Alejandro Ciordia
@alexciordia.bsky.social
280 followers 320 following 26 posts
Social scientist 🔍 contentious politics, social network analysis, (climate) activism Maastricht Sustainability Inst @erc-foodcharities.bsky.social & Centre on Social Movement Studies @sns.it‬ Previously: @coalescelab.bsky.social‬ | PhD: Univ of Trento
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alexciordia.bsky.social
🚨🚨📢📢 New open-access article (co-authored w/ @nuriatargarona.bsky.social & @mirandalubbers.bsky.social), just out in American Behavioral Scientist:

“The Relational Toll of Political Involvement in Polarized Times: Relationship Decay Within Activists’ Personal Networks” doi.org/10.1177/0002...
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
erc-foodcharities.bsky.social
We are very excited to share the launch of a special issue in Global Food Security!

👉 Understanding Food Insecurity in High-Income Countries: New Theoretical Approaches, Multidimensional Perspectives, and Innovative Practices and Policy Responses

Read more and find the link below🔽
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
coalescelab.bsky.social
Congratulations to @nuriatargarona.bsky.social (COALESCE Lab), Louise Ryan & @alexciordia.bsky.social (@erc-foodcharities.bsky.social / @sns.it) for their ⭐new article⭐ in @socresonline.bsky.social, discussing two visual tools to inductively explore social boundary making in relationships! #socsky
nuriatargarona.bsky.social
Our methodological open-access article (co-authors: Louise Ryan & @alexciordia.bsky.social), presenting new interactive visual tools to inductively explore social categorisation and boundary-making processes within personal networks, is out in Sociological Research Online doi.org/10.1177/1360...
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
tkeskinturk.bsky.social
people's opinions are formed through a combination of long-lasting exposures and political socialization, and we should not expect one-shot experimental settings to *scale* in the first place.

this is such a needed correction to the "polarization" literature:
brendannyhan.bsky.social
Depolarization is not "a scalable solution for reducing societal-level conflict.... achieving lasting depolarization will likely require....moving beyond individual-level treatments to address the elite behaviors and structural incentives that fuel partisan conflict" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
alexciordia.bsky.social
My role builds on my research on inter-organizational networks and civil society. I’ll be studying how charitable food fields took shape and transformed over the last decades, using a comparative and relational approach.

If you’re interested, follow the project here 👉 @foodcharities.bsky.social
alexciordia.bsky.social
The project investigates through a mixed-methods approach how charitable food provision fields emerge and evolve, how are they governed, and what are their implications for poverty, food insecurity, and sustainability? 🍞🥬🌍

🔗 foodcharities.eu
Food Charities - At the heart of food support lies a web of relations
Food Charities aims to uncover how these connections build, sustain, transform, and at times hinder responses to food insecurity across different contexts.
foodcharities.eu
alexciordia.bsky.social
Some belated professional news:

A few months ago I started working as a postdoc at Maastricht University on the exciting ERC project @erc-foodcharities.bsky.social led by @pipponcini.bsky.social

Really happy to be part of this international team, based at the Maastricht Sustainability Institute!
erc-foodcharities.bsky.social
We are now on Bluesky 🎉

