New article out in @ejprjournal.bsky.social: Why do we see such strong backlashes against carbon taxes in rural areas? We find that when rural residents feel disadvantaged by the state, a carbon tax feels like a punishment on top of a punishment: a "double disadvantage." 👉 tinyurl.com/3rhmvar7

Last chance to apply for our Postdoc in Sociology at SOFI! Deadline: 13 April 2026 Read more and apply: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

NEW - The Missing Link: Technological Change, Dual VET, and Social Policy Preferences - https://cup.org/4sUzglE - @mhaslberger.bsky.social, Patrick Emmenegger & @ndurazzi.bsky.social #OpenAccess

A truly terrible social policy, finally consigned to history. Proof of the power of social security to lift huge numbers of people out of poverty. A wonderful day for our whole society!

Well this is an absolutely rollicking read, featuring multiple tapestry-cheats-death-and-destruction moments, by @georgewparker.bsky.social & Leila Abboud (gift link x 3)

This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew. Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman

For the #spatial folks among you: we exploited random distances between residential locations and large firms within German local labor markets to identify the causal effect of #dropout due to attractive alternatives 🚙💸⬆️

🧺 Paper Picnic 2.0 is here! More journals. New features. An easier way to keep up with the latest research in political science and adjacent fields. 🧵👇

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

That’s a v nice service to the discipline. Unsurprisingly, the numbers are brutal. Too many things have gone wrong in the past decade. If only we had the institutions with the willingness to change them.

New in @europeansocreview.bsky.social with brilliant @kostermann.bsky.social & @patzinaalex.bsky.social 🌟 Apprenticeship dropout is known to be associated with €€€ penalties, but less clear whether dropout causes later income losses. Matters for policy: what should interventions target?

The returns to a US college education are still high, with an average wage premium of 55% over high-school-only. But they have fallen for the last three years, and they're 13% smaller (8.3 percentage points) compared to the all-time peak in 2016. Data from @epi.org —> data.epi.org/wage_gaps/ho...

Shedding possessions ahead of moving and once more i) amazed by the efficacy and ii) fascinated by the sociology of local Facebook giveaway groups Yes pleases within seconds, to everything. Do people genuinely want these random cookware items or is there a dopamine thing at work?

Snowdrops, crocuses, tiny irises, bumblebees, butterflies and this evening the first blackbird song. All systems go on Swedish spring this week 🌱

This looks like Jevons paradox in action BUT that doesn't preclude a big shift in WHO is in demand. We're seeing job ads (and salaries) for senior engineers going up; not so much for juniors. Seniority-biased technological change?

🚨 New findings published today! 🚨 Graduates who grew up in deep poverty still earn £2,800 less than their peers 10 years on, even if they earn the same degree, and do the same job in the same firm. Read 'The long shadow' here 👉 buff.ly/5VfX2Fi

Despite extensive research on spatial inequality, the geography of wealth remains understudied. This new working paper explains why the spatial distribution of wealth differs from income, and how local advantages create self-reinforcing dynamics. 🔗 buff.ly/1rfdomW

London 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

We have a new paper out in Sociology of Education @soceducation.bsky.social on Intergenerational educational mobility in Scandinavia and the United States. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Folks, this is why your friendly neighbourhood @socarxiv.bsky.social moderators insist you link your OSF and ORCID accounts If you have one then please also verify your institutional email address on your @orcid.org account, as this saves us time

Yet to see a single flower but the true heralds of Swedish spring are finally here: the grit harvesters What is thrown down in winter must be cleaned up in spring, with giant hoovering devices 🌱

New @aeraedresearch.bsky.social article: “Bright but Poor”. Many talented students from low-income families have the grades for higher education but do not make it. We show where the missed opportunities arise across the education pipeline Low-hanging fruit for ed policy doi.org/10.3102/0002...

