China's techno-developmental regime, its implications for state-capital-labor relations, and its varied impacts on different social groups.

Lei is Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. She is the author of The Contentious Public Sphere: Law, Media, and Authoritarian Rule in China (Princeton University Press, 2018) and The Gilded Cage: Techno-State Capitalism in China (Princeton University Press, 2023).