Giselinde Kuipers
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giselinde.bsky.social
Giselinde Kuipers
@giselinde.bsky.social

Sociologist studying frivolous things and their serious consequences.
Work: KU Leuven (BE)
Home: Utrecht (NL)
If you don't understand what I write it's probably Dutch.

More info on my ERC project on beauty and inequality at www.sociologyofbeauty.eu

.. more

Giselinde Kuipers is a Dutch sociologist and research professor at the Center for Sociological Research at KU Leuven University. She is an Affiliate of the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion. Kuipers is known for her works on the sociology of humor. .. more

Psychology 24%
Sociology 17%

This seminar is online and open for everyone. It is organized by the Beauty and Inequality (BINQ) project, which is most generously funded by an advanced grant of the @erc.europa.eu.

For more information, see www.sociologyofbeauty.eu

Invitation! Interested in in beauty, bodies, decoloniality and inequality? Please join us for an online seminar series on "decolonizing bodies". With our very special guest Walter Mignolo; and @tommytse.bsky.social, Patricio Simonetto, Ashley Mears, Ladan Rahbari & @carorabasarucki.bsky.social >>

Very sad news, so sorry for your loss Seb. I will remember Paul for his unique combination of intellectual sharpness, perceptiveness, and honesty - not an easy mix I guess but such an important and rare voice to have around.

Dankjewel Justine.

Reposted by Pierre Bataille

Important myth-debunking by evolutionary psychologists Linda Lidborg and @drboothroyd.bsky.social. The authors also contributed an outstanding chapter to the forthcoming Handbook on Beauty and Inequality edited by @outisarpila.bsky.social and me.
Evolutionary psychologists have long believed that men prefer physical traits in women which are cues to high potential fertility. A new review concludes: “current evidence base is too weak to support the claim that women’s feminine morphological traits are associated with reproductive potential”
A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility
www.cambridge.org
Evolutionary psychologists have long believed that men prefer physical traits in women which are cues to high potential fertility. A new review concludes: “current evidence base is too weak to support the claim that women’s feminine morphological traits are associated with reproductive potential”
A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
A systematic review of the association between women’s morphological traits and fertility
www.cambridge.org

Nog vergeten: met veel dank aan Titia Hoogendoorn en @dickzijp.bsky.social voor imago-advies.

Veel dank!

Reposted by Jaap Kooijman

Dit was een heel bijzonder gesprek met @mennosedee.bsky.social van @nrc.nl, over mijn onderzoek naar schoonheid en hoe dat ineens wel heel persoonlijk werd. Met geweldige foto's van Wendelien Daan.

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
Toen ze kanker kreeg, ervoer hoogleraar Giselinde Kuipers wat ze als ‘schoonheidsprofessor’ al wist
Hoogleraar Giselinde Kuipers (54) onderzoekt al zo’n vijftien jaar schoonheid. „Hoe we ons nu bezighouden met ons uiterlijk is destructief”, zegt ze. Dit jaar zouden drie boeken van haar uitkomen, maa...
www.nrc.nl

Bericht uit de knalroze wachtkamer van het ziekenhuis waar ik het laatste jaar te veel tijd doorbracht:
ik voerde de afgelopen weken campagne voor #GL-PvdA omdat ik graag wil dat zorg zoals ik hier kreeg voor iedereen toegankelijk blijft.

Niet in Europa, maar in Brazilie: Castrolanda en Carambei

Bon courage (good courage) as they sat in French. Ive only had two rounds and nothing that bad but it was still such misery. Take care

I have been learning Portuguese with Babbel and like it a lot. Also, it worked: I was in Brazil and had serviceable trave Portuguese after a few months (I speak Spanish, so I had a headstart, but still)

Finally, a word of appreciation and thanks for this year's excellent editorial team and hosts: Sanne Pieters, Kobe de Keere, @luuc.bsky.social, @bryanboyle.bsky.social, @tvdooremalen.bsky.social and Norah Schulten,

Many thanks to composer-sociologist Timothy Dowd for the music and logo.

