Welcome
I am a sociologist researching political conflicts and their roots in social inequality. I work as a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University Berlin.
On this website you can find information about my research, teaching, public writing and my CV.
Research
I study how ordinary people engage with politics and how unequal lives produce divided worldviews.
The following are central themes of my research. My publications are listed here.
Class
The democracies of the advanced capitalist world have become demobilized class societies: While inequalities are mounting, class conflict has become muted in the public sphere. How does this reshape and limit how citizens critique inequality and what political futures they imagine? Which new forms of class consciousness and classed politics arise among working and middle class citizens?
Read: The Political Consciousness of the Demobilized Working Class;
– Class Consciousness and Voting;
– The Politics of Demobilized Class Societies
Morality
Moral distinctions between worthy and unworthy, deserving and undeserving groups are a powerful force in citizens’ reasoning about politics and inequality. In my work, I am interested in how morality shapes worldviews, opinions and political disagreements. How does everyday morality cement or assail the naturalization of inequality? How do moral ideas of good and bad define “trigger points” fueling conflict and polarization?
Read: Moral Disapproval;
– Trigger Points: The Moral Substructure of Hot Politics
Cleavage politics
Political divides are being reshuffled as struggles over migration, ecology and recognition join and partly supersede older lines of distributive conflict. I am interested in the social alignments of this new political conjuncture. In particular, I study the ways in which group belonging shapes today’s political cleavages. How does people’s sense of who they are shape where they stand on contentious issues?
Read: The Role of Group Identities in Cleavage Formation;
– Cleavage Politics in Ordinary Reasoning;
– Boundaries and Cleavages
Qualitative studies
Much of my research is based on mixed-methods approaches. In particular, I believe that studies of public opinion needs to complement survey-based research with ‘listening methods’ that help us understand politics from the point of view of ordinary citizens. How do people outside elite circles make up their minds about politics? What is politics about in their words? And what makes some issues, policies, and styles resonate more strongly than others?
Read: How Common Sense Divides;
– The Sociocultural Approach to Populism
– Network Qualitative Studies of Public Opinion
Media
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Interview mit ZEIT ONLINE: Die Sozialdemokratie und die Arbeiter
Interview mit David Will, DIE ZEIT. 23.05.2025. Hat die SPD die Arbeiter verloren, weil sie zu viel über das Bürgergeld redet? Unsinn, findet der Soziologe Linus Westheuser. Die SPD brauche ein völlig anderes Konzept. Die Partei der Arbeiter? Diesen Charakter habe die SPD verloren, sagt selbst ihr Parteichef Lars Klingbeil. Und will das ändern. Der
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LSE Blog: “The German left has lost its monopoly on class consciousness”
The German radical right has mobilised around a working class identity that pits hard-working “makers” against parasitic “takers”. Linus Westheuser and Thomas Lux argue that for the left to win back support from the working class, it will have to revive its own tradition of class politics. This month’s federal election in Germany will unfold
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Interview: Repräsentationslücken schaden der Demokratie
Deutschlandfunk 26.01.2025: Im Bundestag sind Arbeiter:innen zu wenig vertreten, sagt Soziologe Linus Westheuser. Die politischen Eliten sind von der sozialen Wirklichkeit stärker entkoppelt als früher. Dabei sollten in der Demokratie alle befähigt werden, Politik mitzugestalten.