We are a methodologically diverse, interdisciplinary group of researchers investigating democracy in contemporary societies.
Recent Publications
By discussing current youth’s democratic practices and introducing the concept of visual politicization, Eeva Luhtakallio, Taina Meriluoto and Carla Malafaia argue for a reconsideration of what we understand as political action and propose new methodological tools for analyzing it.
In their article, Carla Malafaia, Jenni Kettunen and Eeva Luhtakallio explore the function of bodies as tools of visibility in ritualised online-offline performances. By analysing performative protests, the authors shed light on the importance of paying attention to non-verbal levels of political action and argumentation.
In this editorial Carla Malafaia, Maria Fernandes-Jesus and Eeva Luhtakallio discuss the new diverse ways young generations have become mobilized to tackle the climate crisis and picture ways towards a common world and practices.
Recent News & Blog Posts
The Centre for Sociology of Democracy organises conference titled “New Social Pragmatism: Politics of Engagements, Conventions and (E)valuations” at University of Helsinki, May 8-9. 2025. More information here.
CSD:n julkaisema Demokratian paikat on sarja, jossa puhutaan demokratiasta arkisissa ympäristöissä. Katso, mistä podia voi kuunnella!
New podcast Spaces of Democracy is out now. See where to listen to it!
What are the next walls to fall in science and society? Led by this question, the brightest minds from the international scientific community submitted their groundbreaking projects for the prestigious Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2022.
Our Projects
CSD is engaged in multiple separate projects:
ImagiDem explores and conceptualises visual participation of young European citizens. By understanding how today's youth build political arguments, solve conflicts, build commonality, and what tools they use to politicize issues of their concern, the project aims at formulating a model of democratic practices of the 2020s.
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Moral polarization means a lack of shared moral frameworks which makes it difficult to solve moral debates in the public. Polarization is detrimental to societal belonging and trust, which are important not only for stability but progress, too. The project studies morally polarized public debates to find common ground.
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Read more about the project
Demokratiatekijät reinforces institutional structures within CSD, strengthens analytical ties across different research projects, and brings the center's groundbreaking research to wider audiences through multiple channels of outreach.
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The RORE project studies ethnographically how activists in Finland today engage in high-risk activism. The research focuses on how these activist groups take shape, how risk affects group dynamics, and how the phenomena relates to changes in Finnish political culture.
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PALJAS-project investigates how the social media -driven norms of authenticity and personal exposure impact the possibilities of political action among the margins. The ethnographic project follows activists in diverse marginalised positions to understand what, when and how they share about themselves, how this is mobilised as a political tool, and what new possibilities and barriers for political action emerge as a result.
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Uutta: Demokratian paikat -podcast!
Demokratian paikat on sarja, jossa puhutaan demokratiasta arkisissa ympäristöissä. Jokainen meistä elää erilaisissa demokratian tiloissa, joita löytyy niin sosiaalisesta mediasta, toreilta kuin kodin seinien sisältä. Miten demokratian normeja pitäisi laajentaa, että yhä useampi ihminen voisi kokea osallisuutta yhteiskunnassa?