Luuc and Emily also discuss Emily's earlier book Eco-Types: Five ways of Caring about the Environment, which analyzes culturally distinct ways of caring about the environment (so 4 beyond the typical elite/green style) - and how these types fuel polarization >>

press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...
Eco-Types
Why acknowledging diverse eco-social relationships can help us overcome the political polarization that undermines our ability to protect the environment
press.princeton.edu

They co-authored the book -- another terrific read -- with @merinoleschuk.bsky.social who is not in the podcast but is on Bluesky. >>

This final episode is called From Happy Meat to Eco-Types: The Cultural Politics of the Climate Crisis. Josee, Shyon, and Emily discuss their brand new book Happy Meat: The Sadness and Joy of a Paradoxical Idea, which neatly bridges cultural and climate sociology >>

www.sup.org/books/sociol...
Happy Meat | Stanford University Press
North Americans love eating meat. Despite the increased awareness of the meat industry's harms–violence against animals, health problems, and associations with environmental degradation–the rate of me...
www.sup.org

Canada is the hotspot for climate sociology, so much is clear from this final episode of the Culture and Inequality Podcast in which @luuc.bsky.social (aka Luuc Brans) talks with Josée Johnston, Shyon Baumann (both U of Toronto) and Emily Huddart (U of British Columbia) >>

pod.link/1533967764/e...
Culture & Inequality Podcast
How does culture feed into inequality? And the other way around? In Culture and Inequality, cultural sociologists from universities across the world explore these topics in-depth from various perspect...
pod.link

Michael Burawoy's 2004 ASA presidential address stands out for me as the single most Durkheimian collective effervescent moment I have experienced in academia (not generally known for effervescence). I'm not sure how well it works on screen, but this is it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nxv...
Michael Burawoy For Public Sociology, Part 1: Introduction
YouTube video by sociologyumn
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

Both book are terrific reads, by the way.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of MIchael Burawoy, tireless proponent of public sociology, who passed away in February of this year.

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

Aaron (LSE) discusses "Born To Rule", co-authored with Sam Friedman (also LSE). Aaron and Sam present a wealth of data showing how British elites have managed to hold on to power positions in meritocratic times by adopting (a semblance of) "normalness" >>

www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...
Born to Rule — Harvard University Press
The Economist, Best Books of 2024The Times, Best Ideas Books of 2024A uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like ...
www.hup.harvard.edu

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

(this is my summary btw, Kristina is somewhat more nuanced about the practice she calls "elite capture" ) >>

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

Both Kristina and Aaron discuss their new books. In "The Sound of Difference", Kristina (Erasmus U Rotterdam) shows how despite the enthusiastic embrace of 'diversity' cultural hierarchies remain in place in German classical music>>

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165497/
Manchester University Press - The sound of difference
The sound of difference - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of The sound of difference by Kristina Kolbe
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

Reposted by Dave O’Brien

Penultimate episode of this season's Culture & Inequality Podcast, in which @bryanboyle.bsky.social (Free U Brussels) talks with Kristina Kolbe and @aaronreeves.bsky.social about the Sound of Elites: How Elites Navigate a Meritocratic and Anti-Elite World >>

pod.link/1533967764/e...
Culture & Inequality Podcast
How does culture feed into inequality? And the other way around? In Culture and Inequality, cultural sociologists from universities across the world explore these topics in-depth from various perspect...
pod.link

Thank you! Will do. (I sometimes forget esp when the picture is text.. )

Your post led me to take a look at their website to see what has has become of T&S and wow have they taken a weird turn. This is the other special issue for which they are currently looking for contributions:

Coming from different places, we agreed that Havel's work felt acutely relevant, for his plea for truth as the basis of civic life and a form of power of the powerless; and, more grimly, for his prediction that western liberal democracies will also have to face political destabilization of truth.

During a meeting with Narges, my Iranian PhD student, she told me about this inspiring Czech author she was reading with her Iranian reading club. It took some time to figure out that the essay that I knew in Dutc has "Attempt to live in truth" is called "Power of the powerless" in English >>

Havel in is the air. Recently, I found my thoughts turning to Vaclav Havel, the Czech dissident and later president who in the 1970s wrote about his attempts to "live in truth". I reread his books, which I read in the 1980s as a somewhat over-serious teenager, and his biography. >>

Additional acknowledgements: I found out about Charlene's work through this post by @casmudde.bsky.social . Just a reminder to senior academics that it's always a good idea to promote the work of younger people.

bsky.app/profile/casm...
Exceptionally rich and insightful interview with @calderarocha.bsky.social that should be of great interest to scholars of the far right and of gender and politics. 🙌
📣New blog📣

Our member, @calderarocha.bsky.social, discusses her recent article on the appropriation of feminism by a far-right women's collective of 'identitarian feminists.' Check it out below!

reacpol.net/farright-fem...