Jens Rydgren

Stockholm University, Department of Sociology, Faculty Member

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Professor Jens Rydgren holds the Chair in Sociology at the Department of Sociology at Stockholm University.

Prof. Rydgren graduated from Stockholm University in 2002, and he has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, Copenhagen University, and Utrecht University. He is working within the fields of political sociology, ethnic relations, and social networks.

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DIVIDED BY MEMORIES? BELIEFS ABOUT THE PAST, ETHNIC BOUNDARIES, AND TRUST IN NORTHERN IRAQ

by Jens Rydgren and Dana Sofi

This paper examines beliefs about the past across ethnic groups in conflict ridden Northern Iraq,... more This paper examines beliefs about the past across ethnic groups in conflict ridden Northern Iraq, and the extent to which such beliefs are associated with interethnic trust and political trust. Using individual-level survey data (N=1,440) collected in 2010 and 2011 in the cities of Erbil and Kirkuk, our quantitative analyses show that beliefs about the past are strongly structured by ethnicity, but that the ethnic composition of friendship networks is an important moderating factor. We tended to find stronger group-specific uniformities in beliefs in the more violent and polarized Kirkuk, where group boundaries are more pronounced both in a cultural and a structural sense. Our results also indicate that beliefs about the past play a significant role in interethnic trust as beliefs about the past connected to particular ethnic groups are often associated with trust in these groups. Beliefs about the past are also shown to be associated with trust in political institutions.

format_quoteBeliefs about historical events significantly influence political trust; positive perceptions of events promote trust in groups and institutions.format_quote

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Peer Clustering of Exercise and Eating Behaviors among Young Adults in Sweden: A Cross-sectional Study of Egocentric Networks

Women in Power? Sex Differences in Local Elite Networks

Contextual Explanations of Radical Right-Wing Support in Sweden: Socioeconomic Marginalization, Group Threat, and the Halo Effect.

Interethnic Friendship, Trust, and Tolerance: Findings from Two North Iraqi Cities

American Journal of Sociology, 2013

Contextual Explanations of Radical Right-Wing Support in Sweden: Socioeconomic Marginalization, Group Threat, and the Halo Effect

Abstract This paper provides a thorough test of important contextual explanations of variation in... more Abstract This paper provides a thorough test of important contextual explanations of variation in electoral support for radical right-wing parties. It has been proposed that support of the radical right is particularly strong in areas that are socioeconomically poor and/or where the concentration of immigrants is high. A variant of the latter hypothesis, known as the &amp;#x27;halo effect&amp;#x27;, states that the propensity to vote for the radical right is highest in areas close to immigrant-dense areas, but not within these areas. The data analyses are based on the ...

How Party Organization Matters: Understanding the Ups and Downs of Radical Right-wing Populism in Sweden

Från Le Pen till Pim Fortuyn

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Från skattemissnöje till etnisk nationalism

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Explaining the Emergence of Radical Right-wing Populism: The Case of Denmark

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A legacy of 'Uncivicness'? Social Capital and Radical Right-wing Voting in Eastern Europe

ABSTRACT This article is focusing on radical right-wing populist voting in Eastern Europe, and sh... more ABSTRACT This article is focusing on radical right-wing populist voting in Eastern Europe, and shows that neither the mass society thesis nor the theory of social capital, in Putnam&#39;s tradition, has much explanatory value for explaining the support for radical right-wing populism. Individuals with low participation in civil society are shown not to be significantly more right-wing populist than others, so that participation in civil society organizations is not a shield against populism. That means, that claims that radical right-wing populism has risen in Eastern Europe over the past one and a half decades because of a weakly developed civil society, that is, because of a legacy of lack of civic virtues being born through participation in civil society organizations, must be questioned. Such claims are not finding support in the empirical results presented in this article.

