Jaemin Lee is an assistant professor of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Professor Lee is a co-theme leader (socio-spatial networks) of the Computational Social Science Laboratory at CUHK. Before joining CUHK, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute. He holds a PhD in sociology from Duke University and a BA and MA from Yonsei University. His dissertation work has been recognized by an Outstanding Dissertation-in-Progress Award from the American Sociological Association’s Mathematical Sociology Section.
Professor Lee is a computational sociologist who studies how social networks shape political, economic, and organizational behavior. His research uses network models and text analysis to identify and understand the structural mechanisms—ranging from hierarchy and cohesion to peer influence and boundary‑making—through which social systems both constrain and enable collective behavior. His current and past projects include:
- Political polarization using experiments, simulations, and text analysis
- Diffusion, homophily, and peer influence in student and consumer networks
- Machine‑learning approaches to status hierarchies among cultural producers
- Social capital and network advantages in microfinance groups
- Nationalism and its structural and cultural foundations
His work has appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sociological Methods & Research, Sociological Science, Socius, Journal of International Development, among others. Jaemin Lee has received support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council for projects on partisan common ground in social media (Early Career Scheme) and nationalism in South Korea (General Research Fund).
Professor Lee is an enthusiastic educator who strives to integrate quantitative research methods into students’ theoretical understanding in the age of data revolutions and artificial intelligence. He was honored with the Exemplary Teaching Award 2024 from the Faculty of Social Science at CUHK.
- Social Networks
- Computational Social Science
- Mathematical Sociology
- Political Sociology
Lee, Jaemin* and Yujie Li. 2026. “Activity Constraints and the Emergence of Non-scale-free Networks: Evidence from Hip-hop and Academia.” PLoS One. 21(3): e0345862. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345862 (equal contributions)
Lee, Jaemin* and Yujie Li. 2026. “A Machine Learning Approach to Preferential Attachment and Status Advantage in a Hip-Hop Collaboration Network.” Sociological Methods & Research. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1177/00491241261420812 (equal contributions)
Lee, Jaemin, David Lazer, and Christoph Riedl. 2025. “Complex Contagion in Social Networks: Causal Evidence from a Country-Scale Field Experiment.” Sociological Science. 12: 685-714. https://doi.org/10.15195/v12.a28
Tan, Qiang and Jaemin Lee*. 2025. “A Neural Network and Embedding Association-Based Approach to Nationalism Dictionary Creation.” 2025 IEEE 7th International Conference on Natural Language Processing (ICNLP). pp. 282-286.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICNLP65360.2025.11108444
Amstutz, Dominic and Jaemin Lee*. 2025. “Social Influence in the Public Expression of LGBTQ+ Support: The Case of Rainbow Flags in Residential Neighborhoods of a European City.” Socius. 11. https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231251353022
Lee, Jaemin* and Yujie Li. 2025. “Activity Constraints as a Mechanism for Non-Scale-Free Social Networks.” Pp. 305–15 in Complex Networks & Their Applications XIII, edited by H. Cherifi, M. Donduran, L. M. Rocha, C. Cherifi, and O. Varol. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-82431-9_25
Lee, Jaemin* and Mudit Kumar Singh. 2024. “Expansion , Cohesion and Diversity: The Network Advantages of Microfinance Groups in Indian Villages.” Journal of International Development. 36(1):559–586. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3828
Singh, Mudit Kumar and Jaemin Lee. 2020. “Social Inequality and Access to Social Capital in Microfinance Interventions.” International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 40(7): 575-588. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-01-2020-0024
Trinh, Sarah L., Jaemin Lee, Carolyn T. Halpern, and James Moody. 2019. “Our Buddies, Ourselves: Exploring the Role of Sexual Homophily in Adolescent Friendship Networks.” Child Development. 90(1): e132-e147. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13052
Bail, Christopher, Lisa Argyle, Taylor Brown, John Bumpuss, Haohan Chen, M.B. Fallin Hunzaker, Jaemin Lee, Marcus Mann, Friedolin Merhout, and Alexander Volfovsky. 2018. “Exposure to Opposing Views on Social Media Can Increase Political Polarization.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 155(37): 9216-9221. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115
| Year | Title of the Grant |
| 2022-2025 | Early Career Scheme, Research Grants Council |
| 2025-2028 | General Research Fund, Research Grants Council |
| Area | Supervisee |
|
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- SOCI 3229 Quantitative Data Analysis
- SOCI 3238 Digital Sociology
- SOCI 6010 Guided Studies I
- SOCI 6020 Guided Studies II
Department
- Member, Admissions Committee
- Member, Research Committee
- Associate Director & Leader of the Method Cluster, Executive Board of Centre for Population Research
- Member, Scholarships & Awards Committee
Faculty
- College Coordinator, Chung Chi College
- Committee Member, Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award Committee, Mathematical Sociology Section, American Sociological Association
last updated on 1 April 2026