As a qualitative sociologist, Pei-Chia’s research explores the complexity of intersecting social inequalities in everyday life, shaped by macropower dynamics such as globalization and international migration. Through her research, she seeks to foster critical dialogue between academia and the public.

“Pei-Chia is an outstanding scholar recognized for seamlessly combining rigorous and insightful research, timely and accessible analysis, and stellar teaching and mentorship,” says Stanford sociologist and APARC Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui, the Henri H. and Tomoye Takahashi Professor and Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies and a senior fellow at FSI. “Her appointment marks a consequential milestone for APARC’s Taiwan Program and for Taiwan studies at Stanford. We are thrilled to welcome her to our campus community.”

Pei-Chia’s scholarly articles have been published in Ethnic and Racial Studies, International Migration Review, The Sociological Review, and Comparative Migration Studies, among others. She is also the author of several books in Chinese and English, the latter including Raising Global Families: Parenting, Immigration and Class in Taiwan and the US (Stanford University Press, 2018), which examines how ethnic Chinese parents in Taiwan and the United States negotiate cultural differences and class inequality to raise children in the contexts of globalization and immigration; and Global Cinderellas: Migrant Domestics and Newly Rich Employers in Taiwan (Duke University Press, 2006), which won a Distinguished Book Award from the Sex and Gender Section of the American Sociological Association and ICAS Book Prize: Best Study in Social Science from the International Convention of Asian Scholars.

Pei-Chia received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from National Taiwan University, and her doctorate in sociology from Northwestern University. From 2024-2025 she was a Stanford-Taiwan Social Science Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

“I am delighted to join the FSI community and look forward to leading the Taiwan Program,” said Pei-Chia. “I am grateful for the strong foundation built by former Director Gi-Wook Shin and Interim Director Karen Eggleston, as well as for the generosity of the donors who have supported the program.” 

Pei-Chia also shared her vision for the program: “Taiwan stands at the intersection of many of the most important issues of our time—democracy, geopolitics, technological innovation, migration, demographic transition, and cultural transformation. Taiwan deserves to be studied and understood not only on its own terms, but also for what it can teach us about a rapidly changing world. I hope to build the Taiwan Program into a vibrant intellectual hub that connects Taiwan and North America, brings greater visibility to the rich scholarship of the Taiwan studies community, and places Taiwan in dialogue with other Asian societies through a transnational and comparative lens.”