Project summary

I would like to raise GBP8,000 to cover the book subvention costs/publication contribution required by Anthem Press to publish my fully researched, 80,000-word book, entitled "Gen Z: Redefining Work, Success and the Digital Future" (with eight chapters, an Epilogue, 54 figures, nine tables). The manuscript is already fully developed and empirically grounded (comparing Gen Z with preceding generations, especially millennials, across different domains, including social media and GenAI use). I programmatically compiled, curated and documented the Gen Z, Social media, Society and Technology (Gen Z SEMST) Dataset, covering 742 data points extracted from eight American/British/Global survey reports published between 2024 and 2025 by sources like Deloitte, Ofcom and the Pew Research Centre. The dataset was deposited on the public-access Harvard Dataverse (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZYXGZV), alongside the supporting codebook and Python code scripts. All 54 figures and nine tables were computationally built from this dataset, which means all empirical findings presented throughout my book allow for reproducibility and replicability to support open-science principles.

Anthem Press has completed their initial editorial assessment. They commented that this book project is of good scholarly quality on a timely subject of growing academic, professional and general public interest, and has issued a signed Letter of Intent (dated 15th July 2026: https://aiinsocietyhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Generation-Z-Redefining-Work-Success-and-the-Digital-Future-Letter-of-Intent.pdf) to facilitate my funding searching to cover the book subvention costs. They specifically mentioned the book subvention costs will cover copyediting, project management, marketing and indexing endeavours to maximise the academic potential of the publication. I already discussed with the University of Cambridge (where I finished my PhD in 2025) and Chulalongkorn University (where I am currently based in Bangkok to undertake an academic postdoctoral fellowship). Unfortunately, both the University of Cambridge and Chulalongkorn University replied to me that they only cover open-access research papers published in journals, where other forms of publication, such as monographs, book chapters, review articles, are beyond the scope that they can consider for funding.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Existing scholarship on Gen Z focuses on unidimensional contextual discourse or statistical analysis (such as their work ethics in work place, their mental health, their social media use, their individual and social values/priorities, their trust level, attitude an prevalence on GenAI use, etc). My book, with a full chapter of setting up the theoretical framework and the presentation of empirical findings throughout the monograph, is designed to cover all these dimensions holistically and study the nuanced interrelationships between them. Moreover, unlike existing competing titles, my book, with the supporting Gen Z SMST dataset, compares Gen Z's attitudes, ethics, values and preferences with those held by the preceding generations. Empirically, I used my data engineering and data science expertise to transform eight unstructured survey reports (in American, British and/or global contexts) into structural data following a 19-variable schema. Theoretically, I borrowed many established theories and concepts in sociology and adjacent fields, such as economic theories with sociological implications and psychological theories. My book articulates existing arguments, theoretical/conceptual contributions and empirical findings, and presents nuances and insights that relevant literature fails to deliver.

My book does not only examine sociological issues at the generation/population level, but also at the societal level. For example, meritocracy, social construction and reproduction of (dis)advantages, the engagement and landscape of the content creator economy are all comprehensively discussed with supporting theoretical grounding and empirical findings, so as to, in a timely fashion, address how Gen Z's attitudes, preferences, values and work ethics shape the societal transition, and vice versa.

How will this funding be used?

The full GBP8,000 (= ~USD11,000) will be paid to Anthem Press as the publication contribution/book subvention costs specified in the Letter of Intent. Per the press's editorial assessment, the contribution will be used to cover copyediting, project management, marketing support and the preparation of comprehensive indexing work. The Acquisition Editor of Anthem Press highlights that my book has 63 original figures and tables, so indexing helps maximise the value for researchers and library users. None of the funding will be used to compensate my time to develop this book retrospectively. As clearly stated on the Letter of Intent, Anthem Press requires GBP 8,000 (= ~USD11,000) to cover the aforementioned costs. I do not, and will not, use any part of the funding for personal use/compensation.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

This is a single-authored book project where the full manuscript is developed. I am a quantitative sociologist and social epidemiologist by training, holding a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at (Bangkok's) Chulalongkorn University, a Pulse Research Fellow at the Internet Society, a CORDA Democracy Fellow and a forthcoming CSEAS Visiting Fellow at Kyoto University (offer accepted, start in March 2027 on a computational social science project to map, track and address digitalised gender inequalities). To date, I have already published five monographs with established publishers such as Routledge, Springer, ISEAS Publishing and Emerald Publishing (as demonstrated on my CV: my professional website is at https://jasonhungresume.com/ and my CV is at https://jasonhungresume.com/cv.pdf). Moreover, I have over 30 peer-reviewed academic publications (Google Scholar: Citations: 571, h-index: 10, i10-index: 10) and numerous publicly accessible datasets (mostly covering and documenting global panel AI data such as the Global AI Dataset (GAID) Project at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/gaidproject). Furthermore, I have (co-)built different open-source AI initiatives, some being featured on my site, AI in Society, at https://aiinsocietyhub.com/.

Nowadays, most academic publishers require the authors themselves to seek book subvention funding before the manuscripts can be accepted for publication (and of course, only after passing external peer reviews). For my recent encounters, other than Anthem Press, a commissioning editor at UBC Press also noted whether a academic monograph submission passing external peer review can be considered for publication is contingent on securing book subvention funding.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The most likely cause of failure is simply that I am unable to secure book subvention funding. The initial editorial assessment from Anthem Press already indicated that my monograph is of good scholarly quality and they appreciate my time to develop a book of such depth. It is noteworthy that my book was previously submitted to another UK publisher (Intellect Books). The external peer review feedback suggests that my initial submission lacked empirical research. Therefore, I already spent the first five months of 2026 re-developing my monograph by compiling/documenting/publishing the Gen Z SMST dataset (deposited on Harvard Dataverse), followed by rewriting my book and adding an Epilogue). Upon redeveloping this book, I recently submitted my full manuscript + a book proposal to Anthem Press for publication consideration. To reiterate, as an early-career scholar who always supports open-science principles, I have made the dataset used for empirical research publicly accessible to optimise transparency, reproducibility and replicability.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

Anthem Press only informed me last week that the initial editorial assessment outcome is positive and I need to secure book subvention funding before they can consider my submission for publication. They then issued the Letter of Intent on 15th July 2026 for me to seek book subvention funding. Since last week, I had already reached out to both the University of Cambridge and Chulalongkorn University to seek book subvention funding. Unfortunately, both institutions replied that they only have available funding for open-access research papers published in journal outlets, and cannot support any monograph publication financially.