Using a comparative and relational approach, the Food Charities project explores how charitable food provision operates in urban spaces in different welfare and civil society contexts: Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Follow us for project updates, events, and calls!
Food Charities - At the heart of food support lies a web of relations
Food Charities aims to uncover how these connections build, sustain, transform, and at times hinder responses to food insecurity across different contexts.
foodcharities.eu
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
casmudde.bsky.social
I have taught in 5 countries for more than 25 years and I had never before been warned for being set-up and reported by my own students by university administrators… until this semester.
Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream
The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.
www.insidehighered.com
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
4freedoms.es
Nota: este es el mismo trato que reciben los presos americanos normalmente. El sistema penitenciario de Estados Unidos es un puto gulag desde hace décadas.
casfetera.bsky.social
Uno de los trabajadores surcoreanos detenidos y deportados por ICE a pesar disponer de visados temporales llevó un diario secreto de la experiencia: fueron esposados y, algunos, encadenados en cintura, piernas y muñecas; se les transportó en vehículos que apestaban a orina y sin aire acondicionado.🧵
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
nuriatargarona.bsky.social
Our methodological open-access article (co-authors: Louise Ryan & @alexciordia.bsky.social), presenting new interactive visual tools to inductively explore social categorisation and boundary-making processes within personal networks, is out in Sociological Research Online doi.org/10.1177/1360...
alexciordia.bsky.social
Finally, I encourage you to check the rest of the special issue on relational outcomes of collective action, put together by Alessandra Lo Piccolo and Federica Stagni (doi.org/10.1177/0002...), as well as the amazing work carried out in the @coalescelab.bsky.social (coalesce-lab.com/en)
alexciordia.bsky.social
This article might be particularly appealing for people interested in:
🧩 the biographical consequences of activism
🌐 personal network analysis
⚖️ the tension between social cohesion and polarization
alexciordia.bsky.social
Our findings show how political involvement transforms individuals' social environments in complex ways and complicate the view that civil society participation always builds bridges ➡️ In polarized contexts, activism may expand mostly ideologically homogeneous ties but also erode cross-cutting ones.
alexciordia.bsky.social
BUT, interestingly, when asked about the consequences, activists were less troubled (although not unaffected) by these ruptures than non-activists.

This is why we call this a "relational toll", a common but acceptable cost of political engagement, likely due to lower aversion to social discomfort.
alexciordia.bsky.social
Why does this happen? We explore this qualitatively. When contrasting activists' and non-activists' accounts of their experiences, three dynamics stood up:

1️⃣ Greater identity exposure
2️⃣ Urge for self-disclosure
3️⃣ Need for ideological alignment
alexciordia.bsky.social
👉 82% of activists (vs 55% for non-activits) reported at least one damaged/broken tie due to political disagreements
👉 After controlling for many dyadic and individual social & political covariates through multi-level regressions, activists were 6-7 times more likely to experience relationship decay
alexciordia.bsky.social
Drawing on 76 personal network interviews and 806 relationships in Catalonia (Spain), a highly polarized context, we found that YES, politicaly-motivated relationship decay is significantly more common among activists 👇
alexciordia.bsky.social
We usually think of political engagement and activism as opportunities for new connections and expanding personal networks. But what about the risks of pre-existing relationships being damaged?
Our study asks: are activists more likely to experience politically-motivated relational strain?
alexciordia.bsky.social
🚨🚨📢📢 New open-access article (co-authored w/ @nuriatargarona.bsky.social & @mirandalubbers.bsky.social), just out in American Behavioral Scientist:

“The Relational Toll of Political Involvement in Polarized Times: Relationship Decay Within Activists’ Personal Networks” doi.org/10.1177/0002...
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
lorenzopiccoli.bsky.social
Ten years ago, the world saw the image of Alan Kurdi lying lifeless on a Turkish beach after his family’s boat sank on the way to Greece.

That photo shocked millions, but was also an example that the more we face extreme suffering, the faster we grow numb to it.
alexciordia.bsky.social
Hopefully, the resulting paper "Shifting grounds of collaboration in changing contexts: evolving environmental networks in the Basque Country" will be out soon 🤞 Stay tuned!
(in the meantime, happy to share a pre-print version with anyone interested 😊)
alexciordia.bsky.social
Honored to receive the Best Paper Prize 2024 from @politicalnets.bsky.social together with the brilliant Luigi Schiavo. Many thanks to the jury and colleagues!
politicalnets.bsky.social
It was our pleasure to personally award the Best Paper Prize presented at the previous ECPR conference in Dublin. @ecpr.bsky.social 🏆

The jury, consisting of Maria Brockhaus, Katia Pilati, and Volker Schneider, unanimously decided for @alexciordia.bsky.social and Luigi Schiavo.

Congratulations! 👏
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
guygrossman.bsky.social
The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange is up 150% in the past 12 months (and 62% in the past 6m) in case you are wondering why the government feels no pressure to end the war on Gaza.
Reposted by Alejandro Ciordia
anjaneundorf.bsky.social
🚨 New in Journal of Politics! 🚨
Do radical right parties need to cut ties with old dictatorships to succeed?
👉 @sergipardos.bsky.social and my study of Spain’s VOX says: ❌ Not necessarily.