Wen Xie is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Peking University. She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 2021. Her research focuses on sociology of transition, generations and social change, historical sociology, and comparative urban studies. Her dissertation, “The Making of the Chinese Rust Belt: Generation and Social Change in Northeast China, 1950s-2010s,” explores a generational approach for examining the market underdevelopment phenomenon of the former socialist industrial heartland in Northeast China. Her work was recognized with the Philip A. Kuhn Dissertation Prize in Chinese Studies from the University of Chicago and received an honorable mention for the Reinhard Bendix Student Paper Award from the Comparative Historical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. After completing her dissertation, Dr. Xie has advanced her research into two directions. The first delves into the sociological underpinnings of regions afflicted by industrial decline, with an emphasis on theorizing how they progressed from the past to their current state. To enrich her analysis, she has conducted more comparative studies, both internationally and within China. The second research direction aims to develop a generational lens for understanding social change within social science.
Project Statement: Industrial Echoes: Transition Pathways and the Political Legacy of Deindustrialization in the American Rust Belt and Northeast China
The resurgence of populism in the Global North has been notably linked to the experiences of the white working class in regions affected by industrial decline. While the politics of resentment and Raymond Williams’ concept of the “structure of feelings” offer insightful explanations for this trend, they may not fully encapsulate the intricacies of the ensuing political shifts. This project undertakes a comparative analysis of the political legacies in the American Rust Belt and Northeast China, regions that both witnessed significant factory shutdowns during periods of neoliberal transformation, to challenge the adequacy of the “structure of feelings” framework in comprehensively addressing the political impacts of deindustrialization. It calls for a detailed exploration of “transitional pathways” that influence political legacies, highlighting the importance of understanding the position of deindustrialized areas within the global system, the ideological landscape of the respective countries, and institutional responses to industrial decline. This approach strives to deepen our understanding of the varied political responses to deindustrialization that have emerged since the twentieth century, urging a more holistic and integrated analysis of the socio-economic and political changes involved.
