Macro/micro linkages in comparative sociology and political economy I

6 et 7 mai 2011

Jonas Pontusson (UniGE)

Marco Giugni (UniGE)

Ce module a une vocation mixte – entre un module thématique en politique comparée et un module méthodologique ciblé sur la question du niveau d’analyse.

Bienne

Linking comparative analysis of “macro-social units” with individual-level analysis of political attitudes and behavior has emerged as a central concern for students of political behavior as well as comparative politics in recent years.  On the one hand, students of comparative politics, and especially comparative political economy, have become increasingly concerned with articulating the “micro-foundations” of their arguments and also testing individual-level hypotheses.  On the other hand, a good deal of recent work on political behavior has been informed by the recognition that political institutions and other “macro-level variables” have important effects and often conditions relationships among individual-level variables.  

Exploring theoretical and methodological problems pertaining to macro/micro linkages, our workshop will consist of two modules. The first module (May 6-7) will focus on recent work in comparative political economy that incorporates empirical analysis of individual policy preferences.  In particular, we will discuss recent articles and papers that treat individual policy preferences as a critical part of the causal mechanisms whereby globalization and rising income inequality affect public policy outcomes. The second module (May 27-28) will introduce individual-level analyses that put more emphasis on the ways institutions and social processes shape political attitudes and patterns of political participation.  This module is more research-oriented and will be based on two EU-funded research projects. The two days will have a different angle. The first day will be mainly devoted to a critical discussion of findings from one of the two projects. During second day the students will have to develop research questions and hypotheses concerning the second project, focusing on macro/micro linkages.

The workshop will include a session on the methodology of multi-level analysis, a session that addresses professional development issues (research funding, publication strategies and opportunities), and a session on practical research problems.  It will also feature presentations of doctoral thesis projects related to the broad themes indicated above.

Friday 6 May 2011

10h00 – 10h30:          Welcome and introduction

                                   Jonas Pontusson

10h30 – 12h30:           Introductory lectures on macro/micro linkages

                                    Political Economy: Jonas Pontusson

                                    Political Sociology: Marco Giugni

14h00 – 15h30:          Discussion of political economy readings

                                   All

15h30 – 18h30:          Preferences for redistribution

                                   David Rueda and Jonas Pontusson

Saturday 7 May 2011

9h30 – 12h30:             Methodological issues in multi-level analysis

                                   Marco Steenbergen

14h00 – 15h00:           Social democratic parties and the transforming social composition of their electorate

                                    Line Rennwald

15h00 – 16h00:           Final discussion

                                    All

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