Jens Rydgren's Avatar

Jens Rydgren

@jensrydgren.bsky.social

Professor of Sociology at Stockholm University | Research on nationalism, populism, radical right-wing parties and voters; Class politics; Ethnic relations | Hammarby IF football supporter

3,008 Followers  |  1,754 Following  |  93 Posts  |  Joined: 16.01.2024
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Posts by Jens Rydgren (@jensrydgren.bsky.social)

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Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology The Swedish Institute for Social research (SOFI) is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Stockholm University. The institute is an internationally leading research institute in the field of socia

Job opportunity for sociologists working in the field of social policy:

su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

26.02.2026 09:14 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Hon sticker i sommar tyvärr, oavsett vad vi erbjuder henne. Hon är nästan lika viktig för damerna som Besara är för herrarna, så det blir en enorm utmaning att försöka hitta en ersättare.

24.02.2026 07:15 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Why does mainstream accommodation of far-right and Eurosceptic parties often electorally backfire? In my 3rd dissertation paper, just published in @wepsocial.bsky.social, I argue that voters specifically punish internally divided parties for accommodation: doi.org/10.1080/0140...
1/13 🧵

20.02.2026 07:06 — 👍 65    🔁 21    💬 2    📌 0
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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

17.02.2026 09:03 — 👍 28    🔁 23    💬 0    📌 1
Nature study: "The political effects of X’s feed algorithm"

Abstract: "Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk’s platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users’ feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X’s algorithm has persistent effects on users’ current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10098-2

Nature study: "The political effects of X’s feed algorithm" Abstract: "Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk’s platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users’ feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X’s algorithm has persistent effects on users’ current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship." https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10098-2

New experimental study publshed in Nature confirms what we all largely expected, that "X" was algorithmically redesigned to promote a right-wing ideological pipeline.

Full study here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

19.02.2026 00:49 — 👍 39    🔁 25    💬 2    📌 2

Bra om det blir fight kring detta oavsett!

18.02.2026 08:24 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Jo, men det är ju Socialdemokraternas politik. Sen kan man ju hoppas att tillräckligt många S-medlemmar driver motstånd internt för att ändra den politiken, men jag är dessvärre inte speciellt hoppfull att de lyckas med det innan valet.

18.02.2026 07:56 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream - Volume 65 Issue 1

65.1🦋

#FarRight amplifiers 🔊

@dasalgon.bsky.social and @tevoelker.bsky.social show how far-right actors increasingly shape the agendas of mainstream parties, particularly around Islam, migration & cultural issues. #AfD

16.02.2026 09:51 — 👍 19    🔁 12    💬 0    📌 0
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Far-Right Publics and Anti-Migrant Mobilisation 7,5 ECTS

New course for PhD students.

This course explores the contemporary conditions under which far-right publics are formed, mobilized, and legitimized, as well as their societal consequences, in terms of nativist sentiments, authoritarian attitudes, and anti-migrant violence.

www.gu.se/en/socav/far...

14.02.2026 08:54 — 👍 17    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0
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Åtta månader gamla Emanuel ska utvisas till Iran - Ekot Emanuel föddes i Sverige i maj förra året och har fått ett utvisningsbeslut, fast hans familj har uppehållstillstånd här.Mamman fick arbetstillstånd efter ...

The Swedish gov’t intends to deport an 8-month-old baby to Iran, even though he was born in Sweden and both parents are legal residents: www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/migr...

13.02.2026 09:09 — 👍 44    🔁 22    💬 8    📌 7
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Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies: Information, Legacies, Temporalities - Giovanni Capoccia, 2026 The article lays the foundations of a research agenda on the conditions favoring short-term success against emerging illiberal challenges—necessary for democrat...

New article and special issue!
Just out in Comparative Political Studies: “Countering Illiberalism in Liberal Democracies: Information, Legacies, Temporalities", the intro to a special issue on countering illiberalism in liberal democracies.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Thread 🧵1/7

12.02.2026 22:08 — 👍 70    🔁 35    💬 1    📌 5
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Perceived inequality and populism | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Perceived inequality and populism - Volume 65 Issue 1

65.1🦋

🆕 Perceived #Inequality and #Populism 🗣️

Evidence across Denmark, Germany and Italy show that people who perceive great inequality are more likely to hold #Populist attitudes according to @lstoetze.bsky.social, Johannes Giesecke & @heikekluever.bsky.social

13.02.2026 09:12 — 👍 24    🔁 14    💬 0    📌 2
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CALL FOR CHAPTERS!

Me and @grahammacklin.bsky.social are putting together an edited collection looking at the use of pseudoscientific ideas by extremist movements. If you are interested, please send us your abstracts at this link: forms.gle/mAUtpDGNEj9i...

10.02.2026 19:38 — 👍 63    🔁 53    💬 2    📌 5

– och där SD de facto kommer att stå som segrare genom att ha fått igenom sin politik."

10.02.2026 10:40 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

"... bidra till en ond cirkel ... där appropriering av SD:s politik leder till att SD radikaliserar sin politik ytterligare, vilket följs av ytterligare appropriering ... , tills man når en punkt som de allra flesta inom socialdemokratin hade uppfattat som ... oacceptabel i ursprungssituationen -

10.02.2026 10:40 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Stor risk att Socialdemokraternas nya strategi misslyckas | Dagens Arena En ny väljaranalys från Institutet för framtidsstudier visar att Socialdemokraternas migrationspolitik har liten chans att locka tillbaka väljare från SD, skriver tre forskare på Arena Essä.

