Sacha Hilhorst
@sachahilhorst.bsky.social
Researcher at Common Wealth & post-doctoral fellow at LSE Sociology. Ajax fan. She/her.
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
October 21, 2025 at 10:47 AM
To be clear: deportations to increase cultural homogeneity is the text book definition of ethnic cleansing. Demands that come even close to this are so far outside any democratic norm and the rule of law. What has happened to a country when this is not condemned in the strongest possible terms?
Is Melinda Cooper my favourite social theorist producing work today? I think the answer is yes - and you should listen to this two-parter to find out why she should be yours, too.
New @thedigradio.bsky.social: SECOND of two w @melindacooper.bsky.social on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. How asset boom and bust drove MAGA’s rise and also revealed powerful monetary tools that could make socialism—that and more www.thedigradio.com/podcast/from...
From Fiscal Austerity to Monetary Abundance w/ Melinda Cooper
Featuring Melinda Cooper on Counterrevolution: Extravagance and Austerity in Public Finance. Balanced budget conservatism and supply side populism engineered a politics of austerity and budget deficit...
www.thedigradio.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Is Melinda Cooper my favourite social theorist producing work today? I think the answer is yes - and you should listen to this two-parter to find out why she should be yours, too.
Very happy with this!
We're pleased to announce that our Inaugural Craig J. Calhoun Prize for an Outstanding Thesis in Sociology has been awarded to @sachahilhorst.bsky.social. Her thesis investigated the shifting politics of ex-mining and manufacturing towns in the Midlands.
Read more about the prize 👇
Read more about the prize 👇
News
Read the latest news from the LSE Department of Sociology
buff.ly
October 6, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Very happy with this!
This @renewaljournal.bsky.social essay is so brilliant - the history of the British far right narrated entirely through its activities in Croydon. Every sentence makes it clear it was written by a scholar with a genuine love for history and for Croydon.
renewal.org.uk/articles/sub...
renewal.org.uk/articles/sub...
October 1, 2025 at 1:18 PM
This @renewaljournal.bsky.social essay is so brilliant - the history of the British far right narrated entirely through its activities in Croydon. Every sentence makes it clear it was written by a scholar with a genuine love for history and for Croydon.
renewal.org.uk/articles/sub...
renewal.org.uk/articles/sub...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
The opening paragraphs - it's like, I don't know, Shakespeare, or Beethoven. You know it's great. Everyone knows it's great. But then you encounter it directly, in its own context, and you can only say, man this is so great.
September 25, 2025 at 4:39 AM
The opening paragraphs - it's like, I don't know, Shakespeare, or Beethoven. You know it's great. Everyone knows it's great. But then you encounter it directly, in its own context, and you can only say, man this is so great.
So much talk about Reform voters, but I'm yet to read much about their lives beyond tropes and excuses ('legitimate concerns').
I've been back in the midlands to interview people and learn more. Here's my piece on them and Reform's attempts to present itself as a community-minded, pro-worker party:
I've been back in the midlands to interview people and learn more. Here's my piece on them and Reform's attempts to present itself as a community-minded, pro-worker party:
Reform’s aesthetics of industry
Renewal 33.2_HilhorstRenewal 33.2_Hilhorst.pdf110 KBdownload-circle
In North Nottinghamshire, Reform UK present themselves as the party of workers, community and coalmining heritage. But this image...
renewal.org.uk
September 17, 2025 at 1:20 PM
So much talk about Reform voters, but I'm yet to read much about their lives beyond tropes and excuses ('legitimate concerns').
I've been back in the midlands to interview people and learn more. Here's my piece on them and Reform's attempts to present itself as a community-minded, pro-worker party:
I've been back in the midlands to interview people and learn more. Here's my piece on them and Reform's attempts to present itself as a community-minded, pro-worker party:
This event is looking amazing and do give the @transitionsec.bsky.social account a follow - I hear there’s lots to come on the green transition and the political economy of militarism.
🚨 ONLINE EVENT
Join us for a free panel on the war economy, the climate impacts of war & the geopolitics of the climate transition.
Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social, chaired by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social
📅 16 Oct 6PM BST
🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL
Join us for a free panel on the war economy, the climate impacts of war & the geopolitics of the climate transition.