De personliga natverkens betydelse

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Interethnic Relations in Northern Iraq : Brokerage, Social Capital, and the Potential for Reconciliation

Ethnic relations in Iraq have been strained since the collapse of the Baath regime in 2003. Looki... more Ethnic relations in Iraq have been strained since the collapse of the Baath regime in 2003. Looking specifically at Kirkuk in northern Iraq, ethnic relations have been particularly uncooperative and violent. At the surface level, it is difficult to imagine interethnic reconciliation. The main conflict in the city, between Kurds and (settled) Arabs, goes back several decades. However, in this article it is argued that the situation is not necessary hopeless. Although ethnic groups in Kirkuk are largely separated by mutual distrust, they do not constitute entirely decoupled catnets. Despite residential segregation, there exists considerable room for social meetings across ethnic boundaries. Workplaces and, to some extent, voluntary organizations provide ethnically heterogeneous interaction spaces where interethnic brokerage may evolve. Many of these organizations are structurally constrained, making it likely that people will establish contacts with others sharing the same interaction space. In such settings, casual contacts have a potential to develop into true acquaintance contacts and, thus, into interethnic social capital.

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Bridging Different Worlds? Economy, Politics and Brokerage Roles in Sweden

This article examines economy and politics in Sweden from a network theoretical perspective. In S... more This article examines economy and politics in Sweden from a network theoretical perspective. In Sweden, economic and political elites make up two distinct catnets that are largely separated from each other, although there are bridges between them. The article contributes to an understanding of what brokerage roles are at work within the institutional arrangements of corporatism and pluralism. For several decades Sweden was considered one of the prototypical examples of corporatism. Representative brokerage was common, and promoted a relatively high degree of system integration. However, Swedish corporatism has declined dramatically since the early 1990s. This article discusses the consequences for contacts between the economic and political catnets in Sweden, and how corporatism has affected the level of system integration and the creation of social capital. The article shows that the more pluralistic institutional settings that replaced corporatism have resulted in two simultaneous processes: one of fragmentation of the economic catnet, caused by a shift from interest organizations to singular corporations as the locus of contact with political decision-makers, and one of increased importance of professional lobbyists as brokers (of the liaison type).

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Social Isolation Social Capital and Radical Right-wing Voting in Western Europe

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Meso-level Reasons for Racism and Xenophobia : Some Converging and Divergent Effects of Radical Right Populism in France and Sweden

Increases in popular xenophobia and racism in a society may (partly) have meso-level reasons. The... more Increases in popular xenophobia and racism in a society may (partly) have meso-level reasons. The presence of a xenophobic Radical Right Populist (RRP) party may cause increases in racism and xenophobia because (a) it has an influence on other political actors; and (b) because it has an influence on people's frame of thought. I will identify and discuss various mechanisms that will be put against two empirical cases, France and Sweden. Both have witnessed the emergence of RRP parties during the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. However, although they pursued similar xenophobic programmes and used similar anti-immigration frames, only the emergence of the Front National resulted in a dramatic increase in manifest, politicized xenophobia, whereas the emergence of New Democracy had no such effect. Some important factors behind these diverging effects will be elaborated and discussed in this article.

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The Role of Social Networks in Ethnic Conflicts Locality and Escalation

France: The Front National, Ethnonationalism and Populism

The Front National (FN) has been one of the most successful of all populist parties in Western Eu... more The Front National (FN) has been one of the most successful of all populist parties in Western Europe. Indeed, during the 1980s and 1990s, the party became a model for others through its combination of 'fervent nationalism, opposition to immigration, and a populist hostility to the political establishment'(Eatwell, 2000: 408).

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IS EXTREME RIGHT-WING POPULISM CONTAGIOUS?

Abstract This article presents a new model for explaining the emergence of the party family of ex... more Abstract This article presents a new model for explaining the emergence of the party family of extreme right-wing populist parties in Western Europe. As the old master frame of the extreme right was rendered impotent by the outcome of the World War II, it took the innovation of a new, potent master frame before the extreme right was able to break electoral marginalization.

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The social construction of xenophobia and other-isms

European societies have exhibited high levels of xenophobia and racism in attitude surveys, a des... more European societies have exhibited high levels of xenophobia and racism in attitude surveys, a desire to limit immigration and acceptance of refugees, and a readiness to exclude foreigners from certain social areas and arenas (Hargreaves & Leaman 1995; Solomos & Wrench 1993; Eurobarometer surveys for EUMC).

Jens Rydgren

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