James Lee

Name: James Lee

Title(s):

• Professor

Contact Information: jql@umich.edu

International Institute Affiliation(s):

• CCS
• CICS

Department Affiliation(s):

• History
• Sociology

Research/Teaching Specialization: Professor Lee completed his doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1983, and joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 2003. His areas of research and teaching interest include Chinese history (late imperial and contemporary); Chinese society and economy (demography, ethnicity, fiscal, frontier, social organization, and social mobility); Non-standard sources for Chinese history (historical and contemporary archives, field work, genealogies, inscriptions, and oral history); Science and technology in contemporary China (physics); Comparative demography and sociology of populations in the past (West Europe and East Asia); Comparative demography and sociology of contemporary populations (China and Zambia); Historical sociology; Genealogy and genetics. His book "Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900," with Tommy Bengtsson and Cameron Campbell, was published by MIT Press in April 2004. This highly original book -- the first in a series analyzing historical population behavior in Europe and Asia -- pioneers a new approach to the comparative analysis of societies in the past. This past fall, the American Sociological Association's Asia and Asian American Section gave "Life Under Pressure" its award for best book on Asia in 2005.