... James Y. Chu
James Chu

James Chu

Assistant Professor

Columbia University

Biography

Hi! I’m an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, where I study social stratification, economic and organizational sociology, and political polarization.

I write about how social institutions foster inequality and conflict: What role do ranking systems play in the reproduction of unequal access to higher education? Do reputations introduce self-fulfilling cycles that widen achievement gaps among students? Do status hierarchies insulate people from aggression or expose them to it? I also evaluate potential solutions to social inequality and conflict. I rely on social network analysis, field experiments, and quasi-experimental methods of causal inference.

You can find my work in journals like American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Administrative Science Quarterly, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Journal of Labor Economics.

Interests

  • inequality and stratification
  • economic and organizational sociology
  • politics and political polarization
  • education

Education

  • PhD in Sociology

    Stanford University

  • MA in Sociology

    Stanford University

  • BS in Human Biology

    Stanford University