Thanks for the constructive engagement with my work @svenehmes.bsky.social. Congrats on the publication!

How has public belief in the importance of merit🥇 and privilege💰 changed over time?

🆕Data viz shows a widening gap b/w the perceived importance of family wealth (privilege) and hard work (merit) in a majority of countries in the West

Paper: doi.org/10.1177/2378...
Code: github.com/cybe2001/mer...

Teaser (3/3): some predictions from people who know a lot more about politics than I do (@simonotjes.bsky.social onotjes.bsky.social @tomlouwerse.nl @tomwgvdmeer.bsky.social @hakhverdian.bsky.social @pgkroegerbb.bsky.social)

Teaser (2/3): latest polls and most likely coalitions (source: www.peilwijzer.nl and www.coalitiechecker.nl)

Teaser (1/2): recent history of election results across the spectrum (source: www.verkiezingsuitslagen.nl)

Election Day in the Netherlands: The Return of the Center? On October 29, the Dutch will head to the polls for general elections, after the four-party coalition government collapsed when Geert Wilders, leader of…

Come join @stanveuger.bsky.social @colinmbrown.bsky.social Muriel Rouyer and me
@europeatharvard.bsky.social today at 2.30 pm to make sense of the 2025 Dutch parliamentary elections!

Details: ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2025/...

A little teaser!

I'm deeply grateful to the American Educational Studies Association for recognizing my book with a Critics' Choice Book Award. @princetonupress.bsky.social @aesatalk.bsky.social

Check out "Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education" here: www.amazon.com/Raised-Obey-...

The wage gap and far-right support for redistribution New study on beliefs and preferences about the wage gap (CEOs vs average worker). When the true gap is revealed, far right voters change their policy views most.

“In the case of the US, CEOs of publicly listed companies earn 269 times more than the average full-time worker. People thought CEOs only earned 18 times as much, and they would prefer it to be just 5 times”

– Christopher Hoy in our latest blog post #LSEInequalitiesBlog

There’s a Stairway to Heaven, but a Highway to Hell. This implies Heaven is a walkable community, and Hell is a congested interstate.

Antisocial Economics What is wealth? How come so many of us haven’t got any? How does wealth inequality make poverty worse? In the UK and other rich economies, wealth inequality and poverty are at incredibly high…

Why is it so hard to do anything about wealth inequality?

In the final episode of this series of Antisocial Economics, Sarah Kerr (@wealtherty.bsky.social) talks to Will Snell, @michaelvaughan.bsky.social, and @jonathanmijs.com about what makes change hard to achieve.

buff.ly/pEad8xT

Better parks 🌳, tighter communities🧑‍🤝‍🧑!

Mooie kans om te leren van een toponderzoeker in een hele fijne afdeling.

GitHub - cybe2001/info-experience-beliefs: Does exposure to information on ethnic discrimination affect beliefs about inequality and support for affirmative action? A preregistered population-based survey-experiment Does exposure to information on ethnic discrimination affect beliefs about inequality and support for affirmative action? A preregistered population-based survey-experiment - cybe2001/info-experien...

We conclude that public beliefs aren’t fixed—but facts only change minds under certain conditions.

Exposure to diversity matters for how people process new information.

Replication materials: github.com/cybe2001/inf...

Preregistration: osf.io/rv8jx

Changes in perceptions of inequality are mainly in line with the resonance mechanism

Whereas changes in meritocratic explanations and support for affirmative action were mainly in line with the dissonance mechanism

We find two mechanisms at work:

•Resonance mechanism: Information aligns with what people experience → reinforces their beliefs

•Dissonance mechanism: Information clashes with expectations → shocks belief into change

💡 We find that some beliefs shifted

But how they changed, depended on people's everyday interactions with people with a migration background

We conducted a large, preregistered survey experiment (n=2,792) in the Netherlands

Respondents were randomly assigned to see info about ethnic discrimination in education & hiring or unrelated info

We then measured:
•Perceptions of inequality
•Belief in meritocracy
•Support for affirmative action

Can providing facts about ethnic discrimination change people's beliefs and raise support for affirmative action?

