This is a brilliant piece on the restructuring of political competition in Western Europe and goes far beyond the question of populism. Great also for teaching.

From October 2025 - Educational Networks, Social Closure, and Cleavage Stabilization - cup.org/47ifc4B "we show that educational divides are diminished in the presence of countervailing networks" - @davidattewell6.bsky.social & @dpzollinger.bsky.social #OpenAccess

New Publication with @lhaffert.bsky.social in @ejprjournal.bsky.social! We study the role of generations in the urban-rural divide, which is increasingly shaping the politics of many democracies. Studying Switzerland, we show: The urban-rural divide is stronger among younger generations. (1/10) 🧵👇

New publication w/ my friend & amazing coauthor @fedetrastulli.bsky.social in @ejprjournal.bsky.social! 🎉 doi.org/10.1017/S147... We explore: Who considers which political issues as important & how is this related to sociodemographic/socioeconomic variables?

In this new paper, we use open-ended survey questions to study how people perceive (changes in) social hierarchies.  We show how and among whom status gains of women, ethnic minorities, or LGBTQ+ people are saliently perceived–namely among progressives, not just conservatives!

💡 How does moving to opportunity reshape political behavior? 🗞️ In our new BJPolS paper, @thmskrr.bsky.social and I show that residential relocations that increase access to opportunity foster political integration and shift political preferences to the left. 👉 tinyurl.com/46utjj65

NEW - Educational Networks, Social Closure, and Cleavage Stabilization - https://cup.org/47ifc4B "we show that educational divides are diminished in the presence of countervailing networks" - @davidattewell6.bsky.social & @dpzollinger.bsky.social #OpenAccess

Excited to have this paper on social networks as a mechanism for cleavage stabilization with @dpzollinger.bsky.social out! If we have you intrigued, also pairs with (and empirically engages) our theoretical piece on puzzles of contemporary cleavage research: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How are contemporary cleavage structures stabilized in times of declining mass social and political organizations? In this new paper with @davidattewell6.bsky.social @bjpols.bsky.social, we suggest that homogeneous social (educational) networks provide part of the answer. tinyurl.com/49cs8jwp

Share widely with your students in Switzerland 🇨🇭thinking about a PhD @eui-eu.bsky.social 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗨𝗜 𝗣𝗵𝗗 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 🇨🇭 21 Nov 2025 | 2:30pm CET @alissasiara.bsky.social introduces the program & life at EUI, I share my experience, and we answer your questions. 👉 Register: www.eui.eu/events?id=58...

NEW - Seeking Opportunity in the Knowledge Economy: Moving Places, Moving Politics? - https://cup.org/3LgxVos "moving to opportunity results in... more left-leaning self-identification, and lower support for far-right parties" - @valentinaconsiglio.bsky.social & @thmskrr.bsky.social #OpenAccess

How can we compare the size and structuring power of different cleavages over time? Check out @jacobgunderson.bsky.social 's great paper and dataset for scholars working on cleavages at the party system level! The latest from @dpzollinger.bsky.social and I's Special Issue in @wepsocial.bsky.social.

1st article from my dissertation is out in Perspectives today!! two takeaways: a) knowledge economy 'winners' may not be subject to status loss but they sure care about status preservation & b) this is consequential for their attitudes re: immigration & diversity. Thnx 2 all along this journey!!

Every academic career is built on rejection, but we don’t show it. 
CVs list publications, grants & awards, not rejected manuscripts, unfunded proposals, or failures. 
But those invisible rejections shape us more than our successes ever do. 👉 catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/fail-bette... 🧵

JUST OUT: "Boundaries and Cleavages: Elements of a Cultural Sociology of Political Divides." OA: direct.mit.edu/ecps/article... It develops what the cultural sociology of group formation can contribute to research on political cleavages. (And why "Somewheres vs Anywheres" really doesn't cut it.)

💥Out now: The introduction to the Special Issue "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" "Updating cleavage theory for the twenty-first century" by @dpzollinger.bsky.social & @davidattewell6.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/0140...

New SI "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" @wepsocial.bsky.social! If you're interested in transforming social & political divides in advanced democracies, this is for you. The intro by @davidattewell6.bsky.social & me maps contributions around 3 challenges for contemp. cleavage research.

