@feisenring.bsky.social
PhDing in Political Science @IPZ at University of Zurich | Education | Labor market expectations | Political socialization
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.
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
Voice is one of the most talked-about, and least explained, aspects of academic writing.
We’re told to “find it,” but rarely taught how to build it.
I wrote up some reflections here:
👉 open.substack.com/pub/catherin...
A 🧵 about why so much academic writing feels voiceless & what to do about it.
Article abstract, which says: The educational cleavage is restructuring electoral competition in many democracies, yet there has been insufficient attention on how variation in educational content affects this. In order to address this, this article combines English administrative school records with a unique representative panel of adolescents to estimate the within-individual effect of studying different subjects at school on political party preference. This analysis finds that studying arts and humanities subjects leads to greater support for socially liberal parties, whilst studying business and economics increases support for economically right-wing parties. Students who study technical subjects become more likely to support socially conservative and economically right-wing parties. These relationships between particular subjects and party support also persist into adulthood. As such, this article provides new evidence on the importance of subjects taken in secondary school for political socialisation, during the impressionable years of adolescence.
📣 NEW PAPER ALERT! 🚨
"School subject choices in adolescence affect political party support"
Just published in @wepsocial.bsky.social with @nspmartin.bsky.social and @rolandkappe.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
🧵👇
❗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
New article out in World Politcs. We analyze how different groups react to varying programs of social democratic parties. We find less trade-offs than often assumed. Generally, more left-progressive programs increase support among social democratic potentials
muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
Most literature reviews miss the point.
Not because they’re sloppy.
But because they treat the literature like a box to tick.
In my latest Respect the Marble Post, I carve out a 6-step process to writing a meaningful lit review:
catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/most-liter...
🧵
Screenshot of an academic journal article from West European Politics titled “From educational conflicts to an educational cleavage? The multiple transformations of educational conflicts from medieval to post-industrial times” by Julian L. Garritzmann. The abstract discusses how socio-economic changes have created new political cleavages centered around education. A highlighted section notes that a prominent claim in the literature is the emergence of an "educational cleavage" and that the article challenges this by reviewing educational conflicts across time, from the Middle Ages to the present. Keywords listed include “educational cleavage,” “educational divide,” “education conflict,” and “politics of education.”
Figure displaying three line graphs titled “Primary Education,” “Secondary Education,” and “Tertiary Education,” showing the percentage of people enrolled by education level from 1870 to 2010 across various world regions. The graphs show a general upward trend over time, with Western economies consistently leading in enrollment rates, especially in tertiary education. Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia lag behind. A legend identifies different regions with distinct line styles (solid, dashed, dotted). The source is Garritzmann et al. (2022b: 254).
Education is king in today's societies - socially, economically, & politically. @garritzmannj.bsky.social shows how conflict between educational groups transformed multiple times since the Middle Ages.
doi.org/10.1080/0140...
Part of the SI "Cleavage Politics in Western Democracies"
@nilsweidmann.bsky.social and Mina Rulis study the link between university disciplines and political protest in autocracies. They focus on how the composition of academic institutions shapes the likelihood of activism in university cities.
Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
🧵 How does education shape political behavior?
@professormpersson.bsky.social and I contribute with two chapters to the new Research Handbook on Education and Democracy👇
My new post. How current political science replicated my PhD thesis of 25 years ago. And took it further, in a paper in the @apsrjournal.bsky.social and other work, by @liesbethooghe.bsky.social, Gary Marks and @jonnekamphorst.bsky.social.
open.substack.com/pub/hermwerf...
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
Why is environmentalism class divided?
My new paper in The British Journal of Sociology maps attitudes to green issues in the social space of economic and cultural capital. Spoiler: it’s not just about being rich.
🧵https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-4446.13231
BJPolS abstract from a scholarly article discussing the impact of higher education on civic engagement, suggesting that attending college leads to a significant increase in voter turnout and proposing a positive correlation with sustained civic returns.
From February 2025 -
Educating for Democracy? Going to College Increases Political Participation - cup.org/4iapbva
- @andreasvijensen.bsky.social
#OpenAccess
📣The new Selects cumulative file 1971-2023 is out!
Free download here: doi.org/10.48573/2w7...
#Polisky #ElectionStudies #Selects
🚨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
I AM HIRING 2 postdocs (5 years) in my @erc.europa.eu project "The Politics of the Latent Educational Cleavage" at @goetheuni.bsky.social @infer-frankfurt.bsky.social!
German call: www.fb03.uni-frankfurt.de/170856927.pdf
English call: www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/170858269.pdf
Please share
Image of a building of the University of Bremen with the text "Summer School for Women in Political Methodology" and "20 to 26 July at the University of Bremen" writen on it.
🚨 Join us for the next edition Summer School for Women* in Political Methodology in Bremen 🚨
Open to PhD students and early career scholars Fully-funded places available for applicants, deadline 1st of May 📅 summerschoolwpm.org
The zero-sum mindset seems more and more relevant in the current environment. Thank you @harvardmagazine.bsky.social
for the video where I explain our research on why zero-sum thinking is so important and where it comes from.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e16o...
Saxony: Register Data for the Federal Elections, Men
Saxony: Register Data for the Federal Elections, Women
The federal state of Saxony has just published first *register data* results from the German elections in 2025:
These numbers show that young women overwhelmingly supported the LINKE (37%).
Young men voted more strongly for the AfD (42%), but this is lower than among middle-aged men (50%).
Super interesting paper on how and why Higher Education shapes students' political attitudes! 👏😊
08.04.2025 13:29 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
How does employment change differ across German regions & is it all about the urban-rural divide? 🏙️ 🏡
Happy to see the first paper of my PhD now out in Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie and Sozialpsychologie!
Read the paper #OpenAccess here doi.org/10.1007/s115... and 🧵👇:
My article with @robjohns75.bsky.social, "Hope, Optimism, and Expectations for the Political Future", is now out open access at @polbehavior.bsky.social.
It's about the psychology of expecting good things to happen in politics.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@jaclarner.bsky.social @aleferna.bsky.social and I have a new working paper which examines self-interest, sociotropy and social/employment policy preferences and is based on two survey experiments with British samples.
1/4
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
New #dataviz in @sociusjournal.bsky.social
Did the occupational structure evolve in the same way in different parts of London between 1991 and 2021?
In short: no, it was very much A Tale of Two Cities
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Do we systematically prefer educated candidates? Or do educational groups select in ways that reward their own?
This article by @turnbulldugarte.com and I suggests the answers are yes, and yes - but only for the graduate group.
Huge thanks to all who shared their data with us!
📣 CALLING ALL QUANT SOCIAL SCIENTISTS! 📣
Do you know of causally identified research that estimates the effect of higher education on political attitudes?
@elizabethsim0n.bsky.social and I are currently working on a meta-analysis on this question and we need your help!
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. 🧵
04.03.2025 18:05 — 👍 60 🔁 21 💬 2 📌 0Very happy to see this out as part of a great special issue on cleavage politics: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10..... Building on studies on how (1) education, (2) generation and (3) gender structure voting on the GAL/TAN cleavage, we study how they interact.
Here’s a thread summarizing the paper👇
