Profile
Jack Jin Gary Lee is Assistant Professor of Sociology at 麻豆传媒色情片 for Social Research.
Gary's explores how race and law shape the social logics and processes of statecraft and governance in modern empires and (post)colonial states. He is听working on a book,听,听on the significance of law and race in the making of "direct rule" in the modern British Empire. Focusing on the reconstitution of Jamaica and the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang and Malacca) as Crown Colonies in the nineteenth century, this project examines the structures, practices, and mythologies of "direct rule" in relation to colonies marked as "plural societies."
His dissertation on this topic won the University of California, San Diego鈥檚 2018 Chancellor鈥檚 Dissertation Medal (Social Sciences). More recently, his solo-authored, which was based on the book's findings, was recognized with the American Sociological Association Global and Transnational Sociology Section's 2024 Best Scholarly Article Award.
A developing thread of his scholarship has concerned the anxieties of colonial rule, as expressed in cases where officials crossed the line and threatened the myth of British superiority and prestige. At the heart of this intellectual endeavor stands his听 on the colonial origins of Singapore鈥檚 recently repealed 鈥済ross indecency鈥 law, Section 377A of the Penal Code. His findings have led to a focus on official misconduct in the modern British empire, particularly as they concern the intersections of racial difference, intimacies, and the affective aspects of colonial power.
Gary is collaborating with Professor Lynette J. Chua of the National University of Singapore on a historical-ethnographic project on the colonial and postcolonial governance of epidemics. This ongoing project, "Governing through Contagion," charts the origins and transformations of public health strategies, involving both human and nonhuman agencies, as colonial and postcolonial states in Asia fought the spread of contagious diseases. They convened an international workshop on the concept of governing through contagion in 2022. Its proceedings form the basis of an edited volume, .
Degrees Held
PhD Sociology, University of California, San Diego, 2017
MA Sociology, University of California, San Diego, 2012
BA Sociology, University of Chicago, 2007
Recent Publications
Books
Chua, Lynnette J. and Jack Jin Gary Lee (editors). 2024. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing (Hart).
Articles and Book Chapters (selected)
Historical Sociology | Race and Ethnicity
Lee, Jack Jin Gary and Kwai Hang Ng. 2026. 鈥.鈥 Pp. 72-90 in Marco Garrido, Marina Zaloznaya, and Nicholas H. Wilson (eds.), A Comparative Historical Sociology of Corruption, Cambridge University Press.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2025. 鈥," Pp. 262-283 in Legal Histories of Empire: Navigating Legalities, edited by Lyndsay Campbell and Shaunnagh Dorsett. New York: Routledge.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2024. 鈥.鈥 Law and Social Inquiry 49(3): 1396-1425.
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Winner of the American Sociological Association Global and Transnational Sociology Section鈥檚 2024 Best Scholarly Article Award
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2015. 鈥.鈥 Asian Journal of Law and Society 2(2): 229-249.
Law and Society | Global Health
Lee, Jack Jin Gary and Lynette J. Chua. 2023. 鈥.鈥 Law and Policy 45(3): 331-352.
Chua, Lynette J. and Jack Jin Gary Lee. 2021. 鈥.鈥 In , edited by Victor V. Ramraj. New York: Oxford University Press.
International Migration | Political Sociology
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2019. 鈥.鈥 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(13): 2508-2526.
Review Essays and Encyclopedia Entries
Lee, Jack Jin Gary, 2026. 鈥溾澨Critical Sociology (OnlineFirst).
Lee, Jack Jin Gary and Julia Ballester. 2025. ""听Law and Society Review听(FirstView).
Lee, Jack Jin Gary and Jack M. Wells. 2025. 鈥溾 Law & Society Review (FirstView).
Lee, Jack Jin Gary and Juli谩n G贸mez-Delgado. 2025. 鈥,鈥 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 11(1): 123-125.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2024. 鈥." Chapter 23 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Citizenship Studies, edited by Thomas Faist and Marisol Garc铆a Cabeza.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2021. 鈥,鈥澨Law and Society Review 55(3): 525-527.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2019. 鈥,鈥 Theory and Event 22(4): 1136-1140.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2019. 鈥.鈥 In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2nd Edition, edited by George Ritzer.
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Public and Professional Writings (selected)
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2025. 鈥.鈥澨Academia | SG: Promoting Scholarship Of/For/By Singapore.
Lee, Jack Jin Gary. 2023. 鈥.鈥 The Immanent Frame: Secularism, Religion, and the Public Sphere. Social Science Research Council.
Awards And Honors
2024-2025 Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnography & Social Thought (GIDEST) Faculty Fellow
2023-2024 Mellon Initiative for Inclusive Faculty Excellence Faculty Fellow