Was about time 😅

Today I received my official appointment as a W2 Professor of Political Behavior and Representation at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. As of April 1, this marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life and career—one I am very much looking forward to.

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@lukasbirkenmai1.bsky.social, @astroppe.bsky.social @wurthmann.bsky.social & @msaeltzer.bsky.social use NLP+Wikidata: 50k tweets + 190k FB posts (Bundestag 2017–21). District MPs cite nearer places and deprived in-district areas more than list MPs.

Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New paper with @lukasbirkenmai1.bsky.social, @astroppe.bsky.social, @msaeltzer.bsky.social !

📢 Study out in Research & Politics!

We (@lukasbirkenmai1.bsky.social @wurthmann.bsky.social @msaeltzer.bsky.social) find that directly elected MPs talk more about local & deprived places than list MPs on social media.

🔍 doi.org/10.1177/2053...

Some Highlights [1/3]

Reforming Primary Elections The American system of partisan primary elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate is often blamed for contributing to political polarization and conflict in Congress. These concerns ha...

I’m excited to share a new book, Reforming Primary Elections: Voters, Campaigns, and the Future of Congressional Politics, exploring how reforms could improve primaries. In our chapter, @msaeltzer.bsky.social & I analyze candidates in primaries. Free download: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

Solche Hasskommentare gegen Frauen gibt es tausendfach im Netz. Häufig ist es unmöglich, die Menschen dahinter zu ermitteln. In einem Fall, den ich für die @taz.de recherchiert habe, sprechen aber zahlreiche Hinweise dafür, dass dahinter ein hochrangiger Jurist aus Niedersachsen stecken könnte: (1)

Flossenschlag :D

Same. Ich fand drachen schon bei GoT den nervigsten Faktor 😁 finnspan hab ich auch nicht da es eher für Anfänger sein soll.

a little girl is asking why not both while standing in a kitchen . ALT: a little girl is asking why not both while standing in a kitchen .

Wingspan bekommt bald eine neue Erweiterung.

Cover page of the article. "Affective States: Cultural and Affective Polarization in a Multilevel-Multiparty System" by Dylan Paltra, Marius Sältzer and Christian Stecker. "Affective Polarization—the growing mutual dislike among partisan groups—has been identified as a major concern in democracies. Although both economic and cultural ideological divides contribute to ideological polarization, their affective consequences can differ. This paper argues that cultural polarization becomes especially consequential when mobilized by far-right parties. Using data from 116 elections in Germany’s 16 states (1990-2023), we combine more than 550 state-level manifestos with more than 150,000 survey responses to examine how party polarization translates into voter affect. Our analyses show that both economic and cultural polarization increase affective divides, but cultural disagreements fuel hostility only in the presence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD). Acting as a cultural entrepreneur, the AfD amplifies the emotional impact of cultural divisions such as immigration, employing affective rhetoric and provoking strong rejection from other parties and voters. These findings highlight the catalytic role of far-right parties in transforming ideological competition into affective polarization."

🚨Publication Alert!
My first first-author publication with @msaeltzer.bsky.social and @pluggedchris.bsky.social is out in @polbehavior.bsky.social, which began as my bachelor's thesis. We study how party polarization shapes affective polarization—with a particularly important role of the AfD. (1/7)🧵

A critique of our (w/ @bertous.bsky.social) paper “Instrumentally inclusive” has just been published.

Our response is under review (see below on process) but we feel obliged to share our draft for balance since the comment has been released without the response.

osf.io/rn6h3/files/...

But explaining regression takes longer every year?

🎉 New publication 🎉 Why do #youngpeople vote for the #AfD? This question has kept our research project busy for quite some time, so I'm beyond excited that our first article - co-authored with @timonscheuer.bsky.social - is now out in #GermanPolitics! 🤩 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Well you are three dimensional already so you habe a head start in terms of terribleness

With a paper oubliette....

My son found this in the forest and brought it home and the Star Trek nerd in me wants to kill it before things get out of hand

We are hiring! We are looking for two post-docs in our interdisciplinary research group “SCEPTIC” at the University of Oldenburg, 4+years, on the dynamics and drivers of (dis)trust in digital environments, more info below 👇

feel free to contact me or @guzoch.bsky.social or @annanosthoff.bsky.social about details.

The other position focuses on Survey Research / Experiments, applying quantitative methods, causal inference, and experimental designs to investigate trust and inequality in digital societies.
uol.de/en/job/postd...

One position focuses on Computational Text Analysis / LLMs, using natural language processing and large language models to study digital (dis)information and trust
uol.de/en/job/postd...

There is a lot of stuff going on in Oldenburg, and we look for people who want to explore new roads as part of a young, interdisciplinary team. If you are interested in working with NLP methods across disciplines or are interested in the societal consequences of lost trust, apply!

Job Alert! We are hiring two post-docs (full time, 4+ years) in our project SCEPTIC - Social, Computational and Ethical Premises of Trust and Informational Cohesion with @annanosthoff.bsky.social @guzoch.bsky.social and Prof. Andreas Peters (uol.de/informatik/s...)

Super happy to get Dylan to Oldenburg! After some big chances we are building a great pol sci department with an applied NLP focus here. Look out for further job ads soon!

A large tower, the meaning building of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg is seen behind trees.

Some personal news! 📰

I am very excited to share that I have started a new PhD position with the fantastic @msaeltzer.bsky.social at the University of Oldenburg. I will be working alongside the amazing @alonadolinsky.com and @klingelt.bsky.social in their new CONSTRUCT project. 🧵

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Great news for everyone involved 🫡

I'm never gonna hear the end this, now. 😆 So happy for you!

I feel overwhelmed and incredibly honoured to announce that I have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant for my project “VisibleQueers”, fully titled as “Making the Queers Visible: Partisanship and Support among Sexual and Gender Minorities in Eastern and Western Europe”.
#ERCStG

New job ad: Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science, Dartmouth College apply.interfolio.com/172357

Please share with your networks. I am the search chair and happy to answer questions!

This may look like unity but political leaders only arrange themselves in a sine wave when they are in heavy distress.