Paul Willis is an ethnographer and cultural theorist and a founding editor of Ethnography. He gained his PhD at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies in 1972 where he remained as Senior Research Fellow for several years followed by professorships at Wolverhampton, Keele, Princeton and Beijing Normal Universities. His book Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs is a classic of modern sociology and cultural studies.
"‘Written in a lucid and witty style, Paul Willis’s book provides a uniquely penetrating lens to scrutinize the deeply held meanings and cultural nuances in China’s relentless pursuit of modernity. A landmark contribution to China studies as well as the sociology of education.’ Yunxiang Yan, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of The Individualization of Chinese Society ‘Paul Willis is a wonderful guide in surveying China’s jarring juxtapositions. His analysis of the ideological imbrication of communism, consumerism and Confucianism, and his close attention to the feelings of shame, stress and guilt experienced by the losers of China’s new rat race, are particularly insightful.’ Shehzad Nadeem, City University of New York “definitely worth reading” Michael W. Apple, Beijing Normal University ""Experimenting to break the boundary between academic and popular writing, Willis’ account of his China experience, with its poetic and forceful prose, is a great pleasure to read."" China Review International ""Willis has produced a work which deserves the wide readership that he was aiming for."" Journal of International and Comparative Education ""The book is riveting and bristles with profound insights about contemporary China that leaves the reader in awe of Willis’s brilliant scholarship."" American Journal of Sociology"