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When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, decision-makers around the world turned to predictive models and scenarios to navigate the unknown. But how did these projections shape—and sometimes mislead—strategies and public debate? In a newly published article in the journal Social Studies of Science, sociologist Tobias Olofsson explores how early pandemic predictions influenced policy and public discourse. T

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/can-flawed-predictions-still-guide-us-times-uncertainty - 2026-07-21

When researchers from three continents gathered at Lund University's Department of Sociology for the conference Crisis, Hope, and Critical Turning Points, the spotlight was on society’s capacity to navigate and recover from crises. Despite the gravity of the topics, the atmosphere was animated—filled with conversation, laughter, and spontaneous exchanges. With renowned scholar Sylvia Walby as keyn

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/crisis-hope-and-turning-points-international-researchers-gathered-lund - 2026-07-21

On Thursday, 4 September, the VIRTUTRIALS research team hosted their start-up seminar, welcoming 25 representatives from across Sweden’s legal landscape – including the Swedish Courts, Prosecution Authority, Swedish Bar Association, Prison and Probation Services, Victim Support Sweden, and more. The seminar marked the official launch of VIRTUTRIALS: The Elusive Role of Physicality – Towards a New

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/virtutrials-launch-seminar-brings-together-key-legal-stakeholders - 2026-07-21

What does working life look like for Swedish teenagers? A new doctoral thesis in sociology offers a unique insight into upper secondary school students’ experiences of working in low-wage service jobs – and how these jobs shape their self-understanding. Today, Friday 19 September, Anna Kallos successfully defended her doctoral thesis in sociology at the Socialhögskolan’s Gamla köket, just a stone’

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/teenagers-work-anna-kallos-defends-doctoral-thesis-young-peoples-working-conditions - 2026-07-21

How can a plant shape knowledge, community, and activism? New doctoral thesis sheds light on cannabis activism and human–plant relations in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today, Monday 29 September, Lucia Amaranta Thompson marks the successful defence of her doctoral thesis in Gender Studies at Lund University, presenting a unique ethnographic insight into the cannabis community in Buenos Aires, Argenti

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/exploring-cannabis-community-argentina-lucia-amaranta-thompson-defends-doctoral-thesis - 2026-07-21

On Friday 26 September, David Bazan Royuela successfully defended his doctoral thesis in sociology at the Eden Auditorium. The research offers new insights into how we interact with algorithms on platforms like TikTok. The thesis titled Algorithmic Interaction Ritual Chains on TikTok: Scrolling through Feedback Loops explores how every like, skip, or watch on TikTok sends signals to the platform’s

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/tiktok-algorithms-and-feedback-loops-new-thesis-david-bazan-royuela-explores-digital-interactions - 2026-07-21

Sociologist Mikael Klintman warns that some apps meant to reduce anxiety might actually increase it. In The Conversation, he explains how constant alerts and dramatic messages can make users more stressed, not less. In his book 'Framing – The Social Art of Influence', Mikael Klintman asks which kinds of signalling strike a chord with different audiences in particular situations like advertising an

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/stress-apps-can-make-you-more-anxious-research-shows-how-deal-it - 2026-07-21

Spy scandals as a power struggle between three actors: whistleblowers, journalists and the intelligence service. On Friday 1 October Alexandra Franzén at the Department of Sociology defended her doctoral thesis in sociology, which investigates three cases of spy scandals in Western democracies. Alexandra Franzén's thesis defence took place on Friday 1 October at 13:15 in Eden's Auditorium in Lund

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/alexandra-franzen-has-defended-her-thesis - 2026-07-21

The Department of Sociology in Lund will receive three years of funding for a large collaboration project looking at insecure and informal work in the Nordic countries. Researchers Rasmus Ahlstrand and Sara Eldén, here at the Department of Sociology in Lund are part of the project "Tackling Precarious and Informal Work in the Nordic Countries (PrecaNord)" which has been granted funding within the

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/three-years-funding-large-nordic-collaboration-insecure-and-informal-work - 2026-07-21

When the American research field "Fear of Crime" was introduced in Sweden in the 1980s, it was translated "otrygghet", a word with a previously established meaning in Swedish. The meaning of the word "otrygghet" has since then changed significantly in Sweden. From being used to signify economic and materialist unpredictability, "otrygghet" has come to be used almost exclusively in a crime context.