Speakers: @stephensemler.bsky.social, @triofrancos.bsky.social & @iliasalami.bsky.social, chaired by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social
📅 16 Oct 6PM BST
🔗 shorturl.at/NwJCL
September 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This event is looking amazing and do give the @transitionsec.bsky.social account a follow - I hear there’s lots to come on the green transition and the political economy of militarism.
Hugely recommend this to my fellow early-career sociologists - I went last year and it was amazing.
Get your words' worth!
Apply by 1 September to join Strictly Come Writing, the Sociological Review Foundation's annual funded writing retreat for early career researchers. Join us in beautiful rural Wales for the time, space & facilitation you need to get that chapter/paper done.
buff.ly/HGegMPZ
Apply by 1 September to join Strictly Come Writing, the Sociological Review Foundation's annual funded writing retreat for early career researchers. Join us in beautiful rural Wales for the time, space & facilitation you need to get that chapter/paper done.
buff.ly/HGegMPZ
August 6, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Hugely recommend this to my fellow early-career sociologists - I went last year and it was amazing.
I've been slow to share this because in all honesty I was a little bit hungover on Saturday, but I wrote the New Statesman's weekend essay this week, on why England's ex-mining areas have become especially disenchanted with politics:
www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...
August 5, 2025 at 5:57 PM
I've been slow to share this because in all honesty I was a little bit hungover on Saturday, but I wrote the New Statesman's weekend essay this week, on why England's ex-mining areas have become especially disenchanted with politics:
www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...
www.newstatesman.com/politics/soc...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
This is a very clear historical and current summary, and utterly damning. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza
Israel controls the flow of food into Gaza. It has calculated how many calories Palestinians need to stay alive. Its data shows only a fraction has been allowed in
www.theguardian.com
August 1, 2025 at 6:24 AM
This is a very clear historical and current summary, and utterly damning. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
God, the number of people who were willing to believe that the South Yorkshire police were too woke to prosecute sexual abuse cases, when in fact the police force was itself an instrument of patriarchal sexual violence. It’s like a case study in the worst excesses of the British press.
Five survivors of Rotherham grooming gangs say they were also raped by police officers
Three former South Yorkshire police officers arrested in investigation into claims by the women, as young as 12 at the time
www.theguardian.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
God, the number of people who were willing to believe that the South Yorkshire police were too woke to prosecute sexual abuse cases, when in fact the police force was itself an instrument of patriarchal sexual violence. It’s like a case study in the worst excesses of the British press.
One of my most prized possessions is my mum's old copy of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, with her marginalia. Last year it sadly fell apart.
Turns out my partner has been secretly working to restore it, as a birthday present. Here it is, all rebound, with my mum's and my initials added on the spine.
Turns out my partner has been secretly working to restore it, as a birthday present. Here it is, all rebound, with my mum's and my initials added on the spine.
July 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
One of my most prized possessions is my mum's old copy of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, with her marginalia. Last year it sadly fell apart.
Turns out my partner has been secretly working to restore it, as a birthday present. Here it is, all rebound, with my mum's and my initials added on the spine.
Turns out my partner has been secretly working to restore it, as a birthday present. Here it is, all rebound, with my mum's and my initials added on the spine.
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
Great new @ippr.org report from @sachahilhorst.bsky.social, making very clear the link between the decline of community spaces and the rise of the radical right. Sacha reimagines the 20th century miners' welfare fund as a model for reviving social infrastructure:
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
Places to come together: Rebuilding local solidarities against the far right | IPPR
In late July 2024, the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside burst into the national consciousness when it suffered two different, violent events in succ
www.ippr.org
July 29, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Great new @ippr.org report from @sachahilhorst.bsky.social, making very clear the link between the decline of community spaces and the rise of the radical right. Sacha reimagines the 20th century miners' welfare fund as a model for reviving social infrastructure:
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
www.ippr.org/articles/pla...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
who could possibly have foreseen
Police in Canterbury today informed a protestor that the phrase "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" could be considered a declaration of support for Palestine Action and therefore a terrorism offence.
July 15, 2025 at 9:21 PM
who could possibly have foreseen
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
rare W for COINTELPRO from a legendary conversation between Bhakti Shringarpure and Mahmood Mamdani (h/t Silke-Marie Weineck)
July 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
rare W for COINTELPRO from a legendary conversation between Bhakti Shringarpure and Mahmood Mamdani (h/t Silke-Marie Weineck)
“The future rulers of the void will conquer it with front facing camera.”
