Jooyoung Lee, PhD

Adventures in aging…Today I made a passing reference to Saved by the Bell and none of my 4th year university students knew what I was talking about. Just blank stares 😂. Excuse me while I go and have my soup with a side of mid afternoon existential crisis 🫠

Just got the cover art from the press! Dropping in March 2026!

"The Walking Wounded: Festering and Ricocheting Trauma after Gun Violence" is coming out in March 2026 on U of Chicago Press! Excited, relieved, and a bit anxious as one always feels whenever you wrap up a big project.

Thank you!

Got the best news today from my editor…My new book “Gunshot” got approval from the University of Chicago editorial and faculty committees and is now “forthcoming”! It’s been a long, long road. 10+ years coming to fruition 😌

There’s no coming back if a POTUS ignores a Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling. Different branches of federal government exist to check and balance against tyranny. Regardless of your politics, this is a pivotal moment with immense downstream effects.

Some 🦋 friends don’t know this, but I have published work on serial homicide investigations and have been in a number of serial killer documentaries. Just got a Google notification that CTV is showing Catching a Serial Killer, which originally debuted on Oxygen and is now streaming on CTV. 🎥

The struggle is real! But we persist 😊

Sometimes flailing is progress. Channeling this mantra as I struggle with this new paper. 🫠

Pretty cool reading a peer reviewed article by a former undergrad who is now a PhD candidate. You don't see them for years and then one day you come across their very helpful article. The teacher learning from the student. A true full circle. ☺️

the struggle is real!

One of my challenges as an academic is balancing the backlog of papers that are collecting dust on my hard drive with the pull of new ideas that appear in a flash of inspiration. This sabbatical has mostly been about catching up, but now I’m nerding out over a BJJ study that has me excited again.🙃

Major research universities are already bending the knee to Trump’s anti-DEI crusade, which just exposes how silly and overblown the “Marxist brainwashing camp” narrative really is. That was always a red herring. Academics know that universities are neoliberal corporations chasing funding.

Virtual Detectives: Exploring Homicide Investigations and the Black Dahlia with LA Noire - Jooyoung Lee, 2025 This article explores how I use LA Noire, an open-world detective video game, to teach students about homicide investigations. Specifically, I use the video gam...

Here's a link to the article: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Just published a new article on using L.A. Noire to teach Sociology students about serial homicide investigations.This was a sneak peak into my teaching methods, which include video games and streaming on Twitch.Very stoked that the article includes hyperlinks to Twitch clips from my streams 👀🎮📚

I was lucky to have great mentors at UCLA, but this wasn't a formal part of our training. It's such a hard skill to learn, but very important in my opinion.

There is an art to writing cover letters in response to academic reviewers (especially when they're harsh). It is one of the most sacred and challenging forms of scholarly combat. How many scholars feel like this was part of their training in their PhD program?

My toxic academic trait is that I use Apple Pages and prefer it over MS Word by a long shot.

What are you all doing to maintain your mental health during these dystopian days? I have to almost intentionally tune out at times or else it negatively impacts my mood, how I parent, etc. Hoping you all have good self care on standby.

Amazing when you have open lanes like that. My pool in Toronto is almost never like that.

I miss that place. Strawberry Canyon during the Spring has a fond place in my memory.

I love the vibes. Projector, red lava lamp. Perfect ambiance for Lynch films.

You love to see it.

Definitely wanna check the book out now. We watched the movie with our 5 year old and he loved it. Such a sweet story. Thanks for the recommendation.

I recently read a Reddit post from a PhD candidate debating whether to attend their grandma’s funeral or their dissertation defense, and it perfectly encapsulates academia’s toxic grind culture to a T. The fact that this is even a question shows how academia can warp your priorities 😔

Revisiting Interaction Ritual Chains by Randall Collins (2004) and blown away by this passage. He really foresaw how addicting social media would become. Sabbatical is all about returning to my microsociological roots, and it feels like I'm coming home.

We know you're thinking about culture and society rightabout now -- why not write something up for @contexts.org's culture section? contexts.org/submission-g... Reach out to section editor @joojitsulee.bsky.social with your ideas, because the more sociology the better right now, eh?

About 75% of firearms used in Canadian crimes originate in the U.S. The Orange dude loves talking about border enforcement but why aren’t leaders up here also talking about how lax U.S. gun laws fuel violence beyond its borders including in Canada? The costs of this violence are paid by taxpayers 🤔

Metaphor is such a fascinating tool in sociological theorizing. One more reason why social scientists should read more fiction.

Wow, incredible event, wish I could attend this!