Victor G. Nee (born 1945) is an American sociologist and professor at Cornell University, known for his work in economic sociology, inequality and immigration. He published a book with Richard Alba entitled ''Remaking the American Mainstream'' proposing a neo-assimilation theory to explain the assimilation of post-1965 immigrant minorities and the second generation. In 2012, he published ''Capitalism from Below'' co-authored with Sonja Opper examining the rise of economic institutions of capitalism in China. Nee is the Frank and Rosa Rhodes Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Economy and Society at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. Nee received the

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

in 2007, and has been a visiting fellow at the

Russell Sage Foundation The Russell Sage Foundation is an American non-profit organisation established by Margaret Olivia Sage in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” It was named after her recently deceased husband, rail ...

in New York ( 1994–1995), and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1996-1997). He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Economics by

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, and the University of California at Santa Cruz where he obtained a BA in 1967. He received an MA in East Asian Studies from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and was a co-founder of the

Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars The Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS) was founded in 1968 by a group of graduate students and younger faculty as part of the opposition to the American participation in the Vietnam War. They proposed a "radical critique of the assumptio ...

—a group of faculty and graduate students who opposed America's intervention in Vietnam. As a graduate student in Sociology, he wrote with his wife Brett de Bary, ''Longtime Californ': A Documentary Study of an American Chinatown'' published by

Pantheon Books Pantheon Books is an American book publishing imprint with editorial independence. It is part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.Random House, Inc. Datamonitor Company Profiles Authority: Retrieved 6/20/2007, from EBSCO Host Business Source ...

which was selected by ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as one of the 10 best books in 1974. He later returned to Harvard University to complete his dissertation in Sociology, receiving an MA in 1975 and a PhD in 1977. Nee was an assistant and associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1977 to 1985. He joined the tenured faculty of the Department of Sociology at

in 1985 and held the Goldwin Smith Professor of Sociology from 1991 to 2011. He was chair of the Department of Sociology from 1997 to 2002, and was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Economy and Society from 2001 to 2018. In 2011, he was appointed the Frank and Rosa Rhodes Professor of Economic Sociology at Cornell University. In 2012, he was Global Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University, Abu Dhabi. He was elected in 2016 to serve as the president of the Eastern Sociological Society. Nee received various honors and awards, including a Fellowship from the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...

(1990-1991), and the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007. He was a Fellow at Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (1996-1997). In 2020 he was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. He has also received an honorary doctorate in economics from

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion new institutionalism, inequality and immigration. One of his contributions in the ''New Institutionalism in Sociology'' (1998) advances a networks-and-institutions approach. This and subsequent articles further an understanding of how norms and networks, and formal institutional elements combine and recombine to shape organizational action and economic performance. Nee contributed influential theories explaining a variety of macro-societal phenomena. He developed market transition theory, which launched a broad research program and debate on the interplay between market transition and change in the mechanisms of stratification. His book ''Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China'' co-authored with Sonja Opper (Harvard University Press 2012) explains the rise of dynamic capitalism in China. The book examines the emergence of new organizational and institutional forms, detailing how norms and networks promote economic performance in the absence of good government policies and formal institutions. In his book ''Remaking the American Mainstream'', co-authored with Richard Alba (Harvard University Press 2003) he advances a neo-assimilaton theory explaining the cumulative inclusion of post-1965 immigrants and their children in the institutional mainstream of American economy and society. The book compares the late European and new immigration from Latin America and Asia to the United States.

Selected articles and chapters

“On Politicized Capitalism” (with Sonja Opper) in ''On Capitalism'', edited by Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. “The New Institutionalism in Economics and Sociology.” In ''The Handbook of Economic Sociology ''(2nd ed.) edited by Neil Smelser and Richard Swedberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. "Path Dependent Societal Transformation: Stratification in Mixed Economies" (with Yang Cao). ''Theory and Society ''28 (1999): 799–834. "Norms and Networks in Economic and Organizational Performance." ''American Economic Review'' Vol. 87 (1998), No. 4, pp. 85–89. "Embeddedness and Beyond: Institutions, Exchange and Social Structure" (with Paul Ingram). In ''The New Institutionalism in Sociology'', edited by Mary Brinton and Victor Nee. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1998. "Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration" (with Richard Alba). ''International Migration Review'' (1997): 826–974. "Immigrant Self-Employment: The Family as Social Capital and the Value of Human Capital" (with Jimy Sanders). ''American Sociological Review'' 60 (1996):231-250. "The Emergence of a Market Society: Changing Mechanisms of Stratification in China." ''American Journal of Sociology'' 100 (1996): 908–949. "Job Transitions in an Immigrant Metropolis: Ethnic Boundaries and Mixed Economy" (with Jimy M. Sanders and Scott Sernau). ''American Sociological Review'' 59 (1994): 849–872. "Organizational Dynamics of Market Transition: Hybrid Forms, Property Rights, and Mixed Economy in China." ''American Sociological Review ''56 (1991): 267–282. "Social Inequalities in Reforming State Socialism: Between Redistribution and Markets in China." ''American Sociological Review'' 56 (1991): 267–282. "A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism." ''American Sociological Review'' 54 (1989): 663–681.

Books

* with Sonja Opper, ''Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012) *''On Capitalism'', Co-editor and contributor with Richard Swedberg (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007) *''The Economic Sociology of Capitalism''. Co-editor and contributor with Richard Swedberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005). *''Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and the New Immigration'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003). *''The New Institutionalism in Sociology'', coeditor and contributor with Mary Brinton (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1998). * with Brett de Bary Nee, ''Longtime Californ': A Documentary Study of an American Chinatown'' (New York,: Pantheon Books, 1973).

References

External links

Professor Victor Nee
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nee, Victor Cornell University faculty American sociologists Harvard University alumni 1945 births Living people University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Santa Cruz alumni