Jacob Reidhead
I am a sociologist specializing in the politics of East and Central Asia. My broader intellectual enterprise, Organization of Power, investigates the social structures underlying the exercise of power and interrogates prevailing individualist and institutionalist theories of power.
I obtained my PhD in sociology from Stanford University in 2020. Before beginning my PhD, I was a data analyst for a Honolulu-based analytics consulting firm, SMS Research, and a program officer for the non-profit, Mercy Corps. My predoctoral training also includes a B.S. in mathematics from Arizona State University and an M.S. in statistics from the Ohio State University.
I currently work as an assistant professor of Asian Studies at National Chengchi University in Taipei. At NCCU I hold a tenure-track position in the College of Social Sciences and am affiliated with the International Doctoral Program in Asia-Pacific Studies (IDAS). Prior to my current position, I was an assistant professor of social science at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
I was raised in Tempe, Arizona and consider myself a native Arizonan. I came of age in South Korea and have spent much of my adult life in Seoul. In 2008 and 2009, I spent six months in North Korea monitoring a USAID food program. Over the years I have lived in Almaty, Chengdu, Columbus, Heber, Honolulu, Kaohsiung, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Sinuiju, Taipei and Tempe. I speak fluent Korean, conversational Chinese, and have recently embarked on Russian.
My research explores power from a structural perspective, in the specific place and time of contemporary Asia. But beyond the here and now, what did power relations look like throughout human history, and what might social power entail in the years to come, as humans reach for the stars? For speculative glimpses into our plausible pasts and futures, I turn to science fiction, historical fiction, noir, Russian and East Asian literature, comic books, video games and the newly emerging field of astrosociology. I appreciate the affinities between the world-building of genre fiction and structural analysis in the social sciences.
Positions
| Assistant Professor | National Chengchi University, Taipei | 2023-present |
| Assistant Professor | KIMEP University, Almaty | 2022-2023 |
| Post-Doctoral Research Fellow | Taiwan MOFA, Kaohsiung | 2021 |
Education
| PhD Sociology | Stanford University | 2012-2020 |
| MA Sociology | University of Washington, Seattle | 2009-2012 |
| MS Statistics | Ohio State University | 2006-2008 |
| MSE Information Security | Korea University, Seoul | 2005-2006 |
| BS Mathematics | Arizona State University | 1997-2005 |
Publications
| Reidhead, J.A. (2023). Decamping the Partisans: US Hegemony and South Korea’s Divisive Discourse on North Korean Human Rights. Korean Studies. |
| Cook, K. and Reidhead, J. A (2022). Social Trust. In Melenovsky, C. (Ed.). Routledge Handbook of Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Routledge, 439-450. |
| Reidhead, J. A. (2020). Nomination Patronage and Party Splitting: Comparing Intraparty Politics in South Korea and Taiwan [Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University]. |
| Reidhead, J.A. (2018). Prisoner’s Dilemma of Movement Nationalization: North Korean Human Rights in South Korea, 1990-2016. In Yeo, A. and Chubb, D. (Eds.). North Korean Human Rights: Activists and Networks. Cambridge University Press. |
Works in Progress
| Song, Esthera, Jacob Reidhead and Jeongsue Parkb (Korea University). Introducing Career Transition Data on Elites in North Korea (1948 – 2021). Co-author affilations: aUniversity of Bergen, bKorea University. Received “Revise and Resubmit” from Journal of East Asian Studies. |
| Nygmet Ibadildina, Jacob Reidhead, Mukhamejan Bazarova and Maiya Talipovaa. Liberal Framing in Illiberal Regimes: January 2022 Protest Violence in Kazakhstan’s State-Controlled Media. Co-author affiliation: aKIMEP University. Submitted to Political Communication. |
| Song, Esthera and Jacob Reidhead. Personnel Management as a Credible Commitment Mechanism During Successions: Evidence from North Korea. Co-author affilations: aUniversity of Bergen. Preparing manuscript for a comparative politics Special Edition. |
| Reidhead, Jacob. Position Patronage: A Novel Measure and Comparative Study of Career Politics in South Korea and Taiwan. Preparing manuscript for Social Networks. |
| Reidhead, Jacob and Jinhyeok Janga. Inheriting Elected Office: Political families and their electoral consequences in Taiwan and South Korea. Co-author affiliations: aNational Sun Yat-Sen University. Preparing manuscript for Taiwan Political Science Review. |
| Reidhead, Jacob and Mukhamejan Bazarova. Dispossessing the Nazarbayev’s: A Case Study in Authoritarian Power Transitions. Co-author affiliations: aKIMEP University. Manuscript received Best Paper Award at 3rd Tsinghua Area Studies Forum in Beijing, 2023. Preparing manuscript for Central Asian Review. |
Grants
| New Faculty Research Grant: Local Politics in Taiwan | Taiwan NSTC, 2024-2025, $40,000 USD |
| NCCU New Faculty Research Grant: North Korean Elite Management | National Chengchi University, 2023, $3000 USD |