Katie Higgins
@katiehiggins.bsky.social
Lecturer, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield
Pinned
Therapy Culture for the Business Class: Exploring How CEO Peer Groups Make and Legitimate Elite Cohesion
In the current context of extreme economic inequality and rising concentrations of income and wealth at the top, the social processes through which elites restrict the wider population's access to re...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
New article out now 🚨
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
Reposted by Katie Higgins
And for more on the work of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, which is co-chaired by FPC together with @indexoncensorship.org and @clidef.bsky.social see antislapp.uk and sign up to its newsletter for updates.
Welcome - UK Anti-Slapp Coalition
The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition brings media organisations, lawyers, human rights defenders and other members of civil society together in solidarity with targets of SLAPPs
antislapp.uk
February 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM
And for more on the work of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition, which is co-chaired by FPC together with @indexoncensorship.org and @clidef.bsky.social see antislapp.uk and sign up to its newsletter for updates.
Reposted by Katie Higgins
The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition was co-founded by our ED @skcoughtrie.bsky.social, in light of our 2020 research that pointed to the UK being the leading international source of legal threats against journalists investigating financial crime and corruption.
For more info - fpc.org.uk/programmes/u...
For more info - fpc.org.uk/programmes/u...
Unsafe for Scrutiny - The Foreign Policy Centre
fpc.org.uk
February 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM
The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition was co-founded by our ED @skcoughtrie.bsky.social, in light of our 2020 research that pointed to the UK being the leading international source of legal threats against journalists investigating financial crime and corruption.
For more info - fpc.org.uk/programmes/u...
For more info - fpc.org.uk/programmes/u...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
📢 Update: More than 160 editors, lawyers, academics, journalists, publishers and civil society representatives, have now called on Keir Starmer to bring forward anti-SLAPP measures in the next Kings Speech.
antislapp.uk/2026/02/13/s...
antislapp.uk/2026/02/13/s...
Support increases for anti-SLAPP protections being included in the King’s Speech - UK Anti-Slapp Coalition
Over 160 signatories join call for anti-SLAPP provisions to be included in King’s Speech in May 2025.
antislapp.uk
February 13, 2026 at 12:31 PM
📢 Update: More than 160 editors, lawyers, academics, journalists, publishers and civil society representatives, have now called on Keir Starmer to bring forward anti-SLAPP measures in the next Kings Speech.
antislapp.uk/2026/02/13/s...
antislapp.uk/2026/02/13/s...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
I am happy to share that my article: Family Feelings: affective ties and the reproduction of wealth in super-rich families was among the five most read articles in Emotions and Society in 2025!
@bupjournals.bsky.social
Here you can access the collection:
@bupjournals.bsky.social
Here you can access the collection:
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:34 PM
I am happy to share that my article: Family Feelings: affective ties and the reproduction of wealth in super-rich families was among the five most read articles in Emotions and Society in 2025!
@bupjournals.bsky.social
Here you can access the collection:
@bupjournals.bsky.social
Here you can access the collection:
Reposted by Katie Higgins
New Swingometer! With nominations now closed, and a few surprises in candidate selection, here's my first update on the Gorton & Denton by election. Also featuring a polling spat, dodgy bar charts, and Jason Momoa swingometer.substack.com/p/gorton-and...
Gorton and Denton Update 1
There's somethin' happenin' here, what it is ain't exactly clear
swingometer.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 5:34 PM
New Swingometer! With nominations now closed, and a few surprises in candidate selection, here's my first update on the Gorton & Denton by election. Also featuring a polling spat, dodgy bar charts, and Jason Momoa swingometer.substack.com/p/gorton-and...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
These pieces by @robtoes.bsky.social are well worth reading
I am super proud of this 3 part series about digital politics by the brilliant Robert Topinka that I commissioned and edited.
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
First piece here about how liberals misread the rise of the right content platforms.The illos by Antoine Cossé are so good www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka
In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic...
www.theguardian.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:25 PM
These pieces by @robtoes.bsky.social are well worth reading
Reposted by Katie Higgins
The paper on the class politics of Reform UK, which I've been working on with @aaronreeves.bsky.social for the last year and a half, is now available as a pre-print on SSRN. These are our main findings. Any feedback is more than welcome.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
January 28, 2026 at 5:01 PM
The paper on the class politics of Reform UK, which I've been working on with @aaronreeves.bsky.social for the last year and a half, is now available as a pre-print on SSRN. These are our main findings. Any feedback is more than welcome.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Katie Higgins
❌ Wealth should not be able to be used to silence legitimate scrutiny. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) have been used to intimidate journalists and others for far too long.
👍 We strongly support calls for universal anti-SLAPP legislation.
pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/an...
