Grace Kao

Grace Kao's picture
IBM Professor of Sociology and Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (Courtesy)
Education: 
Ph.D., Sociology, The University of Chicago, 1997
A.M., Sociology, The University of Chicago, 1992
A.B., University of California, Berkeley, Sociology and Oriental Languages (Chinese Literature), 1990
Areas of Interest: 
Race and Ethnicity; Immigrant Adaptation; Sociology of Education; Adolescence; Asian Americans; Korea; K-Pop
Address: 
493 College Street, Room 407
Phone number: 
203-432-3793
Email: 
g.kao@yale.edu
Website: 
https://campuspress.yale.edu/gracekao/
CV Link: 
Grace Kao CV

 

Grace Kao is IBM Professor of Sociology and Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (Secondary appointment, by courtesy) at Yale University. Her research focuses on: 1) Racial, Ethnic, and Immigrant Differences in Educational Outcomes and Transition to Adulthood; (2) Interracial Friendships and Romantic Relationships; (3) Sociology of Music, especially K-Pop and the Hallyu; and (4) Dating and Marriage in S. Korea. She has written numerous articles and books on these topics.

Her most recent books are Diversity and The Transition to Adulthood in America (2022; co-authored with Phoebe Ho and Hyunjoon Park, University of California Press) and The Company We Keep: Interracial Friendships and Romantic Relationships from Adolescence to Adulthood (2019; co-authored with Kara Joyner and Kelly Stamper Balistreri, Russell Sage Foundation). Her most recent article on K-Pop appears in the Journal of Popular Music Studies (“’I Need You’: The Importance of Audience Participation in Online K-pop Concerts During COVID-19”), co-authored with Wonseok Lee.

In addition to serving as Past Vice-President of the American Sociological Association, she has served as Council member for the Sections of Asia/Asian America and Sociology of Education. She also served as Chair of the Section of Children and Youth and on ASA’s Nominations Committee. She has also served on the Boards of the Population Association of America and the Association for Asian American Studies. 

According to Google Scholar, her work has been cited almost 18,000 times. 

She is a regular contributing columnist for The Korea Herald, Korea’s largest English-language newspaper, where she writes about K-Pop, the Korean Wave, and sociological topics.

 

Courses and Seminars

Undergraduate

  • SOCY 0074. Race and Place in British New Wave, K-Pop, and Beyond

  • SOCY 310. Hallyu: The Korean Wave Through K-Pop and K-Dramas

  • SOCY 1700. Race, Ethnicity and Immigration

Graduate

  • SOCY 663. Sociology of Education