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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Social and Cultural Dynamics

Social and Cultural Dynamics is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the concept of cultural capital, its relation to social class, and its impact on educational outcomes. It delves into Bourdieu's theory of habitus and symbolic power, examining how cultural resources and practices contribute to educational inequality, social mobility, and class distinction. The papers also discuss the role of gender in educational attainment and the dynamics of cultural consumption within different social groups.

  • Cultural Capital
  • Social Class
  • Bourdieu
  • Habitus
  • Educational Inequality
  • Cultural Consumption
  • Social Mobility
  • Gender and Education
  • Symbolic Power
  • Class Distinction
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-3%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Social and Cultural Dynamics

Which countries lead Social and Cultural Dynamics research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (733 and 389 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 733 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 389 works
  3. 3 China 197 works
  4. 4 Germany 194 works
  5. 5 Australia 99 works
  6. 6 Canada 95 works
  7. 7 France 93 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 90 works
  9. 9 Italy 87 works
  10. 10 Brazil 86 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 35.6%United Kingdom: 18.9%China: 9.5%Germany: 9.4%6 others listed: 26.6%36%largest
United States733 · 35.6%United Kingdom389 · 18.9%China197 · 9.5%Germany194 · 9.4%6 others listed549 · 26.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Social and Cultural Dynamics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Social and Cultural Dynamics research, followed by University of Manchester and University of Helsinki.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 28 works
  2. 2 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 22 works
  3. 3 University of HelsinkiFinland 20 works
  4. 4 University of ChicagoUnited States 19 works
  5. 5 University of BristolUnited Kingdom 18 works
  6. 6 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 16 works
  7. 7 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 16 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 15 works
  9. 9 Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands 14 works
  10. 10 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 14 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social and Cultural Dynamics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social and Cultural Dynamics include Ronald C. Kessler, Pierre Bourdıeu and Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  3. 3 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  4. 4 Anselm L. Strauss United States 205k citations
  5. 5 Michael C. Jensen United States 203k citations
  6. 6 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  7. 7 Herbert A. Simon United States 179k citations
  8. 8 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Social and Cultural Dynamics?

The most cited paper in Social and Cultural Dynamics is "Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology" (Alejandro Portes, 1998), with 12,059 citations. Next come "Inequity In Social Exchange" (10,688) and "Doing Gender" (8,858).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology Alejandro Portes · Annual Review of Sociology Review Aug 1998 12,059
2 Inequity In Social Exchange J. Stacy Adams · Advances in experimental social psychology Book chapterOpen access 1965 10,688
3 Doing Gender Candace West, Don H. Zimmerman · Gender & Society Jun 1987 8,858
4 Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept Paul S. Adler, Seok‐Woo Kwon · Academy of Management Review 2002 7,873
5 What Is Agency? Mustafa Emirbayer, Ann Mische · American Journal of Sociology 1998 5,992
All 97 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Social and Cultural Dynamics research done?

The largest centres of Social and Cultural Dynamics research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), New York (United States) and Beijing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Manchester.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 80 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 41 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 39 works
  4. 4 BeijingChina 37 works
  5. 5 ManchesterUnited Kingdom 30 works
  6. 6 ChicagoUnited States 29 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 27 works
  8. 8 OsloNorway 27 works
  9. 9 CopenhagenDenmark 25 works
  10. 10 BerlinGermany 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. ManchesterGB · 30.3 works7.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Social and Cultural Dynamics than the world average.

See Social and Cultural Dynamics on the map

Where is the best place to study Social and Cultural Dynamics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Manchester, University of Bristol and University of Chicago score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 16.65%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OsloUniversity of BristolUniversity of ChicagoUniversity of Manche…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 71.99.4%9.7×22 +64.9%
2University of BristolUnited Kingdom 65.418.1%12.0×18 +2.7%
3University of ChicagoUnited States 65.39.7%8.5×19 +58.0%
4University of OsloNorway 64.926.8%8.0×14 -4.7%
5London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 64.220.0%24.9×16 -15.9%
6University of HelsinkiFinland 63.59.1%10.6×20 +75.9%
7Erasmus University RotterdamNetherlands 63.020.7%10.3×14 -0.9%
8University of CopenhagenDenmark 62.519.0%5.5×14 +14.8%
9University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 58.515.1%4.1×16 -11.7%
10University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom 54.618.6%4.0×13 -24.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Social and Cultural Dynamics, country by country

Is Social and Cultural Dynamics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 3% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2022.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Social and Cultural Dynamics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Social and Cultural Dynamics0.012% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Social and Cultural Dynamics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Social and Cultural Dynamics10.3% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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