Min Zhou

Min Zhou (born July 14, 1956 in Zhongshan), is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is the founding chair of the University's Department of Asian American Studies. Zhou has worked with Carl L. Bankston to expand the definition of social capital to not only include the resources held by individuals or groups, but also the processes of social interaction leading to constructive outcomes. This work and redefinition has helped spur the modern understanding of social capital and its interplay between power groups.

Zhou's other sociological insights have been primarily within the fields of immigrant life and ethnic assimilation, particularly focused on the Asian American community. She has authored or co-authored two noted books spotlighting various sociological aspects of immigrant life—Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (Temple University Press, 1992) and Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States (Russell Sage Foundation Press, 1998). Zhou was also the coeditor of Contemporary Asian America (New York University Press, 2000) and Asian American Youth: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity (Rutledge, 2004).