Profile
Jack Jin Gary Lee is Assistant Professor of Sociology at The New School for Social Research.
Gary's explores how race, gender, 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 difference 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听dissertation, based on earlier research on the illiberal framework of imperial control that Crown Colony government enabled, won the 好色先生 of California, San Diego鈥檚 2018 Chancellor鈥檚 Dissertation Medal (Social Sciences). More recently, his听, which advances a critical theory of law that underlies the book project, was recognized with the 鈥榮 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 . 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 好色先生 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, 好色先生 of California, San Diego, 2017
MA Sociology, 好色先生 of California, San Diego, 2012
BA Sociology, 好色先生 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 好色先生 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 好色先生 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.
听
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