We put it to the test in new @ispp-pops.bsky.social study with @willemdekoster.bsky.social, Jeroen v/d Waal and Masja van Meteren. A thread!

Open access link: doi.org/10.1111/pops...

Great piece by Yukiko Asada et al. @socialindicators.bsky.social on taking seriously 'luck' as a driver of life outcomes and inequality, creatively illustrated with reference to the life course of a certain French painter in this figure.

Full article: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Ja! Maar ook in het SCP rapport zie je flinke regionale verschillen als je met een daadwerkelijke (economische) klassenlens kijkt. @jaapnieuwenhuis.bsky.social weet jij de pagina's / bijlagen uit je hoofd?

Onze reactie in De Volkskrant op het vorige week verschenen SCP rapport Verdeeld over het land.

@jonathanmijs.com‬ @agatatroost.bsky.social @rug-gmw.bsky.social‬ @volkskrant.nl‬

Opinie: Het Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau hanteert een dubieuze klassenindeling Beleid zou zich moeten richten op het gladstrijken van de klassenverschillen, en niet slechts op het vergroten van de kans om je klasse te ontsnappen terwijl de klassenmaatschappij in stand blijft.

Scherpe kritiek op het SCP rapport over geografie en klasse:

"in de uitwerking van het onderzoek wordt geografie grof gemeten en sociale klasse dermate verdund dat de verschillen verdampen"

@jaapnieuwenhuis.bsky.social @jonathanmijs.com @agatatroost.bsky.social

www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opin...

Really interesting paper by @hwaight.bsky.social & Adam Goldstein describing the looong trend of public perceptions that "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer."

NYT headline: “Kennedy Advises New Parents to ‘Do Your Own Research’ on Vaccines” Subheader: “In an interview with Dr. Phil, the health secretary offered false information about vaccine oversight and revealed a lack of basic understanding of new drug approvals.”

“And I’m like, what do you mean, you ‘do your own research’? You running a double-blind study in your living room, dawg?”
- A guy walking ahead of me with his friends on a NYC sidewalk in 2021, also my favorite overheard dialogue of the entire pandemic

Artikel in Jacobin over klassenbewustzijn.

We zijn geïnterviewd door Dylan van Rijsbergen over ons project over klasse en klassenbewustzijn voor Jacobin. Heel toepasselijk is het gepubliceerd op 1 mei.

Het artikel: jacobin.nl/waarom-klass...

@jonathanmijs.com Agata Troost @dylanvr.bsky.social @rug-gmw.bsky.social @jacobinnl.bsky.social

My sabbatical leave allowed me to reflect on my professional life.

As I’ve stepped into more senior roles in academia (plus gotten a bit older), I often get asked:

“How do you keep writing academic articles, policy work, opinion pieces, while juggling everything else?”

My answer: skillpower

🧵

Deze week verschijnt-ie eindelijk:

AJAX 125 JAAR, een monument van een jubileumboek van 12 kilo zwaar. Via Kick Uitgevers. 1600 pagina's. 2059 foto's. Een must voor elke Ajacied.

Branie geeft een set weg! Volg ons account, repost dit bericht en maak kans. Vrijdag wijzen we de winnaar aan.

#Ajax

How Hulu's 'Paradise' explores the idea of a perfect society Meet Jonathan Mijs, a sociology professor who helped shape the concept of what a perfect society might look like in Hulu's "Paradise."

Hulu’s political thriller TV series “Paradise” depicts a perfect, egalitarian society, one that Assistant Professor of Sociology @jonathanmijs.com helped create as the show’s technical consultant, providing insight into inequality in a society.

Read more here: abc7ny.com/videoClip/hu...