Daniel Laurison

@daniellaurison

Sociologist at Swarthmore College, trans man. Wrote Producing Politics & The Class Ceiling & a bunch of articles on class & race & inequality &/or political participation. DanielLaurison.com = me WeAreHigherEd.org = standing up for education and democracy

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Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· 11d

Somehow, despite the anti-trans policy that says I should have an F on my passport, my new one came back with an M. I don't know if some kind bureaucrat just decided to do a good deed or what, but it's a huge relief - and not what most trans people are getting, still.

Small part of my new passport showing my first two names (Daniel Rebecca), birth date, and the M.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· 14d

Academics and adjacent - talk to me about encyclopedias, please. It seems like there are so many (X encyclopedia of Y sub/field), I don't have a good sense of how to judge quality or utility... Do you use them? Have you written entries? Would you do it again? Which are better?

Screenshot of google image search results for "encyclopedia of sociology"

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· 22d

Got our first serious summer harvest from our community garden plot this weekend. 100 degrees alternating with total torrential rain seems to work for the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

A blue colander filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· 29d

For anyone in the US who cares about science, today (by 11:59p east coast) is the last day to comment on the proposed rules making federal grant funding subject to political oversight (and other bad things). I'm writing now & found this guide helpful: elizabethginexi.subs...

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Jul 3

Ok here you go.

Teens on skates indoors playing roller derby. One kid (mine!) is bracing two others in teal jerseys, who are preventing a 4th (the jammer, in a white jersey with a star on their helmet) from scoring points by passing them.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Jul 2

There's a family we help out from time to time, a young couple who have taken in their nieces and nephews, and have their own kids. They used to live nearby but have moved across town. I am trying to send $ but keep getting errors. It has been an hour of trying to find a way to get her $ or food.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· May 6

I had a great conversation with Karen Jagoda on her Digital Politics Podcast - about "Connecting with Disengaged Working-Class and Low-Income Voters." We talked about the political disconnect, its causes, and how to build bridge the divide. http://digitalpoliti...

Image of a quote from someone my team and I interviewed. Text reads: "No, I don't think there's interest in [...] the conditions we live in, in ow we receive medical care. And I'm not sayin this because I'm an immigrant, I'm saying in in general"
- Adriana, a 33-year-old Latina factory worker

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Apr 14

I'll be at NYC's Institute for Public Knowledge tomorrow night in conversation with Lorenza Antonucci (& Sheri Berman). We'll be talking about Antonucci's new book, Insecurity Politics: How Unstable Lives Lead to Popular Support. Come out if you can - RSVP ipk.nyu.edu/events/b...

Cover of the book: Insecurity Politics: How Unstable Lives Lead to Populist Support.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Apr 2

Re-reading some things ahead of teaching this afternoon and Larry Bartels' "What's the Matter with What's the Matter With Kansas" remains one of my favorite article titles of all time, and one of the most enjoyable in the genre of scathing academic reviews. www.qjps.com/prod.aspx?pr...

(here's most of the page in the image, rest is in the article linked in the post) According to Frank (2004, 102), outsiders observing the political conflicts roiling contemporary Kansas tend to attribute them to “a squabble between fundamentalists and mainline Protestants, or a fight between the ignorant and the educated, or even to the Cons’ relative newness to modern, big-city ways. But above all it is a class war.” Again, two pages later, it is “a class difference. . . . I mean this in the material, economic sense, not in the tastes-and-values way our punditry defines class” (2004, 104). In an earlier version of this review I interpreted those passages as suggesting that the people Frank had in mind were people with low incomes. Thus, I proposed to “follow Frank’s lead” (and the earlier statistical work of Stonecash 2000) by categorizing voters on the basis of economic status, using the terms “low-income” and “working-class” interchangeably to refer to people with incomes in the bottom third of the income distribution in each election year. (In 2004, those were people with family incomes below $35,000.) I showed that, contrary to Frank’s assertions, white voters in this group had not become less Democratic in their voting behavior or less conservative in their views about economic or social issues. Nor could I find any evidence that they cared more about social and cultural issues than about bread-and-butter economic issues. As it turns out, that isn’t what Frank meant at all. Indeed, in a critique of my earlier paper, he calls this definition “A primary error . . . a mistake so basic that it effectively negates his entire effort” (Frank 2005, 2). Mostly, the evidence of error seems to be that this definition does not confirm the significance of working-class conservatism demonstrated in “book after book” by sociologists and historians, poll results, fretting by Democratic strategists, and gloating by conservative newspaper columnists. Frank’s solution to this di…

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 31

Oh hello it's Trans Day of Visibility and, like many trans people, I'm only visible if I say something. If you think you don't know anyone trans, you probably do. If you want to read my post about how I understand my gender, it's at daniellaurison.com/n...

