Very happy to share our new OBELIS collective paper, brilliantly led by Pierre Benz, on the decline and persistence of Swiss patrician families at positions of power between 1890 and 1957. Published in Social Science History: shorturl.at/GRSUY

Yeah 🔥

Exceptionalist presumptions have limited the study of American politics, according to Robert Lieberman who argues that origins, concepts & methods shared with the field of comparative politics can help us understand the current crisis of American democracy. OA doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20…

"Finally, the United States is in the midst of perhaps its gravest democratic crisis in a history rife with crises." cambridge.org/core/journals/…

Pierre Benz, Pedro Araujo & coauthors use social network, kinship & sequence analysis to identify strategies used by some ancien régime elite families to preserve power in 20th century Switzerland. Some families lost influence, others lost & then regained it. New & OA in SSH!

Great post on the transformation of the Swiss class system in modern times.

Richa Gautam castefiles Er. Purnima NATH #USCongressWI4 Candidate🇺🇲 Utsav Chakrabarti Sudha Jagannathan Suhag A. Shukla #Swiss #castesystem

First millennium CE literary texts describe the peoples of the western Pyrenees as ‘other’ & inferior than Rome & Christianity. In a new SSH article, Asier Aguirresarobe argues this narrative of alterity influenced the development of Basque identity. OA doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20….

The internal organization of empire contributed to the choice of ocean shipping technology, Portugal’s decline & ascendancy of the Dutch in the 17th century, according to Claudia Rei in an exciting new paper in Social Science History. Open access! doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20…

Racialized efforts by housing reformers missed the big picture in early 20th century Washington DC, says Carolyn Swope in the new Social Science History. Poverty & marginalization not housing damaged the health of low income Black residents. Open access! doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20…

Damon Mayrl, Josh Pacewicz, Nicholas Hoover Wilson & Matthew Mahler examine the growing ties between historical sociology & ethnography - a useful case study of interchange between scholarly communities. New & open access in Social Science History! doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20…

Robert Lieberman argues that the study of US politics shares origins, concepts & methods with the field of comparative politics. Recognizing this helps us understand the current crisis of American democracy & governance. OA in Social Science History! doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20…

Pierre Benz & coauthors identify family strategies to preserve elite power in 20th century Switzerland using social network, kinship & sequence analysis. Other families lost influence while some lost & then regained it. New & OA in SSH! doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… New & OA in SSH!

Read more about the growing community of scholars combining historical comparative sociology and ethnography: DOI: doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… Read this and all the great articles in Social Science History 48(2)! Damon Mayrl, Josh Pacewicz, Nicholas Hoover Wilson & Matthew Mahler, SSHA

The Dutch East India switched to smaller and more seaworthy vessels and gained the advantage over the Portuguese: DOI: doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… Read this and all the other great articles in Social Science History 48(2)! Claudia Rei SSHA

This interesting article considers how the othering of the Vascones—the cultural precursors of the Basques—was manifest historically in Spain! Read this and the other great papers in Social Science History 48(2)! DOI: doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… Asier H. Aguirresarobe SSHA

Read about the decline in the power of Swiss patrician families: DOI: doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… Read this and all the paper in Social Science History 48(2)! SSHA Pierre Benz Pedro Araujo

Read about the crisis of democracy in the United States, political development, and comparative politics: DOI: doi.org/10.1017/ssh.20… See all the great new articles in Social Science History 48(2)! Robert Lieberman SSHA

Here's a new ARS article about orality, literacy, and digitality from a comparative historical perspective. It shows how social media in the present is an outgrowth of historical forms of orality and literacy: doi.org/10.1146/annure…