Author Archives: Pengfei Liu

The State and the Emergence of the First American Party System: Roll Call Voting in the New York State Assembly during the Early Republic

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Rohr, B., & Martin, J. L. (2025). The State and the Emergence of the First American Party System: Roll Call Voting in the New York State Assembly during the Early Republic. American Sociological Review, 90(4), 726-754. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224251344574

Prevailing theories about the nature and development of the democratic party system fail to account for the important case of the United States. Using a novel dataset on legislators and roll call votes in the New York State Assembly after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, we show that, contrary to existing accounts, legislative parties had already formed at this early stage. Yet these parties did not arise from the translation of social cleavages such as economic or social class into political oppositions, as sociologists might expect, nor were they merely networks of powerful elites disconnected from the polity, as political scientists and historians have suggested. Instead, these parties coalesced around formal issues—structural questions like the procedures for election and appointment, questions whose answer would determine the rules of the game for future contests. Parties emerged, we argue, not because of an inherent need to adjudicate conflicts between sectors of the polity, but because of the organizational affordances of the modern democratic state. Our findings suggest the formation of party systems is an integral part of the formation of the modern state.

Secularism, sorting, and Americans’ political knowledge

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Samuel L Perry, Secularism, sorting, and Americans’ political knowledge, Social Forces, 2025;, soaf150, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soaf150

Political knowledge, including knowledge of basic civics and current political conditions, is associated with a host of pro-democratic outcomes including institutional trust and civic and political participation. Religion is also historically associated with these outcomes, yet a link between religion and indicators of political knowledge remains underexamined. Integrating research on religion/secularism and political engagement with work on partisan sorting, I theorize self-consciously secular Americans, particularly if they are sorted politically, will exhibit the strongest grasp on basic civics and current political conditions. Analyses of data from a recent, nationally representative survey affirm my expectations. Self-identified atheists/agnostics consistently score significantly higher than religious or non-affiliated Americans on questions about basic civics and current political conditions. Interactions reveal that education helps most other religious groups catch up to atheists/agnostics on civics knowledge, but not knowledge about current politics. And on knowledge of both basic civics and current politics, atheists/agnostics’ advantage is strongest among liberals and Democrats and disappears among conservatives and Republicans. A similar pattern appears for evangelical Protestants in the opposite direction with their scores on both civics and current politics increasing significantly as they identify more with ideological conservatism, but this does not apply to partisan identity. Findings extend literatures on political knowledge, religious/secular political engagement, and partisan sorting by showing that (1) self-identified secular Americans, particularly if they are sorted, tend to be the most knowledgeable about basic civics and current political conditions, and (2) this pattern is to a weaker extent mirrored by evangelicals, another politicized religious group.

Working-class structural power, associational power, and income inequality

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Movahed, M. (2025). Working-class structural power, associational power, and income inequality. Journal of Industrial Relations, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856251326670

Under capitalism, workers have two sources of power: associational and structural. A vast body of social science research shows that workers’ power—often measured by union density—is associated with lower levels of income inequality. Drawing on a country-level, panel dataset for much of the post-World War II era (1960–2013), the author introduces a model of distributive outcomes that centers on the dual sources of workers’ associational and structural power. By differentiating the sources of workers’ power, the author examines the extent to which they bear on distributive outcomes across countries in the Global North. Using two-way fixed effects regression models, the author presents strong evidence that while workers’ associational and structural power are both statistically associated with lower levels of income inequality, it is workers’ structural—and not associational—power that drives egalitarian outcomes. Notably, counterfactual simulations demonstrate that, on average, structural power of the working class explains a gap up to approximately 4% in levels of income inequality over the past five decades across postindustrial countries.

Organizing against mining companies during the COVID-19 pandemic: frames, tactics and the digital divide in southern Mexico

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Morosin, A., & Hein, J. E. (2025). Organizing against mining companies during the COVID-19 pandemic: frames, tactics and the digital divide in southern Mexico. Globalizations, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2025.2525034

How did movements defending the commons cope with a rise in direct State support for extractive capital during the COVID-19 pandemic? This article utilizes a mixed methods approach to explore how anti-mining organizations in southern Mexico shifted their frames and tactics at the onset of the pandemic. Content analysis of e-newsletters from two civil society organizations were combined with interviews with anti-mine activists. Electronic newsletters and other forms of communication engaged in frame extension by linking the pandemic to environmental injustice and to the State’s neglect of public health. In an effort to transcend a digital divide in rural areas impacted by neoliberal extractivism, some solidarity organizations increased their reliance on the internet, yet such digital tactics were not evenly embraced. Our findings clarify some limitations of the internet for mobilizing rural populations in mining zones, while reiterating the importance of traditional, face-to-face organizing tactics that directly challenge extractive industries.

Competence over Partisanship: Party Affiliation Does Not Affect the Selection of School District Superintendents

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Mellon, G. (2025). Competence over Partisanship: Party Affiliation Does Not Affect the Selection of School District Superintendents. American Sociological Review, 90(4), 561-593. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224251346993

In recent decades, affective polarization and partisan animosity have risen sharply in the United States. To what extent have these trends affected hiring decisions? I examine partisan biases in hiring by considering the case of school district superintendent appointments: chief executives of local U.S. elementary/secondary education systems. I analyze mixed-methods data on a decade of hiring outcomes in Florida and California from 2009 to 2019. Despite rising polarization, the data consistently show that partisan affiliation is not a primary factor in these hiring decisions. Quantitative analyses reveal no significant relationship between changes in board partisan composition and superintendent hiring outcomes within school districts. I find no relationship between board-level partisan composition and superintendent exits. Qualitative findings show hiring decisions are primarily shaped by evaluations of candidates’ interpersonal skills and competence, even among board members with strong partisan views on other policy issues. Board members discuss a strong commitment to building consensus in their selections. While I cannot rule out very small effects, these results show that school boards do not routinely prioritize applicants from their own political party. This study advances research on affective polarization and social closure by demonstrating the contingent nature of partisan affiliation on decision-making and by providing evidence of a strong respect for professionalism in a critical U.S. public sector setting.