Yun Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan. With a theory-driven mixed-methods approach, Zhou’s research examines inequality and state-market-family relations through the lens of gender, marriage, and fertility. Intersecting the studies of population and politics, her current project investigates the demographic, political, and gendered consequences of China’s evolving reproductive governance. The first monograph from the project, The Incompatibility of Rights, is forthcoming at Cambridge University Press (Elements in Gender & Politics series). In addition to her academic publications, Zhou’s research and commentary on China’s population dynamics and gender politics have been featured in The BBC, The Guardian, The New York Time, Nikkei Asia, NPR, Reuters, The Washington Post, among others. 

Zhou received her BA in Urdu Literature from Peking University (2011), during which time she lived and studied for a year in Islamabad, Pakistan. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University in 2017, and completed her postdoctoral training at the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University.