The Chinese Journal of Sociology (CJS)—a peer-reviewed international journal of Shanghai University and the Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China at Princeton University, published by SAGE—invites submissions for a special issue on “AI and Society,” planned for publication in January 2028. 

Generative models, recommender systems, embodied robots, and AI-mediated platforms are no longer external technical gadgets but constitutive infrastructures of contemporary social life. They reshape how people work, care, love, learn, govern, and imagine the future. So far, research on AI and society remains fragmented across computational social science, science and technology studies, labor studies, and policy literature. This special issue asks: how does AI impact social structures, cultural meanings, and inequalities, and how does AI advance social inquiry?

Preferred themes include, but are not limited to:

01 Social Simulation, Computational Methods, and AI-Assisted Survey Research

Agent-based modeling, large-language-model agents, and virtual populations as sociological instruments

Epistemological and methodological limits of AI-driven social simulation; responsible simulation design, validation against real-world data, and the politics of model assumptions

Generative AI in sociological data collection: the use of LLMs for questionnaire design, survey implementation, quality monitoring, and data management; synthetic data and respondent emulation

Computational text and image analysis: AI-assisted qualitative coding, thematic analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, and the integration of generative tools in mixed-methods designs

02 AI Governance, Values, and Algorithmic Power

How societal values, norms, and institutional logics are encoded, ignored, or contested in AI systems

Value alignment as a sociological problem: whose values, which publics, what governance?

Algorithmic fairness, accountability, transparency, and explainability in bureaucratic and organizational contexts

Cross-cultural and comparative perspectives on AI ethics, regulation, and sociotechnical imaginaries in Chinese and other societies

03 AI, Labor, and Cultural Economies

Automation, augmentation, gigification, algorithmic management, and the reorganization of occupational structures

Platform labor, data work, content moderation, and the hidden supply chains of AI (e.g., data labeling, ghost work)

Generative AI and creative industries: copyright, cultural labor, creative precarity, and the politics of everyday creativity

AI in journalism, automated content production, synthetic media, deepfakes, and the political economy of information ecosystems

04 AI, Intimacy, Care, and Social Reproduction

AI and intimate relations, dating, marriage, sexuality, and parenthood

AI in eldercare, childcare, and family caregiving; robotic companions, emotional labor, and the commodification of care

Emotional AI, affective computing, and the algorithmic mediation of feelings

05 AI, Health, and Education

Medical AI, clinical decision-making, and the transformation of professional authority and boundary work

AI in education: academic integrity, cognitive offloading, personalized learning, and the redefinition of pedagogical relationships

AI literacy, digital inclusion, and the stratification of access, benefit, and harm across social groups

06 AI-Mediated Communication, Networks, and Collective Behavior

Impact of AI-assisted recommender systems, evolving social networks, selective information exposure, and cultural consumption

AI-mediated communication and its consequences for interpersonal interaction, social influence, trust, identity, and community formation

AI-generated and algorithmically amplified content in processes of diffusion, polarization, misinformation, collective attention, and public opinion formation

Human–AI interaction at scale, including the emergence of hybrid human–AI groups, communities, markets, and collective intelligence

Guest Editors

Chunni Zhang

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Peking University

Junming Huang

Research Scientist, Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China, Princeton University

Yueqi Xie

Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Paul and Marcia Wythes Center on Contemporary China, Princeton University

Key Dates

September 9, 2026:

Abstract submission deadline. Abstracts (400–800 words) should briefly describe the research question, motivation, theoretical contribution, method/data or review framework, and preliminary findings (if any). Please include the title, author affiliation(s), and corresponding email. Send your submission to CJS@oa.shu.edu.cn with the subject line “AI and Society abstract.”

By September 28, 2026:

Authors of selected abstracts will be notified and invited to present in person at the 17th Workshop on Sociological and Demographic Research Methods (Peking University), October 23–24, 2026, Beijing. Please note that we will not send separate notifications to unselected abstracts.

Within 2 weeks after the workshop:

Final selection of contributors and invitation to submit full manuscripts.

Full manuscript deadline:

To be announced to invited authors (tentatively May 2027). Full papers must be submitted via the CJS portal https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cjsocio, indicating “Special Issue: AI and Society.” Submission guidelines: https://sage.cnpereading.com/author-instructions/CHS

Estimated publication:

The entire special issue is scheduled for formal publication in January 2028. However, each accepted paper will be published online first after editing and proofreading.

For inquiries, contact CJS@oa.shu.edu.cn.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could circulate this call widely.

Chinese Journal of Sociology（CJS），2015年3月创刊，季刊，是由上海大学主办、普林斯顿大学当代中国研究中心协办、SAGE出版发行的高水平国际化英文学术期刊，全程实行双向匿名评审。CJS已被ESCI（最新影响因子2.5，JCR Q1）、Scopus（最新引用分2.8，Q2）、ProQuest收录，在2025年中科院期刊分区表中位于3区，是中国人文社会科学期刊AMI综合评价入库期刊。

CJS注重理论研究、定量研究与质性研究之间的平衡，关注中国社会的本土问题，以本土和国际双重视角审视和解读中国在历史变革过程中所产生的社会公平、社会分层与流动、社会组织与治理、社会福利与政策，以及城镇化、移民、家庭、性别、环境等等一系列社会现象。

联系我们

地址：上海市宝山区南陈路333号上海大学东区3号楼209室，200444

电话：021-66135221

Email：CJS@oa.shu.edu.cn

官网：

https://journals.sagepub.com/home/chs (需VPN)

https://sage.cnpereading.com/home/chsa (国内镜像)

唯一官方投稿渠道：

https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cjsocio