For the Guardian, @turnbulldugarte.com and I discuss our research that clearly shows one thing: Labour's anti-immigration strategy will only strengthen Reform and weaken its own electoral prospects. It won't win voters back but ultimately normalizes the far right www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🚨📢 I am hiring a PhD candidate /research assistant in Swiss Politics and/or Comparative Politics (100%)! 🚨📢 Je recrute un·e assistant·e diplômé·e en science politique en politique suisse et comparée! Please join me @unil.bsky.social, Switzerland! Thanks for sharing! polisky @sspunil.bsky.social

Ever asked yourself how to detect and extract social groups from texts with computational social science? @haukelicht.bsky.social and me have a solution for you out at @bjpols.bsky.social. You can also find the pre-trained models on huggingface!

Another fantastic piece out in our "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies" special issue! (co-edited with @davidattewell6.bsky.social ) @mierkezat.bsky.social et al investigate the role of civil society in contemporary cleavage formation.  There are a few more SI contributions still to come!

Even in times of sociocultural conflict, a progressive left electorate is more averse to sociocultural *and* socioeconomic inequalities than (far) right voters. New paper with @siljahausermann.bsky.social Palmtag @tabouchadi.bsky.social @stefwalter.bsky.social Berkinshaw tinyurl.com/d42wyb79 1/n

We have a new article out in Politics & Society. We analyze how perceptions of sociocultural and socioeconomic inequalities structure electoral behavior. Instead of a dividing line between these inequalities, we find that supporters of left parties are more opposed to all types of inequality.

Even in times of sociocultural conflict, a progressive left electorate is more averse to sociocultural *and* socioeconomic inequalities than (far) right voters. New paper with @siljahausermann.bsky.social Palmtag @tabouchadi.bsky.social @stefwalter.bsky.social Berkinshaw tinyurl.com/d42wyb79 1/n

My department at Leuphana University offers 6 fully funded PhD scholarships (incl. research funding) for three years. If you are interested in studying democratic resilience (particularly party competition and elections 🤓) and you have a strong methodolgical background: Apply! shorturl.at/kcTbG

I'm hiring another postdoc (research-focused, for almost 5 years) for my @erc.europa.eu project on the educational cleavage! I'm looking for someone with strong quantitative text-analysis skills (e.g. #NLP, #LLM, etc.) to study the role of political actors in cleavage formation.

Really happy to see my work with @dweisstanner.bsky.social published with @bjpols.bsky.social. In this letter, we look at symbolic class signalling through cultural consumption and how effective it is across voters of different parties. A thread 👇 (1/n) #OpenAccess - cup.org/3GSCIKV

How much competition within the right field? ❗Segmentation is eroding, especially among young voters❗ New article out by @siljahausermann.bsky.social ‪@dpzollinger.bsky.social @mrsteenbergen.bsky.social and myself @ipz.bsky.social @wepsocial.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ycxfx2aj A short 🧵 1/7

❗The segmentation of the right field is eroding, especially among young voters❗ New article out by @simonbornschier.bsky.social @dpzollinger.bsky.social @mrsteenbergen.bsky.social and myself @ipz.bsky.social ‬ @wepsocial.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ycxfx2aj A short 🧵 1/7

Can government policies moderate political backlash to structural change? Yes, the effect operates through material benefits and social recognition. 🚨New WP by @retobuergisser.bsky.social, @siljahausermann.bsky.social, @thmskrr.bsky.social and @susanadptavares.bsky.social 🚨 shorturl.at/zFbZE

🚨3-Year Postdoc Position in Zurich @ipz.bsky.social ❓Political implications of labor market transformation Plenty of flexibility, no teaching obligations, great research environment in an highly livable city. Deadline: May 18, 2025. tinyurl.com/postdoczurich #polisky #poliscijobs #psjminfo

New paper out at @cpsjournal.bsky.social! With Ian McAllister, we examine how party competition and party positions condition the presence and size of an age gap in voting for the left. A short 🧵 below! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Call for scholars in political behavior (broadly understood) studying Central & Eastern Europe: workshop hosted by @eui-eu.bsky.social, June 19-20. 2nd edition. Participants from the region can have their travel & accommodation fully covered. Apply by 28/3. More info: www.eui.eu/en/projects/...

