Research subject Social Networks

The notion that our societies are progressing towards a brighter future has long been taken for granted. However, recent studies suggest that people in many rich countries – including Sweden– are rather pessimistic about the future of their countries. This project aims to examine both the causes and consequences of lacking social optimism.

The purpose of this research project is to conduct a comparative study of radical right-wing parties in Europe.The general aim is to identify factors that explain why such parties have succeeded in some countries, while largely failing in others.

Segregation typically refers to the clustering of certain groups in residential areas, schools, or workplaces. But segregation is intimately related to how people interact with one another. This project thus considers segregation from the angle: access to urban amenities that promote social interactions, and their effect on integration.

The overall aim of the project is to increase knowledge about the importance of social class relations for social cohesion and political divides in modern welfare states. A central focus is how social networks and existing political institutions together shape contemporary sociopolitical cleavages, from a country-comparative perspective.

This project will use Swedish high-quality population register data on students who attended grade 9 in 1990-1997 to study the impact of a student’s rank order position in the school on their mental health measured in the late teens and in early adulthood.

The project "Why Do Working Class Voters Support the Populist Radical Right? A Mixed-Methods Study of a Changing Political Landscape in Sweden" explores the relationship between class politics and support for the populist radical right.