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/hanna-sahlin-lilja-has-defended-her-thesis-fear-crime-research-sweden - 2026-07-21

The everyday life in two day-care centres of psychiatry in the municipality of Copenhagen is examined in a new sociology thesis from Vibeke Klitgaard. Focus lies on the patients' communication and behavior as well as the stigmatization they experience from the social environment. Vibeke Klitgaard defended her thesis "Social (dis) order in district psychiatry: A systems theory analysis of psychiatr

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/vibeke-klitgaard-has-defended-her-thesis - 2026-07-21

Associate Professor Sébastien Tutenges and Researcher Susanne Boethius of the Department of Sociology at Lund University are Editor-in-Chief and Co-Editor of the Nordic Journal of Criminology since the turn of the year. Looking forward to the new job! In an interview for The Nordic Research Council for Criminology (NSfK), the new Editor-in-Chief Sébastien Tutenges says he very much looks forward t

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/new-editors-nordic-journal-criminology - 2026-07-21

In his doctoral thesis in sociology "Structures of subcontracting: Work organisation, control, and labour in the Swedish building sector", Rasmus Ahlstrand analyses the increased use of subcontractors and explores new forms of work organisation in the Swedish building sector. A key contribution of his study is the concept of masked staffing, which refers to unauthorised ways of organising labour t

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/rasmus-ahlstrand-has-defended-his-thesis-changing-swedish-building-sector - 2026-07-21

In his article "Does remote work weaken trade unions?*" Anders Kjellberg, Professor of sociology, discusses how the balance of power in the labour market is changed when working from home increases in society. He also writes about the new trade union issues that distance working raises in industries where it is widespread. Those affected are primarily white-collar workers in both the private and p

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/does-remote-work-weaken-trade-unions - 2026-07-21

Why do people across cultures gather in groups to get intoxicated? Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology in Lund Sébastien Tutenges has been researching nightclubs and festivals for two decades to answer this question. His new book "Intoxication" offers valuable new insights into a wide variety of experiences. This book takes us to bars, nightclubs, festivals, nightlife resorts, under

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/collective-intoxication-can-give-religious-experience-and-more-solidarity - 2026-07-21

On 21 May the Young Academy of Sweden elected six new, prominent researchers representing fields ranging from brain surgery, analytical sociologoy and energy transformation. One of them is Alison Gerber, senior lecturer in sociology here at the Department of Sociology at Lund University. Why did you apply to The Young Academy of Sweden? - Because I want to contribute to making Swedish academic res

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/sociologist-one-six-new-prominent-researchers-selected-young-academy-sweden - 2026-07-21

Associate Professor Dalia Abdelhady has studied how a Turkish newspaper's attempts to write inclusive portrayals of Syrian refugees still contributed to politicising and "othering" them as a group. In a paper published in Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, Dalia Abdelhady studies portrayals of Syrian refugees in the Turkish newspaper Zaman from 2011 to 20

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/turning-refugees-politics-impedes-their-social-integration - 2026-07-21

On Thursday, June 16, Colm Flaherty successfully defended his thesis A Politics of Community: Identity, Stigma, and Meaning in the Extra-Parliamentary Left, and is from here on out a doctor of sociology. Flaherty spent his doctoral studies exploring changing forms of political participation in Sweden through several extra-parliamentary leftist groups and organisations guided by radical left-libert

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/welcome-doctorhood-colm-flaherty - 2026-07-21

How does migration and globalisation shape the lives of individuals in various countries and how does it affect the children of immigrants in terms of integration, identity, and cultural expressions? Do they themselves use the word integration? These questions occupy sociologist Dalia Abdelhady who is about to conclude a study of three populations in the US, in France and in Germany, based on thei

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/other-side-story-how-children-immigrants-experience-life - 2026-07-21

How do immigrant organizations in Sweden work with aid and development in their home countries? Other European countries work more actively than Sweden to use the knowledge about home countries that exists within these organizations. Sociologists from Lund Axel Fredholm, Johan Sandberg and Olle Frödin write about this in the research article "The Migration-Development Nexus Revisited: Immigrant Or

https://www.soc.lu.se/en/article/immigrant-organizations-sweden-can-play-more-important-role-aid-and-development - 2026-07-21