Edward Walker
edwardwalker.bsky.social
Edward Walker
@edwardwalker.bsky.social

Professor of Sociology, UCLA. Organizations, social movements, corporate lobbying, nonprofits, PR firms. Climate politics and sustainability. Philly native.

Business 31%
Political science 29%
Pinned
Good to be meeting people on here! I study social movements, business political activity, and organizations/organizing, and how these topics intersect (often around environment/sustainability). Please say hello and, if you like, check out a few of my recent projects in this thread.

So wonderful, Hahrie!!
BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA NIH grants. The same judge, Rita F. Lin, previously ordered all UCLA NSF grants reinstated. Lin has now nearly entirely reversed Trump's July de-funding of UCLA research: www.latimes.com/california/s...
Federal judge orders Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA medical research grants
A San Francisco-based federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore all National Institutes of Health grants to UCLA, roughly $500 million, that the government suspended in July.
www.latimes.com

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

Big thanks to @behscientist.bsky.social & its editor-in-chief Evan Nesterak for attending CASBS's two-day climate change workshop not long ago & soliciting these participant contributions on the 'backlash, burnout, and backsliding' related to climate action 🌍

behavioralscientist.org/burning-ques...
Burning Questions: A Collection of Perspectives on Climate Action - By Evan Nesterak - Behavioral Scientist
The barriers to solving climate change seem to be getting higher, and the need for breakthroughs feels more urgent than ever. What are the most pressing ideas on the minds of social and behavioral sci...
behavioralscientist.org
🚨 Practical URGENT tip for NSF grantees:

Out of an abundance of caution, I would right now go into Research.gov and…

1. Download your NSF award letters.

2. Print PDF your annual reports.

3. Screenshot the status table for annual reports.

NSF is planning maintenance tomorrow to Research.gov

Congratulations David!

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

So cool that three CASBS fellows who occupied study #38 - Jon Krosnick (1996-97 AND 2013-14), @edwardwalker.bsky.social (2021-22) & @ralmeling.bsky.social (2019-20) were here at the same time for a workshop!

As 'ghosts' of that study, they pretty much haunted current occupant Tom Lyon all day 👻👻👻
I am keeping a diary of daily events, as they unfold open.substack.com/pub/adamprze... It is available to everyone. I am new to Substack, so please let me know if something is wrong with the link or the file.
Diary
Week 1
open.substack.com

One way to make it more salient bsky.app/profile/imbe...

A related concern: despite the vast impact is likely to have, federal indirects seem like a textbook low-salience policy for those with less of a connection to science/higher ed

Seems very likely that NSF and other federal funders will follow suit. This single move seems very likely to upend the entire model of the U.S. research university as we know it.
1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%.

I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
grants.nih.gov

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

⚠️ Effective Monday 2/10/25, NIH indirect rate capped at 15%. Applies to existing & future grants.

—> Deep budget cuts & program closures coming to a university near you.

Is this the break the glass moment for university administrators who have been silent so far about the attack on science?
NOT-OD-25-068: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement: Indirect Cost Rates NOT-OD-25-068. OD
grants.nih.gov
Excellent piece. Modern autocrats arrive at power via elections, and then gradually erode democracy until only a facade remains.

Coups provoke mass opposition and mobilization: salami tactics don’t.
Excellent short piece by @ryanenos.bsky.social that explains why Americans are not more alarmed by the authoritarian actions of its government. open.substack.com/pub/ryandeno...
Death by 1,000 Cuts
Democracy is Dying in the United States, Why are We Acting Like Everything is Okay?
open.substack.com

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

Chicago has taken a more cautious position

Super illuminating thread on the current situation and possible road ahead around federal grants
Ok. Impoundment. Some links to relevant authorities and commentary, and then thoughts of my own. What Trump is proposing potentially amounts to an upending of the separation of powers, and while that's not *inherently* bad, in this case it's bad. Very bad. 1/ 🧵

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

Ok. Impoundment. Some links to relevant authorities and commentary, and then thoughts of my own. What Trump is proposing potentially amounts to an upending of the separation of powers, and while that's not *inherently* bad, in this case it's bad. Very bad. 1/ 🧵

Oh Nuzzel, how I've missed you. Great that @sill.social is up and running

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

Thanks @scire.bsky.social and @niemanlab.org for talking to me about Sill! I'm really excited about the future of the platform! www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/reme...
Remember Nuzzel? A similar news-aggregating tool now exists for Bluesky
The creator of Sill says "the death of the link" has had disastrous consequences for journalism, art, and the web. His free social media tool entered public beta on Friday.
www.niemanlab.org

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

We are hiring a China-focused Environmental Law and Policy Fellow at the Emmett Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA! This is a two-year position, and the hire will work closely with me. See here for details: recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF10027
Emmett Institute Fellowship in Environmental Law and Policy 2025-2027 (China Focus)
University of California, Los Angeles is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.apo.ucla.edu

And, finally, if you're interested in what sociologists have been writing about environmental policy in states and localities, here's a recent Annual Review (with Vasi): www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Subnational Environmental Policy: Trends and Issues | Annual Reviews
Policies relevant to many key sociological processes are often subnational, enacted at the regional, state/provincial, and/or local levels. This applies notably in the politics of the environmental st...
www.annualreviews.org

I've also been interested in unusual coalitions between firms and social movements, as in this new piece in the Academy of Management Review with Maurice Murphy and Nan Jia journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5... Ungated: ucla.app.box.com/file/1703498...
The Art of Blending Stakeholders: “Bootlegger and Baptist” Coalitions in Corporate Constituency-Building | Academy of Management Review
Constituency-building is an important corporate political strategy that expands the scope of conflict by mobilizing stakeholders to pressure policymakers. Although prior studies of constituency-buildi...
journals.aom.org

In my latest on business political activity (with Yuni Wen and Lori Yue), we examine how Uber/Lyft mobilize their user bases (extending an NYT op-ed I wrote a while ago) journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5.... We find user-mobilization may backfire on sponsors. Ungated: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
By the People and for the People: The Double-Edged Effects of Platform User Mobilization on Public Policies | Academy of Management Discoveries
Constituency mobilization is a widely prevalent corporate political strategy, yet we lack systematic evidence on the scope of its effectiveness. One emerging form of constituency mobilization is user ...
journals.aom.org

Another recent paper in NPJ Climate Action (with Drew Malmuth) examines how the states have quickly moved to preempt local building decarbonization efforts. We find significant similarities in the language used across these state bills www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The natural gas industry, the Republican Party, and state preemption of local building decarbonization - npj Climate Action
npj Climate Action - The natural gas industry, the Republican Party, and state preemption of local building decarbonization
www.nature.com

I've had a number of studies on the anti-fracking movement and interactions with industry. A new paper in Social Problems (with Bodi Vasi) examines how trade groups for the fracking industry selectively respond to protest depending on geography and partisanship academic.oup.com/socpro/advan...
Boosting Your Enemies to Garner the Sympathy of Friends: Pro-Fracking Industry Communications and the Geography of Contention
Abstract. Scholarship has recognized that contention shapes impression management efforts by business actors but has largely ignored how geographic factors
academic.oup.com

Reposted by Edward T. Walker

senior scholar leaving your talk after making his 12 minute comment

As Mr. Show wisely taught us, 24 is the highest number.