Short presentation

I study social and political attitudes and behavior. Although I am a political scientist by training, my research falls in the intersection between political science, sociology and psychology. In my work I look at how various social and political attitudes are formed.

My primary topic of interest has been in generalized social trust – trust in other people we don’t know – which is often thought to be an important civic attitude underpinning a well-functioning democracy. If people trust unknown others, they are also likely to act more civically – e.g. pay taxes, recycle, or volunteer – with positive consequences for society as a whole.

I have, inter alia, examined the consequences of ethnic diversity for social trust, which embodies the larger question about whether social cohesion of Western societies is threatened by increased immigration by people with different ethnic background. I have analyzed this question in the primary school setting, as well as in municipalities and in the immediate neighborhood, where people live (the latter two together with Kim Sønderskov). The findings vary between contexts. I find no effect of ethnic diveristy on social trust in the school setting, but find negative effects of diversity in municipalities and in the immediate neighborhood.

At this point, studying how the micro-context of residential areas form social and political attitudes is the main research research project that I am working on (together with Kim Sønderskov and Bolette Danckert). The project is based on detailed register data from Denmark, which offer unique opportunities for examining the role of the micro-context in shaping attitudes.

Primary fields of research

Political behavior and attitude formation including:

• Social trust
• Immigration attitudes
• Attitudes towards redistribution
• Political participation
• Macroeconomic perceptions
• Contextual effects
• Personality as a determinant of political behavior and attitudes

CV

Present positions

Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, February 2019-Present

Previous positions

Professor with special responsibilities, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, March 2016-January 2019

Deputy Head of Department, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, September 2016-December 2018

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, January 2012-February 2016

Assistant professor/postdoc, Department of Political Science, University of Southern Denmark, January 2011-December 2011

Research assistant, Department of Political Science, University of Southern Denmark, October 2010-January 2011

Research assistant, Danish National Center for Social Research, July 2006-August 2007

Education

Ph.D., Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, January 2011

Msc (Political Science), Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, August 2006

Bsc (Political Science), Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, August 2002

Teaching

I primarily teach Political Behavior and Methods at both the B.Sc. and the M.Sc. level. I also supervise Ph.D. students and M.Sc. theses.