Sida Liu is Professor at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law. He holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Sociology. Professor Liu’s research interests include sociology of law, organizations and professions, sociological theory, political sociology, criminal justice and human rights, and globalization. He has conducted extensive empirical research on various aspects of China’s legal reform and legal professions. In addition to his empirical work, Professor Liu also writes on theories of law, professions, and social spaces.
Professor Liu is the author of three books in Chinese and English, including The Lost Polis: Transformation of the Legal Profession in Contemporary China (Peking University Press, 2008), The Logic of Fragmentation: An Ecological Analysis of the Chinese Legal Services Market (Shanghai Joint Publishing Co., 2011), and Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work (with Terence C. Halliday, Cambridge University Press, 2016). He has also published many articles in leading law and social science journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, Canadian Review of Sociology, Sociological Theory, European Journal of Social Theory, Symbolic Interaction, Sociology of Development, Governance, China Quarterly, Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Asian Journal of Law and Society, etc. Most recently, Professor Liu has co-edited The Asian Law and Society Reader (with Lynette J. Chua and David M. Engel, Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Professor Liu has served as Chair of the Section on Sociology of Law at the American Sociological Association and Board Member of the Law & Society Association, the Asian Law & Society Association, the Canadian Law & Society Association, and the Consortium of Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs. Before joining the HKU faculty, Professor Liu taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his LLB from Peking University Law School and his PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. In 2016-2017, he was a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
PhD, Sociology, University of Chicago
LLB, Law, Peking University
Sociology of law
Organizations and professions
Sociological theory
Political sociology
Criminal justice and human rights
Globalization
2022-2023. Chair, Section on Sociology of Law, American Sociological Association.
2020. Winner, Distinguished Article Award, Asian Law & Society Association. (“Performing Artivism: Feminists, Lawyers, and Online Legal Mobilization in China.”)
2018. Runner-up, Best Paper Award, Journal of Professions and Organization. (“Boundaries and Professions: Toward a Processual Theory of Action.”)
2017. Honorable Mention, Distinguished Book Award, Asian Law & Society Association. (Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work.)
2016-2017. Member, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, NJ).
2016. Honorable Mention, Law & Society Association Article Prize. (“Law’s Social Forms: A Powerless Approach to the Sociology of Law.”)
2013. Departmental Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Member of the Faculty, Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2008-2009. Robert E. Park Lectureship, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago.
2008. Hetlage Prize for Doctoral Fellows, American Bar Foundation.
Books:
Chua, Lynette J., David M. Engel, and Sida Liu. 2023. The Asian Law and Society Reader. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Liu, Sida, and Terence C. Halliday. 2016. Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Journal Articles:
Liu, Sida, Daniel Blocq, Ali Honari, and Anson Au. 2022. “Professional Flows: Lateral Moves of Law Firm Partners in Hong Kong, 1994-2018.” Journal of Professions and Organization 9(1): 1-19.
Wang, Di, and Sida Liu. 2021. “Doing Ethnography on Social Media: A Methodological Guide to the Study of Online Groups in China.” Qualitative Inquiry 27(8-9): 977-987.
Liu, Sida. 2021. “Between Social Spaces.” European Journal of Social Theory 24(1): 123-139.
Liu, Sida. 2020. “Professional Impurities.” Research in the Sociology of Work 34: 147-167.
Wang, Di, and Sida Liu. 2020. “Performing Artivism: Feminists, Lawyers, and Online Legal Mobilization in China.” Law & Social Inquiry 45(3): 678-705.
Liu, Sida, and Terence C. Halliday. 2019. “The Ecology of Activism: Professional Mobilization as a Spatial Process.” Canadian Review of Sociology 56(4): 452-471.
Liu, Sida. 2018. “Boundaries and Professions: Toward a Processual Theory of Action.” Journal of Professions and Organization 5(1): 45-57.
Liu, Sida, and Hongqi Wu. 2016. “The Ecology of Organizational Growth: Chinese Law Firms in the Age of Globalization.” American Journal of Sociology 122(3): 798-837.
Liu, Sida, and Mustafa Emirbayer. 2016. “Field and Ecology.” Sociological Theory 34(1): 62-79.
Liu, Sida. 2015. “Law’s Social Forms: A Powerless Approach to the Sociology of Law.” Law & Social Inquiry 40(1): 1-28.
Liu, Sida. 2015. “Boundary Work and Exchange: The Formation of a Professional Service Market.” Symbolic Interaction 38(1): 1-21.
Liu, Sida. 2013. “The Legal Profession as a Social Process: A Theory on Lawyers and Globalization.” Law & Social Inquiry 38(3): 670-693.
Liu, Sida, and Terence C. Halliday. 2011. “Political Liberalism and Political Embeddedness: Understanding Politics in the Work of Chinese Criminal Defense Lawyers.” Law & Society Review 45(4): 831-865.
Liu, Sida. 2011. “Lawyers, State Officials, and Significant Others: Symbiotic Exchange in the Chinese Legal Services Market.” China Quarterly 206: 276-293.
Liu, Sida. 2008. “Globalization as Boundary-Blurring: International and Local Law Firms in China’s Corporate Law Market.” Law & Society Review 42(4): 771-804.