Bio 

Zhaodi Chen is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina. Her research interest centers on the sociology of media and information technologies, political sociology, gender and inequality, and computational social science. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2026. Prior to this, she received a M.A. degree from the University of Chicago.

Research

Substantive Research Interests: sociology of media and information technologies, gender and inequality, political sociology & social movements, digital sociology, gender-based violence, computational social science, mixed methods.

Research Overview: Broadly, Chen’s research explores how digital technologies mediate, shape, or challenge social control and inequalities. In both democratic and authoritarian contexts, her work examines who gets to speak, who is heard, how these processes are controlled and contested, and with what consequences for social and political life. Methodologically, she uses a range of tools, including computational and statistical methods, survey experiments, and in-depth interviews.

One of her current projects investigates the dynamics of online (in)visibility, focusing on the case of how survivors of gender-based violence navigates justice-seeking on Chinese social media. Her other projects explore how emerging systems of sociotechnical governance—such as digital platforms and AI systems—structure unequal experiences and participation in public spheres. Her works have been published on journals such as Socius, The Information Society, and the Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media.  

Teaching

SOCY 101 Introduction to Sociology

SOCY 398 Digital Society