Profile

I am a sociologist specializing in the politics of East and Central Asia. My research agenda, 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, an MSE in information security from Korea University, an M.S. in statistics from the Ohio State University, and an M.A. in sociology from the University of Washington.

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 where I 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.

Publications

Vo, T. H., & Reidhead, J. (2026). Navigating bilingualization: challenges and adaptation of Vietnamese master’s students in English-medium instruction under Taiwan’s bilingual 2030 policy. Asian Education and Development Studies, 1-19.

Song, E. E., Reidhead, J., & Park, J. (2025). Introducing Career Transition Data on Elites in North Korea. Journal of East Asian Studies, 25(1), 141-154.

Reidhead, J. A. (2023). Decamping the Partisans: US Hegemony and South Korea’s Divisive Discourse on North Korean Human Rights. Korean Studies, 47(1), 171-213.

Cook, K. S., & Reidhead, J. (2022). Social Trust. In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (pp. 439-450). Routledge.

Reidhead, J. (2020). Nomination patronage and party splitting: Comparing intraparty politics in South Korea and Taiwan (Doctoral dissertation). Stanford University.

Reidhead, J. (2018). A prisoner’s dilemma of movement nationalization: North Korean human rights in South Korea, 1990–2016. North Korean human rights: Activists and networks, 31-60.

Preprint

Reidhead, J. and Yerzhomartova, Ayazhan. (2026). Competing Loyalties, Hybrid Strategies: Elite Management in Authoritarian Regimes.

Reidhead, Jacob and Zhang, Yang, Taiwan’s Regional Legislators and Dominant Party Alignment (November 23, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5792422 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5792422

Ibadildin, Nygmet; Reidhead, Jacob; Bazarov, Muhamedzhan; Talipova, Maiya. (2025). Liberal Framing in Illiberal Regimes: January 2022 Protest Violence in Kazakhstan’s State-Controlled Media

Ibadildin, Nygmet; Reidhead, Jacob; Bazarov, Muhamedzhan; Talipova, Maiya. (2025). Loyal Uncertainty in Authoritarian Media: Elite Conflict and Framing during Kazakhstan’s Qandy Qantar (Bloody January) Protests.

Song, Esther and Reidhead, Jacob. (2025). Succession Politics in North Korea: The Strategic Role of Personnel Management.

In Progress

Reidhead, J. and Su, Evelyn. (2025). Introducing the Taiwan Political Careers Database. Research Note. [In progress]

Reidhead, J. and Wen, L.D. (2025). Introducing the Taiwan Political Families Database. Research Note. [In progress]

Reidhead, J. and Kao, Chia-Lin. (2026). Regional Party Leaders in Taiwan.

Reidhead, J. and Park, Jeongsue. (2025). The Sky is High and the Emperor is Far Away: Regional Economic Innovation in Post-Family North Korea

Reidhead, J. (2025). Political Networks and Organizations Framework