Scholar in Residence at the MPIfG, Hanna Kuusela, is giving a lecture series titled “The Redistributive Ethos in Crisis: Three Imaginaries Dismantling the Welfare State.” In three lectures on May 5, May 26, and June 2, 2026, the sociologist explores challenges to some of the normative principles of the Finnish welfare state. Kuusela is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Jyväskylä and works at the intersection of economic power and cultural self-interpretation: Who belongs to the wealthy? How do they legitimize their wealth? And what does this reveal about the society in which they live?

In the current issue of economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, editor Jeanne Lazarus and contributors address the intersection between gender studies and economic sociology. Approaches centered on gender and intimacy are not distant from the broader questions addressed by economic sociology, or even political economy. On the contrary, they make it possible to grasp dynamics that would remain invisible without close attention to women’s money.

Regine Paul, a political scientist and professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, joined the MPIfG in the middle of April to take up a position as head of a new research group. “Technology and Statehood” will officially start its work at the beginning of October, exploring articulations of competition statehood in global tech races across time, space, and specific technologies, as well as their social and political implications.