Dr James Weinberg
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
Senior Lecturer in Political Science
Director of Education
james.weinberg@sheffield.ac.uk
Elmfield Building
Full contact details
Dr James Weinberg
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations
Elmfield Building
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 2TU
- Profile
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Dr James Weinberg is an academic in the Department of Politics at the University of Sheffield with an international reputation when researching, writing and presenting on specialist topics in the field of political behaviour. His research has been published in a range of high profile peer-reviewed journals, such as the British Journal of Political Science, and he has held grants from a range of funding bodies such as the ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, and Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. Through his work, James engages with a strong network of impact partners in parliamentary circles and civil society, and he has also held an elected position on the executive committee of the UK Political Studies Association. Alongside academic conference presentations, James routinely delivers guest lectures about his research at other universities in the UK and abroad, and he has appeared in print, radio and television outlets including The Guardian, the Washington Post, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World, GB News, LBC Radio, and TimesRadio, as well as featuring on a series of podcasts such as Politicwise. In 2022, he was named on a global list of ‘50 influential researchers whose work might help to shape 21st century politicians’ (Apolitical Foundation).
- Qualifications
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James completed his BA at the University of Oxford, his MA at the University of Manchester, and his PhD at the University of Sheffield. James started his career as a secondary school teacher in west London after completing a PGCE at Canterbury Christ Church University.
- Research interests
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James is particularly interested in mixed methods’ studies of political behavior (at both elite and mass levels). He has experience of fielding experimental surveys, conducting focus groups and elite interviews, designing and evaluating surveys for a range of research purposes, as well as quantitative textual analysis and data visualisation.
James' current research projects focus on (a) the relationship between politicians' perceptions of public trust or distrust and their representative behaviours (such as policy-making), and (b) the potential for democratic education to mitigate political inequalities. James is also in the process of designing new research projects on the topic of political contact.
- Publications
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Books
- Governing in an Age of Distrust A Comparative Study of Politicians' Trust Perceptions and Why They Matter.
- Who Enters Politics and Why? Basic Human Values in the UK Parliament. Bristol University Press.
Journal articles
- Fail to plan, plan to fail. Are education policies in England helping teachers to deliver on the promise of democracy?. British Educational Research Journal (BERJ).
- ’It Takes Two to Do The Trust Tango’: Politicians’ Trust Perceptions and Why They Matter. Political Insight, 14(4), 36-39.
- Feelings of trust, distrust and risky decision-making in political office. An experimental study with national politicians in three democracies. Comparative Political Studies, 56(7), 935-967.
- Trust, governance, and the Covid‐19 pandemic: an explainer using longitudinal data from the United Kingdom. The Political Quarterly, 93(2), 316-325.
- Civic education as an antidote to inequalities in political participation? New evidence from English secondary education. British Politics, 17(2), 185-209.
- Can Political Trust Help to Explain Elite Policy Support and Public Behaviour in Times of Crisis? Evidence from the United Kingdom at the Height of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. Political Studies, 70(3), 655-679.
- One moment, please: Can the speed and quality of political contact affect democratic health?. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 22(3), 460-484. View this article in WRRO
- Who wants to be a politician? Basic human values and candidate emergence in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Political Science. View this article in WRRO
- Governing under Pressure? The Mental Wellbeing of Politicians. Parliamentary Affairs, 73(2), 253-273. View this article in WRRO
- Who’s listening to whom? The UK House of Lords and evidence-based policy-making on citizenship education. Journal of Education Policy. View this article in WRRO
- The Winner Takes It All? A Psychological Study of Political Success among UK Members of Parliament. Parliamentary Affairs, 1-23. View this article in WRRO
- Learning for democracy: The politics and practice of citizenship education. British Educational Research Journal, 44(4), 573-592. View this article in WRRO
- Building trust in political office: testing the efficacy of political contact and authentic communication. Political Studies.
- Emotional labour and occupational wellbeing in political office. British Journal of Politics and International Relations.
Chapters
- From Big Ben to the breakfast table: basic values and political attitudes among politicians and the public In Weinberg A (Ed.), Psychology of Democracy Of the People, By the People, For the People Cambridge University Press
- Why Do We Hate Politicians?, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 1-+).
- Psychological Scrutiny: Who Enters Politics and Why?, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 25-51).
- Perfect Politicians? Voting Preferences in the United Kingdom, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 145-165).