👍 We strongly support calls for universal anti-SLAPP legislation.
pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/an...
Editors unite to demand Parliament takes action on SLAPPs
Editors from national newspapers including The Guardian and The Times demand action on SLAPPs in next King's Speech.
pressgazette.co.uk
January 29, 2026 at 1:09 PM
❌ Wealth should not be able to be used to silence legitimate scrutiny. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) have been used to intimidate journalists and others for far too long.
👍 We strongly support calls for universal anti-SLAPP legislation.
pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/an...
👍 We strongly support calls for universal anti-SLAPP legislation.
pressgazette.co.uk/media_law/an...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
New Swingometer post now out - my look at the Gorton and Denton by-election, taking place down the road from me swingometer.substack.com/p/the-gorton...
The Gorton and Denton by-election: a tale of two Manchesters?
Unpopular incumbent + fragmented opposition + unusual seat = unpredictable contest
swingometer.substack.com
January 29, 2026 at 8:50 AM
New Swingometer post now out - my look at the Gorton and Denton by-election, taking place down the road from me swingometer.substack.com/p/the-gorton...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Great new paper! A similar study in the U.K. is long overdue. A lot of elite employers in the U.K. have begun to take class background seriously, but universities remain woefully behind
📢now forthcoming in ECMA!
The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from US Academia
Class is rarely a focus of research or DEI in elite US occupations.
Evidence suggests it should be: we find a large class gap in at least one occupation - tenure-track academia...🧵
The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from US Academia
Class is rarely a focus of research or DEI in elite US occupations.
Evidence suggests it should be: we find a large class gap in at least one occupation - tenure-track academia...🧵
January 29, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Great new paper! A similar study in the U.K. is long overdue. A lot of elite employers in the U.K. have begun to take class background seriously, but universities remain woefully behind
Reposted by Katie Higgins
400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
January 26, 2026 at 3:13 PM
400 jobs at risk. A campus set to close.
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
This film explains what’s happening at the University of Essex and why staff, students and the local community are organising to stop it.
📍 Southend rally | 5 February
Reposted by Katie Higgins
From June 14th to 19th 2026 the 3rd edition of the summer school on "Elites, Power and Inequality" will take place at the University of Lausanne. Program and registration here: www.unil.ch/unil/en/home...
Deadline is 1st April 2026.
Deadline is 1st April 2026.
January 20, 2026 at 9:45 AM
From June 14th to 19th 2026 the 3rd edition of the summer school on "Elites, Power and Inequality" will take place at the University of Lausanne. Program and registration here: www.unil.ch/unil/en/home...
Deadline is 1st April 2026.
Deadline is 1st April 2026.
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...
January 19, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Well that’s me locked out. No pay for the foreseeable future, all because I refuse to reschedule lost teaching, for which I have already lost pay as part of the strike. Please donate to support @sheffielducu.bsky.social members like me at www.gofundme.com/f/heubvb-sup...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.
Please share widely.
Please share widely.
December 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
It's official: 400 redundancies and a campus closure. At-risk staff will get a letter next week. Absolutely no serious consideration of any of the union's counterproposals.
Please share widely.
Please share widely.
Reposted by Katie Higgins
ASA member Cristobal Young (Cornell University) says data show that the rich generally stay put, countering warnings that millionaires would flee NYC if Mamdani were elected. @us.theconversation.com
New York’s wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani’s win – but the data says otherwise
Research on millionaire migration reveals that social and professional ties matter far more than marginal tax rates.
bit.ly
December 2, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ASA member Cristobal Young (Cornell University) says data show that the rich generally stay put, countering warnings that millionaires would flee NYC if Mamdani were elected. @us.theconversation.com
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Sussex School for Progressive Futures Scholarships : University of Sussex
www.sussex.ac.uk
November 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Mine and @dvandebroeck.bsky.social’s paper on ‘The Labor of Distinction’ is out now in ASR. Drawing from an ethnography that involved training and working as a butler, we tell a larger story about elites and inequality (1/18) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
January 8, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Mine and @dvandebroeck.bsky.social’s paper on ‘The Labor of Distinction’ is out now in ASR. Drawing from an ethnography that involved training and working as a butler, we tell a larger story about elites and inequality (1/18) journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Katie Higgins
"It is important to emphasise that such groups ultimately lock in wealth, advantage and connections between their (predominantly male) class-advantaged members."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Therapy Culture for the Business Class: Exploring How CEO Peer Groups Make and Legitimate Elite Cohesion
In the current context of extreme economic inequality and rising concentrations of income and wealth at the top, the social processes through which elites restrict the wider population's access to re...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
"It is important to emphasise that such groups ultimately lock in wealth, advantage and connections between their (predominantly male) class-advantaged members."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Absolutely fantastic new paper from @katiehiggins.bsky.social "CEO peer groups reveal without a doubt that therapy culture has reached the top tiers of the business class. In fact, their version of self-help is in many ways more cooperative and less individualistic than the mainstream" but... 1/2
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Absolutely fantastic new paper from @katiehiggins.bsky.social "CEO peer groups reveal without a doubt that therapy culture has reached the top tiers of the business class. In fact, their version of self-help is in many ways more cooperative and less individualistic than the mainstream" but... 1/2
Reposted by Katie Higgins
📣 Trinity College Dublin is hiring 2 #tenuretrack Assistant Professors in Sociology.