Den här skrev vi 2018, men kan kanske fortfarande ha viss relevans:

www.dagensarena.se/essa/stor-ri...

10.02.2026 10:40 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1
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Authoritarian nostalgia and support for (populist radical) right parties | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Authoritarian nostalgia and support for (populist radical) right parties - Volume 65 Issue 1

65.1🦋

What happens when the #RadicalRight looks fondly to the past? 🕰️ 👀

@populismblog.bsky.social & @steven-vanhauwaert.bsky.social introduce #AuthoritarianNostalgia exploring how supporters of VOX and Chega connect today’s politics with Spanish & Portuguese eras

buff.ly/GHwnwul

10.02.2026 09:05 — 👍 17    🔁 11    💬 1    📌 0
Epstein affair triggers crisis of trust in Norway From the crown princess to a former prime minister, the Epstein affair has implicated some of Norway's most prominent personalities, triggering a crisis of confidence in a society that prizes trust.

Maybe not trust crisis, but the scandalization of Norwegian politics has reached a new level. And as I say here, political trust isn't extremely important for any one thing in particular, but it plays a role in many things, like voter turnout, welfare systems, acceptance of foreigners, and more.

10.02.2026 08:50 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Bajen lånar Vivienne Lia från Arsenal Bajen och Arsenal FC är överens om ett lån över säsongen 2026, för London-klubbens ytter Vivienne Lia. 19-åringen är U20-landslagsspelare för England och har under hösten lirat Championship-fotboll

Välkommen till Bajen, Vivienne!

www.hammarbyfotboll.se/nyheter/baje...

#bajen #hammarby

09.02.2026 09:11 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Important read(s) 👇

09.02.2026 07:34 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Social Semiotics Conceptual Flipsiding and Reversal of Liberal-Democratic Notions: Discursive-Political Strategies in the Normalization of Nationalism, Populism, Neoliberalism, and the Far Right. Volume 36, Issue 1 of Social Semiotics

The #populist #right is a master of #flipsiding established #concepts. Michal Krzyzanowski, Natalia Krzyzanowska, @jensrydgren.bsky.social have edited a special issue with pieces analysing this practice, including my analysis of double flipsiding of #security www.tandfonline.com/toc/csos20/3...

08.02.2026 08:40 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 1

Sociology, along with i.a. Mendelian genetics, cybernetics, quantum physics, or theory of relativity, was banned in the Soviet Union and its satellites as "bourgeois pseudoscience" incompatibile with Marxism-Leninism.

Turns out that maybe it's just incompatible with authoritarianism in general.

07.02.2026 08:25 — 👍 9    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 0
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Social Semiotics Conceptual Flipsiding and Reversal of Liberal-Democratic Notions: Discursive-Political Strategies in the Normalization of Nationalism, Populism, Neoliberalism, and the Far Right. Volume 36, Issue 1 of Social Semiotics

Our new special issue is now published! "Conceptual Flipsiding and Reversal of Liberal-Democratic Notions: Discursive-Political Strategies in the Normalization of Nationalism, Populism, Neoliberalism, and the Far Right"

www.tandfonline.com/toc/csos20/3...

06.02.2026 21:36 — 👍 19    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 1
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Some really striking numbers in this new survey showing the flip in European public opinion about America.

But bear in mind this is only Western Europe. In Eastern Europe, it has been harder to take the blinders off peoples' eyes.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

06.02.2026 16:38 — 👍 656    🔁 217    💬 29    📌 38

Useful graphs for when I teach the power of partisanship in a few weeks.

Here is a force which can get 20% of the US public to see Canada (!) as an enemy overnight, based on nothing at all beyond the brain farts of a deranged party leader

06.02.2026 23:23 — 👍 186    🔁 59    💬 7    📌 3

Tack!

06.02.2026 21:44 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

With @mkrzyzanowski.bsky.social and Natalia Krzyznanowska. Papers by Ruth Wodak, @pawelkarolewski.bsky.social, @thomasdiez.bsky.social, @sean-phelan.bsky.social, @benjamindecleen.bsky.social, @elgenius.bsky.social, Hannah Bradby, and Michal, Natalia, and myself.

06.02.2026 21:36 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Social Semiotics Conceptual Flipsiding and Reversal of Liberal-Democratic Notions: Discursive-Political Strategies in the Normalization of Nationalism, Populism, Neoliberalism, and the Far Right. Volume 36, Issue 1 of Social Semiotics

Our new special issue is now published! "Conceptual Flipsiding and Reversal of Liberal-Democratic Notions: Discursive-Political Strategies in the Normalization of Nationalism, Populism, Neoliberalism, and the Far Right"

www.tandfonline.com/toc/csos20/3...

06.02.2026 21:36 — 👍 19    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 1
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For the FES, I wrote a short brief about how mainstream party strategies have fueled far-right success. They move toward more anti-immigration positions to win voters back. This does not work, but shifts public opinion to the right. Parties then react to shifts in public opinion. A vicious cycle.

06.02.2026 08:04 — 👍 343    🔁 148    💬 3    📌 16
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Why has the populist radical right failed in Scotland? @davidevampa.bsky.social, Alan Convery & @frasmcm.bsky.social examine how symbiotic polarization between SNP and Conservatives blocked PRRPs, until recently. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/WeHXRFw

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social #polsky #PartyPolitics

04.02.2026 18:00 — 👍 16    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 2