- Parliamentary Behaviour: Personal Choices, Political Results, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 107-144).
- Basic Values and Partisanship, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 79-105).
- All the Same! Demographic Homogeneity and Careerism, WHO ENTERS POLITICS AND WHY? (pp. 53-77).
- Improving Citizenship Education In Tam H (Ed.), Whose Government Is It? The Renewal of State-Citizen Cooperation (pp. 177-194). Bristol: Bristol University Press. View this article in WRRO
- Improving Citizenship Education (pp. 177-194). Bristol University Press
- Improving Citizenship Education, Whose Government Is It? (pp. 177-194). Bristol University Press
- Improving Citizenship Education, Whose Government Is It? (pp. 177-194). Bristol University Press
Reports
- The Missing Link: An Updated Evaluation of the Provision, Practice and Politics of Democratic Education in English Secondary Schools.
- Politics in schools: ‘what exists’ and ‘what works’? Project Report for the UK Democracy Fund (Ref. 190903).
Other
- Editorial: Special Issue with Research Topic. Frontiers in Political Science, 3.
- Correction to: Civic education as an antidote to inequalities in political participation? New evidence from English secondary education. British Politics.
- Governing in an Age of Distrust A Comparative Study of Politicians' Trust Perceptions and Why They Matter.
- Research group
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Governance and Public Policy
- Empirical Politics Research Group
- Grants
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ACADEMIC FUNDING (chronological order)
- Economic and Social Research Council, £3,500. Impact Accelerator Award to support knowledge exchange work with elected politicians in the UK Parliament, 2022;
- Higher Education Impact Fund, £20,000. HEIF award to research access to democratic education in England, 2021;
- The Leverhulme Trust, £110,000. Early Career Fellowship to research governance and policy-making in an age of distrust, 2019-2022;
- Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, £32,000. UK Democracy Fund Award to research electoral engagement in schools, 2019-2020;
- Economic and Social Research Council, £60,000. White Rose Doctoral Studentship, 2015 - 2018;
- Political Studies Association, £2,000. Pushing the Boundaries Award to organise an interdisciplinary international conference in political psychology, 2019;
- University of Sydney, £3,000. Visiting scholarship, September - October 2017.
- Teaching interests
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James has experience teaching a range of courses on British Politics, Quantitative Social Science, and Political Behaviour. James' key teaching interests are encapsulated in his module on Political Psychology for 3rd year Politics undergraduates. Rather than reviewing what happens in politics (e.g. who wins an election) or how it happens (e.g. who votes for whom), James pushes students to look at why it happens by studying the psychology of politics at the micro level (e.g. the personality of politicians), the meso level (e.g. the ideological and moral foundations of political parties), and the macro level (e.g. mass racism and prejudice, media effects).
- Teaching activities
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Current/prior courses taught at the University of Sheffield include:
- POL6605: Democratic Governance in the 21st Century (Module Leader)
- POL31008: Political Psychology (Module Leader)
- POL3129: Parliamentary Studies (Module Leader)
- POL3039: Dissertation in Politics (Supervisor)
- POL231: Never Mind the Ballots! State & Society in the UK Today
- POL229: Research Design and Analysis
- POL115: Consensus Crisis & Coalition: An Introduction to British Politics
- IPS 101: The State of Sheffield: Global perspectives on local issues
- SMI105: Data Visualisation
- SMI606: Introduction to Quantitative Social Science
- PhD Supervisor (primary) to Katie Pruszynski (The anatomy of a Wedge Lie and its impact on democratic health)
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Deputy Director of Education/Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, August 2022-Present;
- Special Advisor, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Political Literacy, January 2021 – Present;
- Trustee, UK Political Studies Association, June 2020 – June 2023;
- Associate Editor, Frontiers in Political Science, November 2019 – Present;
- Departmental co-ordinator for the Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree programme, University of Sheffield, January 2020 – Present;
- Co-Convenor, UK Political Studies Association Political Psychology Specialist Group, May 2017 – April 2020;
- Co-Convenor, UK Political Studies Association Young People & Politics Specialist Group, July 2018 – April 2020;
- Chair, UK Political Studies Association Early Career Network, 2016 – 2018.
- PhD Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students with research proposals that use new or innovative empirical methods (quant or qual) to answer pressing problems that they have identified in the contemporary political world. Candidates with a research interest in political trust, political contact, personality politics, and leadership are particularly welcome.