Jan Mewes

If this means the decades of sociology using twins to estimate heritability is wrong, has someone written that up for non-genetics people to understand? Seems important

For nearly two decades the field has been asking why heritability estimates from molecular studies are so far below estimates from twin studies (nature.com/news/2008/08...). Are molecular studies missing important genetic variation or are twin studies biased by strong assumptions?

Do policy preferences of voters and non-voters differ in European democracies?

My new article in @ejprjournal.bsky.social finds: Yes, sometimes, but this is not the norm.

Let's break it down. 🧵 1/10

Miles "Bad Boy" Hewstone

archive.is/M2wK8g

NEW - we've data showing huge numbers of people reducing their income to avoid high marginal income tax rates. Not just at the £100k point (as previously reported). But at the £50k point:

What will become of Sahra Wagenknecht's party? – DW – 11/11/2025 German politician Sahra Wagenknecht will no longer play a role in leading the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a party founded in 2024 with several prominent former Left Party lawmakers.

In move that surprises absolutely no one, the leader of the eponymous party leaves the humdrum of actually leading behind to focus on her career in TV and social media. Meanwhile, voters are much less interested in left authoritarianism than political scientists.

The problem seems to be the WVS data, will send an email to their main office

Call for two or more open-rank academic positions in Sociology

LAST CALL! #Sociology Professorships in Copenhagen, Denmark!

We're hiring 2+ open-rank profs (Asst/Assoc/Full). Any area.

Deadline: this Saturday, Nov 15!

Join a leading European sociology department. Please repost!

jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

Haven’t checked more countries.

In 2006, Germany had according to F025 not a single protestant respondent. Instead they are found in the “other” category. But are correctly categorized in all other years

Do you happen to work with data from the Integrated World Values/European Values Study? If so beware: there is a rather influential coding error in the variable on religious denomination (F025). Go and check e.g. Spain and Germany and compare to F025_EVS and F025_WVS @gesis-dataservices.bsky.social

In short, the ANES data shows:
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme

The ENSAE-CREST is hiring a computational sociologist -- Assistant or Associate Professor.

Date of appointment: September 2026.
Details here : www.css.cnrs.fr/assistant-or...

Shout-out to all #PoliticalTrust researchers interested in attending the first @epssnet.bsky.social conference in #Belfast

@annakern.bsky.social, @danjdevine.bsky.social, @cvalebeek.bsky.social, @hannesbey.bsky.social and I are coordinating 3 trust panels!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch und viel Spaß!

Reminder to myself: look up social trust scores for India and Indonesia tomorrow.

A bar chart showing Do people think elected officials are honest? A 47% median of adults across 25 countries say few or none of their elected officials are honest. Roughly a third (36%) say some are honest. Only 14% believe this describes all or most officials in their country. Perceptions of elected officials are especially negative in Greece and most of the African and Latin American countries surveyed. Roughly three-quarters of Greeks say few or none of their elected officials are honest. Majorities also take this stance in Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Kenya, Mexico and Nigeria. In fact, shares in these countries ranging from 15% to 31% of adults say none of their elected officials are honest.

NEW: Say most elected officials in their country are honest
Sweden 36%
Indonesia 31%
Netherlands 30%
Canada 27%
Germany 26%
India 24%
France 22%
UK 21%

US 7%
www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/...

"French pensioners now have higher incomes than working-age adults" - extraordinary

By @jburnmurdoch.ft.com

www.ft.com/content/d419...

✨Accepted for Publication ✨

"Surveying Citizens with a Migration Background - A Quantitative Study of Identification versus Categorization"

Coming soon in the journal Survey Research Methods.

Read the pre-print here:

doi.org/10.31219/osf...

ggplot2 4.0.0 A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.

I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.

It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.

Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats

Under what circumstances does it make sense for me to appeal a decision? The answer is that you should appeal only if the following two things are true a) A reviewer made a flagrant error of interpretation as to what you had done, and b) The editors' letter indicates that this error was consequential for the decision. Note that (a) excludes differences of judgment of quality ("Reviewer A says it wasn't good enough, but it was!") and differences of interpretations of the data ("Reviewer A says my finding is due to selection, and I say it isn't!"). Note that (b) excludes times when the editorial letter passes over an error made by a reviewer in silence. The following are not justifications for making an appeal: c) You think a reviewer was biased or unfair. The editorial board understands that they have to contextualize different reviewers' positions to assemble a coherent expert judgment of a manuscript. d) You think that the reviewers in general are supportive. Because we can only publish a fraction of the papers that are submitted, we must reject some papers that are good, and that reviewers think are good, to make space for those that reviewers, and we, think are of outstanding importance. Further, reviewers sometimes use gentler and more supportive language in their comments to the author than they do in their comments to the editor. e) A reviewer found a problem in a revised manuscript that is inherent in the design seemingly acceptable in the first round of review. We do our best never to reject manuscripts upon review for reasons that should have been raised when the manuscript was first submitted. However, one reason we do add new reviewers in the R&R stage is to catch weaknesses that may have been previously missed, and if these are believed to be uncorrectable, a rejection is the only proper decision.

When (if ever) is it right to appeal a rejection? This advice offered by AJS seems good more generally

Very powerful statement by 200+ faculty from Bar-Ilan University, not known as the most progressive university in Israel (to put it mildly). Respect! 🙌

Making Regression Coefficient Plots in Stata Traditionally, researchers reported results of regression analyses using tables. A more visually appealing way of presenting these results is by using a coefficient plot. Unlike a typical scatterplot…

If you use Stata and you want to make nice coefficient plots, this article by @uptonorwell.bsky.social is really fantastic!

medium.com/the-stata-ga...

Poster for the Institute for Analytical Sociology (IAS) Programme Autumn 2025 at Linköping University. The text explains that the seminars feature international scholars, are open to all, and will be broadcast on Zoom.

✨ The IAS Seminar Series returns for the Fall 2025 semester with a stellar lineup of speakers and thought-provoking talks. Open to all!

#AcademicSky #Sociology #CSS

Repeat after me, folks: All. Graded. Work. Must. Be. Done. In. Class. Take it from the people who come from cultures where (human) cheating has always been rampant.

The worrisome problem is how to change higher education programs whose whole point is to train students how to write. If the goal is to learn academic writing, then in-class assignments are strictly speaking „un-aligned“ with the learning outcomes. But all writing at home is now under AI suspicion

New paper reveals widespread decline in intergenerational economic mobility in 🇩🇪 for those born in the 70s and 80s. Similarly, educational inequality by parent income has also been increasing.

1/2

econpapers.repec.org/paper/cesces...

UiT lyser ut en svært spennende stipendiatstilling i statsvitenskap. For oss er det viktig å være ledende på samfunn i nord og det er naturlig å forske på valgprosessen til den viktigste institusjonen i det samiske demokratiet. LIK og DEL! www.jobbnorge.no/ledige-still...

How big is the field though

When the guns fall silent: the variety of European perspectives on the end of war in Ukraine Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked intense geopolitical debates and public reflection across Europe regarding the likely trajectory and resolution of the conflict. Public expectations about t...

🇺🇸-🇺🇦-🇪🇺 As Trump meets Zelensky + European leaders today to discuss ending Russia’s war, it’s important to know: European citizens themselves see the war’s end very differently. My new study in ‪@jei-publication.bsky.social‬ explores these divides 👉 shorturl.at/Mw8KE