@arnoutvanderijt
Professor of Sociology. Head of the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute (EUI). President of the International Network of Analytical Sociology (INAS). Editor-in-Chief of Sociological Science.
Call for Papers 📣
The EUI SPS Department invites submissions for the workshop “Political Behaviour in Central & Eastern Europe.”
Research on elections, public opinion, parties and political participation in the CEE region.
Submit by 30 March 2026
www.eui.eu/news-hub?id=...
#PoliticalScience
"This study investigates variability in women’s experiences balancing work and family, focusing on the association between early childhood investments and work trajectories."
Just out in our journal, @sociologicalsci.bsky.social
New paper out in @sociologicalsci.bsky.social!
We revisit the college-as-equalizer debate with heckman-style selection models and find little evidence in favor of college being an equalizer!
@zhenghaowen.bsky.social @professorholm.bsky.social
#sociology
sociologicalscience.com/articles-v13...
"We conclude that for higher education to serve as a true equalizer, it must become both less selective and more accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds."
This month in our journal, @sociologicalsci.bsky.social
Want to learn about computational social science *for free* and identify new research partners across academic fields? Apply to one of the 2026 Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (described in yellow in the attached map) here: sicss.io/locations
My colleagues at the Swedish Institute for Social Research, Social Policy unit, are seeking a postdoc for 2-3 years. Great opportunity! su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
A more detailed thread on our recent Science Advances paper. Really proud of this paper and the discipline-bending approach and team. It is the first part of a trilogy that was produced with the support of a Sapere Aude grant by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 ;).
7/ Our results provide a solution to a recent puzzle about whether and when lock-in on an inferior option is possible and connect a behavioral phenomenon to macro-level popularity dynamics. They also highlight the importance of small winning margins.
6/ This theoretical prediction is corroborated in a reanalysis of data from multiple-world experiments in three domains (political preferences, matters of fact, matters of taste). In the picture, when the MME exceeds quality difference (d), lock-in is observed (blue), but rarely otherwise (red).
5/ Importantly, lock-in becomes possible when the size of the marginal majority effect exceeds the quality difference of the two alternatives (i.e., difference in choice probability without social influence).
4/ Main finding: Small majorities matter!
People are much more likely to choose A if it is even slightly more popular than B.
We call this the *marginal majority effect*
3/ We develop a mathematical theory that describes popularity dynamics between two competing alternatives when people's choices are influenced by the previous choices of others.
We then validate it using data from recent behavioral experiments.
2/ We all know social influence matters.
People are more likely to choose something if others chose it first: music, platforms, political opinions, etc.
But here’s the puzzle:
Sometimes bad options can lock in an early popularity advantage, while in other cases better options take over.
Why?
1/ Why do inferior but popular things remain popular?
Excited to share our new paper with @pantelispa.bsky.social, @glemens.bsky.social & @arnoutvanderijt.bsky.social
"The marginal majority effect: When social influence produces lock-in"
www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
Modern variant of "this claim is false":
This sentence was not shaped by ChatGPT
📢 In this Social Forces article, I introduce occupational elitism as a novel measure of social closure: the share of upper-class background workers within an occupation.
Its consequences for earnings stratification can be examined using a social closure theory lens.
🔓 doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...
Thanks for sharing, I agree!
Why does a worse candidate win? Or an inferior song dominate?
New article with @alexgelas.bsky.social, @pantelispa.bsky.social & Gaël Le Mens.
We show that often once A becomes even slightly more popular than B, people choose A much more often.
www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
@robjetten.bsky.social
This book predicted Rob Jetten's electoral success
Happy to share our new paper published in PNAS!
Using epigenetic clocks and egocentric network data, we find each additional "hassler" in your close social network is associated with ~9 months of extra biological age and 1.5% faster pace of aging.
Congrats Alex!
It was already a great book when you defended it at @eui-sps.bsky.social
You did predict the recent rise of D66 correctly!
A book cover, featuring an image of an incomplete bridge, bearing the title 'The Unfulfilled Electoral Potential of West European Liberal Parties', and the author's name, 'Alexander Davenport'.
Excited to announce that my new book, 'The Unfulfilled Electoral Potential of West European Liberal Parties', is available in both online and print formats with Oxford University Press as of today! academic.oup.com/book/62000 Below is a brief summary of the arguments:
"This article develops and applies a stochastic two-sided matching model to analyze marriage patterns in the United States"
This month in our journal, @sociologicalsci.bsky.social
"[R]eligious researchers find less evidence for the secularization thesis, whereas secular scholars find more."
This month in our journal, @sociologicalsci.bsky.social
Some descriptives are worth 1000 causal estimates
Pour comprendre la discussion budgétaire qui se clôt il faut objectiver, avec lucidité et sérénité, une réalité désormais structurante : l’emprise inédite des milliardaires sur la vie démocratique de la nation.
gabrielzucman.substack.com/p/lemprise-d...
The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering
The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory
You are so right about this Laura.
"[T]he main drivers of place-based disparities in achievement lie outside of elementary schools."
This month in our journal, @sociologicalsci.bsky.social