Jean-Louis Rocca

Jean-Louis Rocca is a Full Professor at Sciences Po's Center for International Studies (CERI), specializing in China's sociopolitical transformations. His research examines the interplay between state power and societal evolution through the lens of social stratification, middle class formation, and popular contestation.

Rocca holds advanced degrees in sociology, economics, and Chinese language, culminating in a PhD from EHESS. His academic journey includes significant fieldwork in China: serving as scientific advisor to Tsinghua University's Humanities and Social Sciences Antenna (2003-2011), and earlier as Visiting Professor at Renda University (2000-2002). This deep immersion informs his distinctive analytical framework that bridges Western social theory and Chinese scholarly discourse.

His research program centers on China's political sociology through three interconnected strands:

• Evolution of local governance and social policies
• Formation and political subjectivity of China's urban middle classes
• Manifestations of social contestation in controlled public spheres

Particularly innovative is his 'micro-political' approach that analyzes power relations in everyday interactions rather than institutional formalism, revealing how citizens navigate authoritarian constraints through homeowners' movements, digital activism, and labor protests.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2013-2024) reveals consistent thematic development: early work established theoretical foundations for understanding middle class formation without electoral democracy; mid-career studies documented spatial and cultural dimensions of social stratification; recent scholarship pivoted to crisis governance (pandemic responses) and digital authoritarianism (social credit systems), demonstrating remarkable adaptability to China's rapidly changing sociopolitical landscape while maintaining core analytical commitments.

As principal investigator for the Dealing with a Resurgent China (DWARC) project, Rocca leads a major research initiative examining China's societal transformations and their global implications. His advisory role at Tsinghua University previously facilitated critical knowledge exchange between Chinese and European social sciences, shaping contemporary China studies through collaborative frameworks that center Chinese scholarly perspectives often marginalized in Western academia.