The American Sociological Association's Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements named SIS Postdoctoral Fellow Samantha Agarwal and SIS Professor Yang Zhang as co-honorable mentions for its Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Article Award.

Agarwal's article, "Bivalent Hegemony: How Hindu Nationalists Appeal to Caste-Oppressed People in Communist-Ruled Kerala" (Politics & Society) explores why some members of India's most marginalized caste have come to support a party that has preserved caste hierarchies and catered to the socially dominant sections of society.

Zhang's co-authored article, "The micro-foundations of elite politics: conversation networks and elite conflict during China's reform era" (Theory and Society) offers a novel “situational conflict” explanation to account for the puzzle of why reformist leaders were periodically ousted during China’s reform era (1977–1992), emphasizing the unexpected power collision that catalyzed the violent crackdown on the Tiananmen movement in 1989.

Congratulations to our distinguished scholars!