CHUNCHENG LIU

I am a sociologist of knowledge and technology who studies the politics of data and classifications. I am an Assistant Professor of Communication and Sociology at Northeastern University. I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft Research New England.

My current research investigates the politics of sociotechnical systems that surveil and classify citizens. I am a leading scholar of the Chinese social credit system project. My ongoing book project is the first ethnography that examines the design and implementation of a municipal social credit system that scores citizens with behavioral indicators. I have published articles on its constituents of metric, problematic adoption of machine learning, as well as the public perception of its expanding surveillance and punishment. I have also examined the organizational politics and public opinion surrounding contact tracing applications, generative AI tools, and government data-driven systems.

Previously, I have studied how public health institutions classify sexual minorities and COVID-19, an interest that stemmed from my earlier work on HIV/AIDS research and intervention.

My works have been published in leading journals such as Big Data & Society; Journal of Contemporary China, Social Science & Medicine; Sociological Forum; and Science, Technology & Human Values. I have received awards and funding from American Sociological Association, Association for Asian Studies, and Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and others. I have also been featured in various media outlets such as The Guardian, Bloomberg, and RestofWorld.