Alex Long Chen

陈龙

2024-25 Visiting Scholar; Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Policy and Development Studies at China Agricultural University

Bio

Alex Long Chen (陈龙) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Social Policy and Development Studies at China Agricultural University. His research focuses on China’s digital economy and platform work, organization and management, the meaning of work among contemporary Chinese youths, and work skill. Chen’s forthcoming book, City Hummingbird, is about labor order and digital control of the platform economy in China. During six months working as a food delivery rider at one of the two biggest food delivery platform companies, Chen explored how platform companies manage millions of food couriers in the A.I. era. Chen also published A Journey of Discovering Sociology: What Sociology is in 20 Contemporary American Sociologists’ Eyes, a book he worked on while a Visiting Fellow in the Harvard Department of Sociology in 2016-17.

Research Interests: China’s digital economy and platform work, organization and management, meaning of work, work skill