Excited to see our new paper out in Comparative Political Studies. In this study, we extend the research on anti-immigrant attitudes by analyzing an overlooked factor: health. We develop a framework explaining why residents perceive competition for health services with immigrants. Using data from eleven rounds of the European Social Survey, covering 222,989 respondents in 30 European countries (2002–2023), we find a consistent association between poor health and anti-immigrat

Thrilled to see our new paper out now in European Journal of Sociology Abstract Social reproduction scholars have made headway in integrating the analysis of capitalism, class, gender, and care. We offer two contributions to this literature. First, we provide a novel framework with insights into companies as sites of decommodification, shaping childcare cost distribution and affecting childbearing rates. Second, we extend social reproduction research geographically to the oft

New study traces how ill health translates into anti-immigrant sentiment.

Happy to share my review of Ali Kadivar's excellent book on the social foundations of democracies, just out in the American Journal of Sociology. From Seymour Lipset to Stein Rokkan, sociologists were central in establishing the discipline of comparative politics, studying regime change. However, if you attend any conference today on democracy, you will hear much less about the social fabric of democracies than about its formal dimensions. Sociology has become peripheral in t

Thrilled to share our article just out in the British Journal of Political Science. The first meta-analysis of the evidence of a causal association between economic insecurity and populism provides a definite answer confirming that economic insecurity is a robust cause. Abstract The literature on populism is divided on whether economic factors are significant and robust causes of populism. To clarify this, we performed the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the evid

I contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook of Autocratization. ABSTRACT This chapter reviews the role of social class dynamics behind autocratization. The first section revisits modernization theorists’ arguments about why the business class might be against autocracy and in favor of democratization. However, several sociologists and critical political economists have been skeptical about the mutually beneficial relationship between capitalism and democracy and the sup

It's great to see our chapter on the political economy of the postsocialist mortality crisis published early this year.

Why did 7M people die prematurely in Eastern Europe during the transition in the 90s? In our paper in the Cambridge Journal of Economics, we present new evidence for the role of deindustrialization. First of all, the increase in mortality was centered on middle-aged men between 30 and 59. The elderly, not the young, or infants who are sensitive to that quality of care did not experience a significant increase. Thus, healthcare system changes cannot explain the excess deaths.

In my new essay, The Politics of Growth Models and Populism in East-Central Europe, I embed my research on populism in the growth model perspective. In my new essay, The Politics of Growth Models and Populism in East-Central Europe, I embed my research on populism in the growth model perspective. Out now in the Economic Sociology Newsletter published by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPfIG). The growth model framework allows for an elegant, critical synt

The American Journal of Sociology published a review of my book, The retreat of liberal democracy.