Christina Zuber is hiring a Polish Speaking Postdoc for her new project w/ experience in qualitative methods. I often join this incredibly friendly group for coffee, research discussions and outings and am thankful for Christina's sharp mentorship during my postdoc so apply and join us! :)

New publication in @wepsocial.bsky.social with @retobuergisser.bsky.social, @siljahausermann.bsky.social, and Michael Pinggera. We map the welfare preferences of voters at the poles of the second, GALTAN dimension of political conflict. 🧵

I must admit that I was thrown off by the Bourdieu reference, but this is a very interesting contribution to the "cleavage politics" literature that should be read together with the groundbreaking new Cambridge Elements by Bornschier et al.

Do citizens stereotype Muslims as inherently homophobic? In a new @bjpols.bsky.social paper w/ @bertous.bsky.social & @michaelhunklinger.bsky.social we answer this question using a double-list experiment across 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 doi.org/10.1017/S000... Spoiler: Yes. 🧵

@dpzollinger.bsky.social and my article on social identities and cleavages now with page numbers in the latest issue of EPSR: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

NEW ISSUE - European Political Science Review - Volume 17 - Issue 1 - cup.org/4hFOlBK w/ papers by @dpzollinger.bsky.social, @sofiabrei.bsky.social, @lwestheuser.bsky.social, @rmichaelalvarez.bsky.social, @dschraff.bsky.social, @ehernandez.bsky.social, & more #OpenAccess cc @ecpr.bsky.social

Is there a gender youth gap in far-right voting and cultural attitudes across EU countries? 🚻🇪🇺 With Amy Alexander and Nicholas Charron, we have a new Gender Update out in @ejpgjournal.bsky.social. We find much cross-country variation, but... 🧵 bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

How do voters navigate fragmenting party landscapes with parties behaving in an ever more strategic matter? In this short CUP book‬, we suggest that group identities mediate the link between social structure and ideological party blocks. 1/8

#OpenAccess from our new issue - When Group Appeals Backfire: Explaining the Asymmetric Effects of Place-Based Appeals - cup.org/4hsHP1f - @lhaffert.bsky.social, Tabea Palmtag & @dschraff.bsky.social "we show that group appeals improve candidate evaluation among subordinate (rural) voters"

I am very, very happy to announce that I successfully defended my dissertation titled "Generational Voting Effects in Western Europe"! Four intense but also very inspiring years have come to an end: PhDone!

Our paper on how plant disease pandemic destroying olive groves in 🇮🇹 fuelled far right support by activating local community narrative of state neglect forthcoming @apsrjournal.bsky.social 🧵 below ⬇️ For nerds: also presents research design for combing causal inference with ethnographic research

#OpenAccess from our new issue - When Group Appeals Backfire: Explaining the Asymmetric Effects of Place-Based Appeals - cup.org/4hsHP1f - @lhaffert.bsky.social, Tabea Palmtag & @dschraff.bsky.social

Me and current/recent team members @dpzollinger.bsky.social @retobuergisser.bsky.social @lhaffert.bsky.social (Postdocs) @feisenring.bsky.social @indubioproreto.bsky.social (PhD students) are happy to answer questions. More on me: siljahaeusermann.org More on IPZ: tinyurl.com/nvserevm

‼️ Hiring ‼️ Two (!) positions in my group at @ipz.bsky.social in Zurich 📣 1 postdoc position (3+3 years) 📣 1 PhD position (3,5 years) Application deadline in early March. Job ads & details: tinyurl.com/3p6yhptk We are an international and friendly department with excellent working conditions

We often define the ideological space in terms of the economic and cultural dimensions; how does this resonate with ordinary citizens? This is the question Thomas and I explore in a new Element, analyzing answers to open-ended survey questions 🧵 cup.org/4gEYCOj

New Cambridge Element 'Cleavage Formation in the 21st Century' by Simon Bornschier, @lhaffert.bsky.social, @siljahausermann.bsky.social, Marco Steenberge & @dpzollinger.bsky.social out now! Read #OpenAccess here: cup.org/3ZLtQ0o #cambridgeelements #politics

Today, feeling close to cosmopolitans or feminists separates voters of the left from right voters who identify with people who are down to earth and hard working. Yet, these identities do have structural roots, just like class identities did. Our short CUP book on cleavage formation is out in OA.