A picture of me, middle-aged white guy, beard, glasses, blazer, on a balcony with a foggy view of the US Capitol in the background.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 28

This post is AI. I was just at No Kings Philly. It was big but not that big. Posting fake stuff and reposting fake stuff is bad.

Image I actually took of the No Kings rally today, lots of people, taken from ground level so you can't really compare to the other but at least it's real.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 26

I will be at the Philly No Kings March on Saturday, and I hope, again, millions of us are out. These big marches don't automatically make change, but they show how many people know that fascism is not OK - important for the bystanders to see and for the resisters to experience.

Me (white bearded bespectacled man) at an airport a while ago wearing a black T-shirt that says:
NO NAZIS
NO KINGS
GO BIRDS

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 24

I wrote about how we talk about political "issues" and how that connects to political disconnection, and a chart I tell people about all the time - now I can just link to this post. on both substack & my own blog: daniellaurison.com/c... daniellaurison.subst...

there is too much going on in this chart for a good alt text but the key things are described in the post; the image is on page 103 of The Other Divide, which has an e-reader version. And if you're reading this & curious & the e-reader version doesn't make the table screen-reader-able, let me know and I'll do a better alt text. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/other-divide/BAEDF5146C86E57F26696EF7AAB800FE

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 8

If you were at the Eastern Sociological Society meeting today and you did not come to Tey Meadow's Robin M Williams lecture, you missed a brilliant, moving, engaging, important talk. If you have a way to invite Tey to your campus or community, do it.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Mar 3

Swarthmore made my work on the Political Disconnect its lead news story on the home page - http://swarthmore.ed...

Screenshot from Swarthmore's web page:
Picture of me (middle aged white trans guy, wearing glasses, with a beard, in a blue collared shirt) in front of a bookcase.

Text above my picture says "News from Swarthmore"
next to my picture it says "Civic Engagement:
Tackling the Political Disconnect: How to Engage People Who Feel Shut Out of the Political System"

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 26

I think this is important: In 2020 and in 2024, it was nowhere near "half" of Americans who voted for Trump - in fact, less than 1 in 3 did. In 2020, 34% of those eligible to vote stayed home - and not all Americans (even adults, even citizens) are eligible. In 2024, 36% stayed home. +

pie chart
2020
didn't vote = 34.0%
D = 33.6%
R = 30.7%
other = 1.7%

pie chart
2024
didn't vote = 36.3%
D = 30.7%
R = 31.8%
other = 1.1%

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 25

Up to now The Political Disconnect has existed only digitally; I wasn't sure it made sense to print in an era when so much of what we do is online & over email. But I had 50 copies printed and it is so nice to have real physical printed paper. Online: bit.ly/PoliticalDisc...

Copies of The Political Disconnect report, fanned out a bit on a light-colored wood-esque desk.

The text on the report cover says "The Political Disconnect: Working-Class and Low-Income People on What Politics Means to Them and How They Might Be Mobilized." at the top as the title, and then "Healthy Equitable and Responsive Democracy (HEARD) Initiative, Swarthmore College" at the bottom.

The cover is dark blue with some people holding their fists in the air and holding am American flag with a sort of of sunburst.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 23

Today, 2/23, 3pm Eastern: a Zoom talk about The Political Disconnect - the distance between what politics should do and how everyday people experience it. When we asked Lala what she thinks of when she hears the word "politics" she said "a disconnection." bit.ly/PoliticalDisc...

text/quotation bubble, quotation reads: "People in power that have money and that are above us and that don’t really fully understand struggles like being in debt, having a child, being on welfare. I think that’s what it’s like, a disconnection, that’s probably what I associate it with."
attribution = "Lala, a 32-year-old Black woman, unemployed due to disability, Philadelphia"

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 17

My Reverend Jesse Jackson recollection: my mom was a big supporter of his & the Rainbow Coalition. And I met him once, kind of - he came to the weekly protest we went to at the South African consulate's house in Seattle, and there's a picture of him holding my brother.

black and white image of a crowd of people (maybe a couple hundred?) at a protest in 1984, signs say things like "End the Apartheid, Stop the Bombing In El Salvador - CISPES" and "US Out of South Africa!" and "REMOVE the South African Consulate." A couple police officers are in the foreground, facing the crowd, standing in a driveway; the crowd is in the street. Source: https://mohai.org/blog/2025/seattles-anti-apartheid-movement-remembering-the-fight-for-justice-in-south-africa/

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 13

Learn more about the Political Disconnect - the gap between what politics is meant to do, and how everyday people experience it. Join me and Dr. James Jones of the Sheila Y. Oliver Center for Politics and Race in America for a webinar on Monday, Feb 23, at 3p Eastern. bit.ly/PoliticalDisconnect