We have posted our AI policy An introduction: socopen.org/2026/03/09/s... And the policy: socopen.org/ai-policy/

🔍 How does economic inequality impact beliefs in meritocracy? Using comprehensive survey data from 39 advanced capitalist democracies over more than three decades, Markus Gangl & I examine how rising economic inequality has been shaping citizens' belief in meritocracy. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwag016

The ice is still melting and spring flowers are some way off, but can report that Swedish barbecue season is up and running 🌭

Comprehensive public rejection of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) attempt to defund 🇨🇭 public service broadcasting on a cost-of-living-crisis pretext is really good to see, all the more for the pathetic whinging they are now doing Votes still being tallied by projected as 62% rejection nationally

Unemployment now higher in UK than in Italy ft.trib.al/7O7i1RM

Quelle surprise Back when I worked in UK policy, I interviewed Sir Robin Wales for research DCMS commissioned on Olympic regeneration in East London. He was absolutely vile, to me for existing and to his secretary for scheduling the (mandatory) interview

"Switzerland highly resilient to populism and polarization" *cries bitterly in Swiss*

Geographically niche but @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social is in Stockholm (KTH) next Thursday 12th March to talk about his latest book Is a River Alive? Sign-up ⬇️

There's possible reverse causality, there's potential reverse causality, and then there's the fear that young people living with their parents will hurt their job prospects.

Better neighbors—not better neighborhood factors like job availability—are what help disadvantaged adults succeed in the labor market, from Stephen B. Billings, Mark Hoekstra, and Gabriel Pons Rotger www.nber.org/papers/w34872

A rejoinder to a Socius article that hasn't been published yet seems like sub-optimal sequencing journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Great 2-3 year postdoc opportunity in the Social Policy unit here at @sofi.su.se, Stockholm University SOFI is an incredible research and work environment, could not recommend it more Deadline for applications (including your own research plan): 13th April 2026

Why do so many doctors, accountants, and solicitors have parents who did the same profession? In a new paper with Maria Koumenta (QMUL), we show that occupational regulation increases intergenerational occupational persistence in the UK, thereby reducing social mobility. doi.org/10.1111/irel...

This is a truly exceptional analysis of British parliamentary speeches on immigration by @theguardian.com showing we are living in a uniquely nativist era.

1. Take a look at this chart. That black line? Technically, it's the decline in the percentage of Americans who move each year—from about one in five to less than one in thirteen. But it's more than that. You're looking at the decline of the American dream.

Looking for a measure of #neighborhoods, micro or macro #segregation? I've got something for you! My newly published paper in Sociological Methods & Research presents a machine-learning-based algorithm to delineate neighborhoods with grid-cell or point data: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

So much in this new report on Swiss wealth inequality from @mariusbrulhart.bsky.social et al, including: 🇨🇭 wealth inequality is high and rising. Top-1% share of taxable wealth increased from 36.6% in 2003 to 45.1% in 2022

Gen Z (this group born 2000-02) are hitting ‘growing up’ milestones later than Millennials (this set 1989-90) partly as they can’t afford to move out from their parents. (Data from two separate longitudinal studies) www.thetimes.com/article/8ff2...

Really fun thread and piece at the end!

Boudon (1974): An individual cannot create a job just because he wants it @jburnmurdoch.ft.com (2025): Worsening graduate fortunes, it turns out, are a particularly 🇬🇧 problem, and one that can be traced to the particularly 🇬🇧 ailments of weak productivity growth and poor economic performance

📢 In this Social Forces article, I introduce occupational elitism as a novel measure of social closure: the share of upper-class background workers within an occupation. Its consequences for earnings stratification can be examined using a social closure theory lens. 🔓 doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

Come work with me! Two postdoc positions open in @erc.europa.eu project PROTECT, examining how local change shapes public support for protectionist policies in areas like trade and finance. @stockholmuni.bsky.social su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... #polisky #academicsky

“But across the US, citizens, clergy and elected officials in conservative communities are leading a grassroots rebellion against the rapid rollout of AI”. @joemillerjr.ft.com v interesting on the local politics of AI

Oh this is what it feels like to be a reactionary

Excited to share a new #OA study with @dariatisch.bsky.social and @schechtlm.bsky.social🎉We show that while most people prefer equal inheritance, wealthy individuals are more willing to support unequal transfers when they help preserve wealth across generations ➡️ academic.oup.com/sf/advance-a...

Nordic ESPAnet Early Career Seminar! Opportunity for Doctoral students and Postdocs to discuss their work, in an environment tailored to quality feedback. Organised at @sofi.su.se and keynotes by @cassandraengeman.bsky.social and @janhelmdag.bsky.social More info: espanet.org/nordic-semin...

🗞️ From working-class to expert city: How has Berlin's employment structure changed over the past 30 years? I discussed our study on polarized upgrading (with Daniel Oesch and @katymorris.bsky.social ) with @tagesspiegel.de 👉 Full article (in German): www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/von-d...

When it’s been so cold for so long that the whole city turns into a playground 😍