Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Macrosociology

I am a political sociologist researching political conflicts and their roots in social inequality. I am currently working with Steffen Mau and Thomas Lux on the Leibniz project "New inequalities, new cleavages? A political sociology of contemporary society". The first result of this project was the book “Trigger points. Consensus and conflict in contemporary society“ which was widely received in Germany (English and French translations forthcoming). Our more recent research looks at the conditions under which social change is perceived as overwhelming and how this fuel social conflicts.

In general, I am interested in class differences in political reasoning and relations to politics. I mainly work qualitatively and try to work out how divided worldviews emerge from unequal lives. I draw inspiration from the work of Pierre Bourdieu, political science research on cleavages and the newer sociology of morality, among others. How are the tectonic shifts in the conflict structure of postindustrial societies expressed in the everyday consciousness of ordinary citizens? How do lifestyles, everyday morals, social identity and cultural repertoires shape our view of politics? What does “politics” actually mean for members of different social classes? How does the historical demobilization of class conflicts reshape ideas of politics? And how does all this inform the contestation and legitimation of inequality and social change, e.g. in struggles over climate protection, migration, or a liberalization of the gender order? These are some of the questions that motivate my research.

Before joining Humboldt, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Zurich and a visiting researcher at the International Inequalities Institute at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I received my PhD from Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence in 2022 (Supervisor: Donatella della Porta, Committee: Mike Savage, Steffen Mau, Guglielmo Meardi). For my BA and MA, I studied Sociology, Political Science, and Philosophy at Humboldt University Berlin, King’s College London, and the École Normale Supérieure Cachan.

For more informations see my CV (last updated 06/2025) and my website: linuswestheuser.com

Publications

Book (full list here)

• Mau, Steffen, Thomas Lux und Linus Westheuser (2023) Triggerpunkte. Konsens und Konflikt in der Gegenwartsgesellschaft. Berlin: Suhrkamp. www.suhrkamp.de/triggerpunkte
  

  
  [English and French translations forthcoming in 2026]

⸺ SPIEGEL best seller list (48 weeks); best seller list of FOCUS / stern / Börsenblatt
⸺ Best Non-Fiction 2023 by DIE ZEIT / Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Welt / Neue Zürcher Zeitung
⸺ Prize “Best Political Book” 2024, Friedrich Ebert Foundation
⸺ Reviews see here 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• Westheuser, Linus (forthcoming): Boundaries and cleavages. Elements of a cultural sociology of political divides. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology.
• Westheuser, Linus and Delia Zollinger (2025): Cleavage theory meets Bourdieu. Studying the role of group identities in cleavage formation. European Political Science Review 17(1), 110 – 127. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus and Thomas Lux (2024): Class consciousness and voting. Class as a political compass? Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Foundation. [LINK]
• Deutsch: Westheuser, Linus und Thomas Lux (2024): Klassenbewusstsein und Wahlentscheidung. Klasse als politischer Kompass? Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. [LINK]
• Damhuis, Koen and Linus Westheuser (2024): Cleavage Politics in Ordinary Reasoning. How Common Sense Divides”. European Societies 26(4), 1195–1231. [LINK]
• Mau, Steffen, Thomas Lux and Linus Westheuser (2024): “‘Ja, aber’. Gesellschaftliche Konflikte verstehen.”, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 76, 207–220. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus and Pierre Ostiguy (2024): The Sociocultural Approach to Populism. Toward a Cultural Class Analysis of Populist Appeals. In: Elgar Research Handbook of Populism, ed. Giorgos Katsambekis and Yannis Stavrakakis. Edward Elgar. [LINK]
• Beck, Linda and Linus Westheuser (2022): Verletzte Ansprüche. Zur Grammatik des politischen Bewusstseins von Arbeiter:innen” (mit Linda Beck), Berliner Journal für Soziologie 32(2). [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus and Donatella della Porta (2022): Class Without Consciousness. The Politics of Demobilized Class Society. Berliner Journal für Soziologie 32(2). [LINK] 
• Westheuser, Linus (2022): This is not America: Politische Polarisierung in Deutschland als Schimäre, Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 35(2): 422-427. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus (2020): Populism as Symbolic Class Struggle. Homology, Metaphor, and English Ale, Participation & Conflict 13(1): 256-283. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus (2018): Doing Gender. Gender Glossar. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus (2015): Männer, Frauen und Stefan Hirschauer: Undoing Gender zwischen Praxeologie und Rhetorischer Modernisierung, GENDER – Zeitschrift für Gesellschaft, Geschlecht und Kultur 3-2015: 109-125. [LINK]

 Other Publications

• Westheuser, Linus and Thomas Lux (2025): The German Left Has Lost Its Monopoly on Class Consciousness. LSE European Politics Blog. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus and Donatella della Porta (2024): Quanto conta la classe? Strutture e concezioni in mutamento. Parole-Chiave 1/2024. [LINK]
• Steffen Mau, Thomas Lux and Linus Westheuser (2024): “Migration as a Trigger Point?” (mit Steffen Mau und Thomas Lux), German Research 1/2024, 8-11. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus (2020): The Symbolic Politics of Populism Reflects the Class Alliances it Attempts to Assemble. LSE British Politics and Policy Blog. [LINK]
• Westheuser, Linus (2019): The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, and the Great Recession (Book Review), Mobilization 24(4): 531-2. [LINK]

See my website for public writing and interviews (mostly in German).