I wrote about my often fairly miserable time on the doorstep last summer hearing just how much the public hates politicians, and how Labour hasn't – and maybe can't – deal with the anti-politics that feeds Reform:
labourlist.org/2025/07/labo...
labourlist.org/2025/07/labo...
'One year on, Labour still hasn't reckoned with collapsing trust in politics' - LabourList
I spent the general election campaign travelling the country for LabourList, visiting marginal seats, talking to candidates and knocking…
labourlist.org
July 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
“The future rulers of the void will conquer it with front facing camera.”
Contra Adam Curtis, it is not true and never has been true that British xenophobia and racism are confined to "the old industrial towns".
June 16, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Contra Adam Curtis, it is not true and never has been true that British xenophobia and racism are confined to "the old industrial towns".
Ah yes, creating a class of asset-rich ex-industrial workers otherwise abandoned by the state - famously productive of healthy, democratic subjectivities
"the same factory worker left behind by globalisation can be an investor, too" (sic)
still my heart, Larry Fink of BlackRock is peddling the Wall Street Consensus globalisation under a 'national goals - and workers' banner.
www.ft.com/content/a348...
www.ft.com/content/a348...
June 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Ah yes, creating a class of asset-rich ex-industrial workers otherwise abandoned by the state - famously productive of healthy, democratic subjectivities
Morrisons has closed 52 cafés since March - such a blow to many communities.
But imo it's a mistake to think of this as mostly a story about loss of community spirit, as this New Statesman piece does, when it's really about the harm caused by private equity.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
But imo it's a mistake to think of this as mostly a story about loss of community spirit, as this New Statesman piece does, when it's really about the harm caused by private equity.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Britain’s aisles of strangers
As the last Morrisons café closes its doors, the nation’s community spirit is further eroded.
www.newstatesman.com
May 15, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Morrisons has closed 52 cafés since March - such a blow to many communities.
But imo it's a mistake to think of this as mostly a story about loss of community spirit, as this New Statesman piece does, when it's really about the harm caused by private equity.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
But imo it's a mistake to think of this as mostly a story about loss of community spirit, as this New Statesman piece does, when it's really about the harm caused by private equity.
www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
Just out! Our peer-reviewed critique of the Cass Review has been published by BMC Medical Research Methodology. Please read and share. We show that the Cass Review is fatally flawed and should not be the basis for policy or practice in transgender healthcare.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
May 10, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Just out! Our peer-reviewed critique of the Cass Review has been published by BMC Medical Research Methodology. Please read and share. We show that the Cass Review is fatally flawed and should not be the basis for policy or practice in transgender healthcare.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
This is like reading one of those horrific VAW miscarriages of justice from 30 years ago www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
UK woman loses jail term appeal after killing man as he sexually assaulted her
Martyna Ogonowska was sentenced in 2018 to 17 years in prison for stabbing Filip Jaskiewicz to death in a car park
www.theguardian.com
May 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
This is like reading one of those horrific VAW miscarriages of justice from 30 years ago www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Reposted by Sacha Hilhorst
How researchers at Bocconi guessed the Pope using network analysis ⬇️
www.unibocconi.it/en/news/netw...
www.unibocconi.it/en/news/netw...
May 9, 2025 at 1:46 PM
How researchers at Bocconi guessed the Pope using network analysis ⬇️
www.unibocconi.it/en/news/netw...
www.unibocconi.it/en/news/netw...
When I was living in Mansfield, 'corruption' was one of the main ways of understanding politics. Not ideology, not policy - because 'it's all lies anyway'. It is no coincidence that this frame thrives especially in ex-mining communities. Here I trace the connection between the two.
The loss of the Red Wall is not just Labour’s problem. @sachahilhorst.bsky.social of @lsesociology.bsky.social warns that voters in ex-mining constituencies see all politicians as self-interested and corrupt. Reform might be reaping the rewards of their disaffection.
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...
April 30, 2025 at 8:00 AM
When I was living in Mansfield, 'corruption' was one of the main ways of understanding politics. Not ideology, not policy - because 'it's all lies anyway'. It is no coincidence that this frame thrives especially in ex-mining communities. Here I trace the connection between the two.