INDEPENDENT, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
ON POLITICS AND SOCIETY
Get to know CPS
From the CPS Blog
Maasai Remix: Ann Arbor Screening in March 2023
Maasai Remix, a documentary directed by the award-winning team of filmmaker Ron Mulvihill and CPS anthropologist Kelly Askew, follows three Maasai individuals who confront challenges to their community by drawing strength from local traditions, modifying them when necessary, and melding them with new resources. The State Theater in Ann Arbor hosts a free screening March 12, 2023. More on the film from the CPS blog.
Events
The 2023 Miller-Converse Lecture
Stanley Feldman, Stony Brook University
Thursday, March 23, 2023 | 4:00-5:30 PM Eastern
ISR-Thompson, Room 1430
“Elections, Authoritarianism, Partisan Polarization in the US”
The increasing polarization of the Democratic and Republican parties in the US has been well documented but a number of different explanations for it have been advanced. Based on analyses of almost 30 years of election survey data, I show how the two parties have sharply diverged on the core trait of authoritarianism. The relationship between authoritarianism and vote choice has increased substantially over time. Perhaps more importantly, authoritarianism has become more strongly related to partisan identification which has long-term implications for political conflict. I also show that this increased influence of authoritarianism in American politics is largely a result of a few key presidential elections that accelerated the sorting of partisans by levels of authoritarianism.
Meet our faculty and staff
Featured Project
World Values Survey
The World Values Survey (WVS) is an international research program devoted to the scientific and academic study of social, political, economic, religious and cultural values of people in the world. The project’s goal is to assess which impact values stability or change over time has on the social, political and economic development of countries and societies.
Featured Publication
Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy
What causes some people to stand in solidarity with those from other races, religions, or nationalities, even when that solidarity does not seem to benefit the individual or their group? Seeing Us in Them examines outgroup empathy as a powerful predisposition in politics that pushes individuals to see past social divisions and work together in complex, multicultural societies. It also reveals racial/ethnic intergroup differences in this predisposition, rooted in early patterns of socialization and collective memory.
Celebrating 50 years of the Center for Political Studies
The Center for Political Studies marked its 50th anniversary with a celebration featuring a keynote address by Arthur Lupia. Many alumni and faculty also shared their reflections on what the center has meant to them. Click here to view a recording of the event and statements about CPS.
CPS News
Ceren Budak Named a CASBS 2023-2024 Fellow
Posted March 13, 2023. This week, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University announced its 2023-24 fellows class, 37 scholars and practitioners representing 22 U.S. institutions and nine international institutions and programs. CPS Faculty Associate Ceren Budak, who is an Associate Professor of Information (School of Information) and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (College of Engineering) was named among them.
Professor Budak’s research interests lie in the area of computational social science– and particularly in the use of large scale data sets and computational techniques to study problems with policy, social and political implications.
Members of the 2023-24 class conduct research in a variety of fields in the social and behavioral sciences and cognate disciplines, including anthropology, architecture, communication, economics, education, history, information science, law, medicine, organization studies, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, sociology, and urban studies and planning.
Since its inception in 1954, CASBS has brought together deep thinkers from diverse disciplines and communities to advance understanding of the full range of human beliefs, behaviors, interactions, and institutions. A leading incubator of human-centered knowledge, CASBS facilitates collaborations across academia, policy, industry, civil society, and government to collectively design a better future.
Two CPS projects selected for grants in joint program focused on rural life
Posted March 2, 2023. Rural areas around the globe face distinct challenges and four new projects bring social scientists and engineers together to improve understanding and develop solutions. CPS’s Brian Min and Sabina Tomkins will both co-lead projects as part of a joint pilot program between the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research (ISR) and College of Engineering (CoE). Read more from ISR.
Walter Mebane Named an AAAS Fellow
Posted Jan. 31, 2023. For his distinguished contributions in election forensics, using statistical analysis to determine whether election results are accurate, Walter Mebane, professor of political science and statistics, has been named an AAAS Fellow. Read more from Michigan News.
CPS Remembers Barb Opal
Posted Jan. 25, 2023. Barb Opal, who proudly spent her entire career in ISR’s Center for Political Studies (CPS), passed away on Thursday. She had worked with every director of the Center dating back to CPS founder Warren Miller. The memorial service will be Saturday, Feb. 11 at 12:30. Read more
Learning Science in a Hurry: Jon Miller Investigates how Americans Learned about COVID-19 to Make Personal Health Decisions and Public Policy Judgments
Posted Nov. 7 2022. An international team led by CPS’s Jon Miller found that people who earned a college degree and took the required college science courses gained a general level of biological literacy that enabled them to make more informed policy judgments about the effectiveness of the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last week prior to the 2022 midterm elections, these results are important in understanding how citizens make sense of scientific or technical issues such as viral mutation and transmission and the efficacy of vaccines—and how their government worked to protect them against a deadly virus. Read more
Mark Tessler's New Open Access Book to Kindle Social Science Research in the Arab World
Posted Oct. 10, 2022. A new book by CPS’s Mark Tessler on the design and conduct of social science research in the Arab world has the potential to expand the reach and impact of social science research that contributes to informed social advancement. Social Science Research in the Arab World and Beyond: A Guide for Students, Instructors, and Researchers has been released by Springer Publishers in its Sociology series; Qatar University Press has translated the book and is publishing the Arabic edition. Read more and get the open access book
Arthur Lupia to Lead Bold Challenges Initiative as Executive Director
Posted July 27, 2022. Arthur Lupia will serve the Bold Challenges initiative as Executive Director, leading U-M collaborative research efforts addressing social changes intersecting with equity, health, infrastructure, and sustainability. His two-year term begins in September. “I am committed to doing all that I can to help the University of Michigan act with urgency and integrity to serve today’s, and tomorrow’s, generations with maximum impact and unrelenting humanity,” said Lupia.
Read more in the University Record
ISR, CPS Remember Rosemary Sarri, Trailblazing Social Scientist and Researcher
Posted July 25, 2022. Rosemary A. Sarri, a long-time University of Michigan researcher and professor, passed away on Monday, July 25. She was 95. A leading expert in child and family welfare policy and the criminal justice system, Sarri worked to improve social welfare programs throughout the world. She collaborated with universities in Australia and Korea and worked to strengthen and develop educational standards and curriculum guidelines in social work education programs in Russia. You can read more about Sarri’s life and impact here.
Nicholas Valentino Receives APSA Best Book Award
Posted June 22, 2022. Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy by Cigdem V. Sirin, Nicholas A. Valentino, and José D. Villalobos will receive the American Political Science Association (APSA) best book award at the 2022 APSA meetings. This award is given annually for the best book on government, politics, or international affairs.
Read more about this book.