👉 Environmental Sociology. Closing Dec 1
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH703/a...
👉 Gender and Sexuality. Closing Dec 2
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPI055/a...
@tcdsociology.bsky.social
@isa-rc28.bsky.social @eaps.bsky.social
👉 Environmental Sociology. Closing Dec 1
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH703/a...
👉 Gender and Sexuality. Closing Dec 2
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPI055/a...
@tcdsociology.bsky.social
@isa-rc28.bsky.social @eaps.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
An opportunity for an academic position as a Assistant Professor in Sociology is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 2:19 PM
📣 Trinity College Dublin is hiring 2 #tenuretrack Assistant Professors in Sociology.
👉 Environmental Sociology. Closing Dec 1
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH703/a...
👉 Gender and Sexuality. Closing Dec 2
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPI055/a...
@tcdsociology.bsky.social
@isa-rc28.bsky.social @eaps.bsky.social
👉 Environmental Sociology. Closing Dec 1
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPH703/a...
👉 Gender and Sexuality. Closing Dec 2
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPI055/a...
@tcdsociology.bsky.social
@isa-rc28.bsky.social @eaps.bsky.social
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Drawing on 41 semi-structured interviews with wealthy members of the business class living in and around Manchester, this paper explores how therapy culture has travelled upwards, to the executive and owning class, through CEO peer groups.
#EarlyView in #BJS ➡️ buff.ly/3nhvM3M
#EarlyView in #BJS ➡️ buff.ly/3nhvM3M
November 13, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Drawing on 41 semi-structured interviews with wealthy members of the business class living in and around Manchester, this paper explores how therapy culture has travelled upwards, to the executive and owning class, through CEO peer groups.
#EarlyView in #BJS ➡️ buff.ly/3nhvM3M
#EarlyView in #BJS ➡️ buff.ly/3nhvM3M
Reposted by Katie Higgins
My article on the tv hit Succession and its media reception finally out. Keywords Schadenfreude, fantasy, dynasties. My argument being that it is a fantasy-driven construct appealing to a middle class desire to see the rich as miserable people destined to fall. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
From the figure of the obscene rich to the fantasy of its destruction: on Succession, schadenfreude and the godlike power of the super-rich on screen
A significant part of contemporary popular culture portrays the rich as obscene, self-destructive, addicted and deranged. This article analyses the affective intensities circulating around this tro...
www.tandfonline.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:33 AM
My article on the tv hit Succession and its media reception finally out. Keywords Schadenfreude, fantasy, dynasties. My argument being that it is a fantasy-driven construct appealing to a middle class desire to see the rich as miserable people destined to fall. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New article out now 🚨
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
Therapy Culture for the Business Class: Exploring How CEO Peer Groups Make and Legitimate Elite Cohesion
In the current context of extreme economic inequality and rising concentrations of income and wealth at the top, the social processes through which elites restrict the wider population's access to re...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:20 PM
New article out now 🚨
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@sheffielduni.bsky.social
While researching the wealthy business class in and around Manchester, I stumbled upon CEO peer advisory groups — little-known but powerful sites of elite cohesion. 🧵
Another excellent article on families and wealth, this time by @cassandracotton.bsky.social and Raphaël Charron-Chénier!
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.
Staying Apart for the Kids? Older American Daters and the Preservation of Family Wealth
Romantic repartnering in later life has received substantial scholarly and public attention in light of population aging and changes in family dynamics. In the United States, the importance of househ...
doi.org
October 23, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Another excellent article on families and wealth, this time by @cassandracotton.bsky.social and Raphaël Charron-Chénier!
Reposted by Katie Higgins
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.
Staying Apart for the Kids? Older American Daters and the Preservation of Family Wealth
Romantic repartnering in later life has received substantial scholarly and public attention in light of population aging and changes in family dynamics. In the United States, the importance of househ...
doi.org
October 9, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Excited to finally share my new paper (w/Raphaël Charron-Chénier) out in BJS! Staying Apart for the Kids looks at how older adults consider preserving family wealth in their new relationships. Drawing on my interviews with mid/late-life daters, we show how accumulated wealth shapes dating decisions.