Yang Su

Yang Su is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), affiliated with the School of Social Sciences. His research focuses on political violence, revolution, and social movements, with a particular emphasis on state responses to protest in China and comparative historical analysis. He holds a dual expertise in ethnography and statistical methods. Su has authored two major books: *Collective Killings in Rural China during the Cultural Revolution* (2011) and *Deadly Decisions in Beijing: Succession Politics, Protest Repression and the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre* (2023), which have received prestigious awards including the Barrington Moore Book Prize and honorable mentions from the American Sociological Association.

His research interests span labor disputes, state repression, and the historical memory of contentious politics. He teaches graduate courses like *Comparative Contentious Politics* and undergraduate courses such as *Social Movements and Revolution*. Su’s work bridges empirical rigor with theoretical innovation, examining how state institutions shape—and are shaped by—collective action.

• Awards: 2022 Barrington Moore Book Prize; 2024 Honorable Mention ASA Distinguished Scholarly Book Award
• Teaching: Graduate courses on contentious politics, undergraduate courses on socialism and social movements
• Methodology: Mixed-methods approach combining ethnography and statistical analysis

Su has published extensively on topics such as labor protests in China, the Tiananmen Square protests, and comparative genocide studies. His scholarship critically engages with authoritarian governance, state-society relations, and the legacies of Maoist policies.