I am an Associate Professor of Sociology and member of the ICS research school at Utrecht University. I received my PhD in Sociology from the Interuniversity Center for Sociological Research at Radboud University Nijmegen in 2008. I have been a visiting fellow at Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Oxford, and I will be visiting at Macquarie University in Sydney in 2022 to work with Prof. Nicholas Harrigan on negative ties in networks.
My current research interests focus on inequalities that I study from multiple methodological and theoretical angles. I look at gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation as sources of stratification and prejudice in society. I use both more traditional sociological survey methods and increasingly social network analysis and experiments in my research. Current projects revolve around explaining the (dynamics of) negative ties in networks, and relating them to network diversity and network structure; unequal access to networks of power for different societal groups; the relationship between team diversity and individual and organizational outcomes in performance and efficiency; female managers and the gender of those they supervise; intergroup contact and prejudice; and same–sex families’ economic and fertility outcomes. Furthermore, I am also involved with Political Sociology, studying both Radical Right voting and Radical Left ideologies, as well as anti–European Union attitudes and opinions on contested topics, such as euthanasia. My work has appeared in journals as Social
Networks, European Sociological Review, Public Opinion Quarterly, Sex Roles and the European Journal of Political Research.
I care about the impact of my work, and I seek a diversity of outlets. I publish for instance in Dutch language journals, as well as in national newspapers and online blogs. I have headed research for the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs on inclusivity and reach of national commemorations. I have also been a central member of the team supervising a PhD student and a postdoc investigating how to adapt Dutch national commemorations to a younger and more diverse audience. I have evaluated diversity policy initiatives for the national government, and provided diversity training to the management of the Amsterdam police force. I continue to collaborate with the Dutch police in two projects: (1) I study the occurrence of hate crimes for the National Police Task Force on Diversity (with Amy Nivette); and (2) I evaluate the HR program TeamScan 2.0 for Police Rotterdam, in order to advise on how best to retain police officers from minority I have also appeared on the national news and national youth news, as well as in major newspapers on topics such as discrimination, diversity and tolerance.
*Toroslu, A. & Jaspers, E. (2021). Avoidance in action: Explaining the emergence of avoidance ties among pupils over time. Social Networks, minor revisions.
*Kros, M., Jaspers, E., & van Zalk, M. (2021) Avoidance, antipathy, and aggression: A three–wave longitudinal network study on negative networks, status, and heteromisos. Social Networks, 64, 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.08.006
*Wölfer, R., Hewstone, M., & Jaspers, E. (2018). Social contact and inter-ethnic attitudes: The importance of contact experiences in schools. In Growing up in Diverse Societies (pp. 201-216). British Academy.
*Jaspers, E. (2016). Values. Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology. Ed. Janeen Baxter. New York: Oxford University Press https://doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199756384–0182
*Visser, M., Lubbers, M., Kraaykamp, G., & Jaspers, E. (2014). Support for radical left ideologies in E urope. European journal of political research, 53(3), 541-558. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475–6765.12048
*Immerzeel, T., Jaspers, E. & Lubbers, M. (2013). Religion as catalyst or restraint of radical right voting. West European Politics, 36(5), 946–968.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2013.797235
*Lubbers, M. & Jaspers, E. (2011). A longitudinal study of euro–skepticism in the Netherlands: 2008 versus 1990, European Union Politics, 12(1), 21–40
https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116510390062
The INCLUSIVITY project is funded by