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

We have recommendations for people with decision-making power - funders, campaign & PAC & party staff, politicians, civic groups. Democracy needs everyone - especially right now - and that requires connecting with those who have given up on it. www.swarthmore.edu/understandin... (9/9 - for now)

our recommendations:
1) Connect Politics to Problems and Solutions
Make it clear that there are (and can be) political and policy solutions to many of the real problems people face.
2) Recruit Political Practitioners from Low-Income and Working-Class Backgrounds
Risk of social disconnection compounds across marginalized identities. Addressing these disparities fully requires prioritizing intersecting aspects of identity including age, race, disability, sexuality, and gender identity.
3) Increase the Frequency, Quality, and Duration of Contact with Low-Income and Working-Class Communities
Meaningful progress requires moving away from individualizing approaches and instead prioritizing social solutions aimed at creating relational change.

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

It doesn't have to be this way - many of the low-income and working-class people we spoke with also told us they could be mobilized to vote, if they felt like politicians cared, if they felt listened to, if they were invited in. That will take work - but it's possible. 8/9

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “What would it take for me to get more involved? If I thought I was going to get heard, I might get involved.” Text below reads “Marisol, a 50-year-old Latina/White customer service worker”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

And so, for a lot of low-income and working-class people we spoke with, voting seemed pointless at best. Very few of them told us that voting would be difficult or that they didn't have the time; they just didn't think it was meaningful.

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Voting in a sense feels like a privilege. And that’s pretty weird because people are like, ‘It’s your duty to vote.’ But it’s like, a lot of times things don’t change even if you do vote.” Text below reads “John, a 27-year-old Black UPS worker”

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “I think as Black people we feel like our vote doesn’t matter.” Text below reads “Lala, a disabled 32-year-old Black single mother”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

And they also didn't believe that politicians or electoral politics were likely to make real changes in their lives; many told us they did not important differences between the parties. (That's not how I see it; but this is about what our respondents said.) 6/9

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Because no matter what, you’re going to have rich people, middle-class people, low-income people. The rich people are always going to be rich. Poor people are always going to be poor. They’re always going to have money, we’re not.” Text below reads “Sonia, a 46-year-old multiracial Uber/Lyft driver”

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Regardless of Democrat or Republican, it’s all the same group of people who are making the decision.” Text below reads “Sergio, a 32-year-old Latino transporter”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

Note - many opinion polls and most campaign polls exclude people who are not registered or unlikely to vote, and in general nonvoters are less likely to respond to most polls & surveys, so in a very real sense people who aren't voting have their views discounted/ignored.

Actual image from when a friend accidentally entered "not registered to vote" on an online survey - the text reads "We are sorry but you are not allowed to enter this survey."

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

The people we spoke with were not ignorant, and they weren't apathetic. For lots of very good reasons, many poor & working-class people we interviewed don't believe politicians understand or care about their concerns or their communities, or that they are interested in learning. 4/9

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

Politicians, people who work in politics, and other people who like to talk about electoral politics all day (hi all!) are in fact overwhelmingly college-educated & high-income, and disproportionately white; they're often not connecting with low-income & working-class people.

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Mostly suit and tie folks [...] going to different political functions, mostly to get donations for whoever their candidate is [...] like, Black tie affairs. Things like that.” Text below reads “Mark, a 43-year-old White EMT”

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “I will say, a majority of them are from backgrounds that, you know, like they had a silver spoon in their mouth. [...] their parents already had plans for them. Like already had accounts for them, money for them.” Text below reads “Luna, a 37-year-old Black pharmaceutical operator”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

Almost all of the people we spoke with see politics as something by, for, and about rich people (and often also white people & men). That makes for a vicious cycle - they stay home, so politicians don't try to reach them, so they don't see why they should vote. 2/9

a. Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Honestly, like people who are totally into politics, I always picture it – when you asked me that question, the first thing pops up is a snobby person in a fancy suit or dress or whatever.[...] You know, people who are not there to hear your opinions. They’re not gonna sit and give you the time of day. They’re just gonna keep pushing their ideas on. That’s what I picture.” Text below reads “Khoa, a 24-year-old Asian foreman”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 10

Last week, I published a report - the "Political Disconnect" -based on interviews with 144 low-income & working-class people, across racial groups, who don't usually vote. They are the experts on why, and today I want to share their words. www.swarthmore.edu/u...

Multicolored background with speech bubble that reads “Politicians have a very predictable script at this point, and I’m kind of done hearing it.” Text below reads “Sylvia, an unemployed 33-year-old White woman”

Daniel Laurison@daniellaurison· Feb 9

This is fun and cute! I really really cannot draw.