Gilles Ivaldi awarded the 2026 "Socio-Economic Review" Best Article Prize

CEVIPOF is pleased to announce that Gilles Ivaldi, CNRS-affiliated researcher in Politics at CEVIPOF-Sciences-Po has been awarded the 2026 SER Best Article Prize, granted by the international academic journal Socio-Economic Review, for the article co-authored with Oscar Mazzoleni (UNIL): “Producerist populist attitudes and electoral support for populism in the USA and Western Europe.”

Awarded annually in conjunction with the conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), the SER Best Article Prize recognizes outstanding scholarly contributions with broad socio-economic significance, strong theoretical engagement, and innovative methodological contributions to contemporary research. The committee reviews all peer-reviewed articles published in the journal’s four annual issues and selects work that sheds light on major socio-economic issues while substantially advancing existing knowledge in the social sciences.

In this context, the distinction awarded to Gilles Ivaldi and Oscar Mazzoleni highlights the growing importance of research devoted to the contemporary transformations of populism and the reconfiguration of political attitudes in Western democracies.

Understanding the social and economic foundations of contemporary populism

The award-winning article focuses on a still underexplored dimension of populism: “producerism.” The concept refers to a worldview opposing “productive” and socially legitimate groups — such as workers, taxpayers, and the middle classes — to groups perceived as unproductive or as unfairly benefiting from collective resources.

While previous scholarship has mainly examined how populist political actors mobilize producerist rhetoric, the article adopts a demand-side perspective centered on citizens themselves. Drawing on an original comparative survey conducted in the United States and several Western European countries, the authors investigate the prevalence of producerist attitudes among the public and their impact on electoral behavior.

The findings show that such attitudes are no longer confined to the American context but are also present across Western Europe, albeit in country-specific forms. The study identifies distinct left-wing and right-wing variants of producerism associated with different socio-cultural and economic attitudes.

The authors also demonstrate a significant relationship between producerist attitudes and electoral support for populist parties and candidates, particularly on the right side of the political spectrum. The article therefore contributes to a better understanding of the social, cultural, and economic dynamics shaping contemporary forms of populism in democratic societies.

International recognition for CEVIPOF/Sciences Po research

This award highlights the international visibility and impact of research conducted at Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po (CEVIPOF) on contemporary political transformations, electoral behavior, and the evolution of European and Western democracies.

It also underscores the importance of comparative and interdisciplinary approaches in analyzing current political realignments at the intersection of political science, political sociology, and political economy.

CEVIPOF warmly congratulates Gilles Ivaldi and Oscar Mazzoleni on this distinction.