Briitta van Staalduinen

Biography

Briitta van Staalduinen’s work examines the ethnic, racial, and gender-based inequalities formed by the interaction of occupational change and welfare state reform as well as the consequences of these emerging inequalities for progressive politics in Europe. This work has been published in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, and Perspectives on Politics.

Her book project, Ethnic Inequality in the Welfare State, aims to reconcile the intergenerational persistence of ethnic and racial inequalities in otherwise egalitarian social policy regimes. Why have advanced welfare states failed to improve mobility prospects for immigrants and their children? She argues that, in response to changes in labor demand and middle-class voter preferences, social policies have been reoriented to promote employment among immigrant minorities rather than expand their access to opportunities. She then compares three paradigmatic welfare states, Finland, Germany, and the UK, to show how social democratic regimes in particular face not only pronounced demand for low-wage service labor, but also intense electoral pressures leading governments to prioritize middle-class concerns—whether about future status security or about immigrant unemployment—over the access immigrant minorities might have to better job prospects.

Before coming to Oberlin, Briitta held positions at Leiden University and the University of Konstanz. She earned a PhD in political science at Harvard University in 2023. She also holds an MSc in sociology from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in political science and economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.