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Cihan Tugal

@cihantugal.bsky.social
5.5K followers 569 following 376 posts

Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley Forthcoming book on right-wing populism sociology.berkeley.edu/faculty/ciha…

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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I have been on a picket line in Martinez lately. I hope to write on the significance of this strike/lockout in the coming months.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
My book is now on the Stanford University Press website! www.sup.org/books/politi... The central question: Why are some autocracies more resilient? The key is in mass organization and state capitalist reconstructions of neoliberalism. The book also reformulates theories of populism and articulation.
sup.org
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
As the hostility against Iran intensifies, let’s support this anti-imperialist call for solidarity with Iranian prisoners, who suffer both from the regime’s repression and from this horrible war of choice. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
An open letter to Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two blades of a scissors’
On one side, you face the domination of the Islamic Republic; on the other, the imperialist forces that republic claims to stand against
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journalspectre.bsky.social @journalspectre.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
bit.ly/4wSoiPW @cihantugal.bsky.social writing for Red Threads.
bit.ly
The World Cup revealed the hypocrisy of our "politically correct" culture
World Cup discourse reproduced a colonial binary of rational Europe versus emotional non-West. Rejecting teams as political proxies, Cihan Tuğal urges dismantling the hierarchy in actual struggles.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I propose to refine the concept "passive revolution" by discussing brilliant analyses by Zophia Edwards, Kevan Harris, @grundrza.bsky.social, Simeon Newman, and Marcel Paret. Passive revolutions, as we can tell from their case studies, are distinct from ++ journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Passive revolution: A contested concept and a research agenda - Cihan Tuğal, 2026
The articles in this volume show that “passive revolution” is a type of social transformation distinct from other paths. In countries ranging from Mexico and So...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
From four years ago: "Turkey Shows What NATO Really Is" Today: The 2026 summit is held in Turkey so that all protests can be repressed while European governments keep their hands clean. www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/o... +
nytimes.com
Opinion | Turkey Shows What NATO Really Is (Published 2022)
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
I was elected to chair the Theory section of the American Sociological Association (ASA)! I thank my colleagues for granting me this honor. I realize that this comes at a hard time for the ASA. Sociology is under attack from the far right. We are also deeply and seriously divided. Some could 1/6
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I signed a contract with Stanford University Press for my book on populism, capitalism, and social movements! This came after ten years of research on roughly a dozen countries, a couple of false leads, discarded sections and country cases, comments on chapter drafts by brilliant colleagues and ++
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
"it is essential that revolutionaries and socialists adopt a clear stance against all forms of oppression and injustice, remain consistent with their principles, and bring together all left and progressive forces in a broad united front." links.org.au/iran-and-wes...
links.org.au
Iran and the Western left
Anti-imperialism has become a key priority for the global left. Cihan Tuğal looks at how we can best mobilise a mass anti-imperialist movement.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
In or anywhere near the SF Bay Area? Join us here: nocoalinoakland.info If a coal terminal is built in Oakland, the toxic waste will spread throughout the area, so this is not just about the East Bay. (We are therefore working on renaming the campaign).
nocoalinoakland.info
No Coal in Oakland
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
May Day 2026. As ecosocialists, we are committed to building working class power to fight for nature-friendly cities. We joined the march, rally, and resource fair in Oakland as one part of our broader campaign to unite the forces of labor and the ecology movement to keep coal out of the Bay Area.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Fellow sociologists... Please note that I am running for Chair of the ASA’s Theory section. Here is my statement: Theory is not simply a subfield of sociology but the integrative force that brings our disparate research programmes into a contentious yet productive dialogue. In a recent essay, 1/6
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I am looking forward to this talk by Sinan Birdal. American movements have become paradigmatic for studying all other sexual liberation movements. A German angle uncovers the deep engagement of socialists with those movements as early as the 19th-century, events.berkeley.edu/ies/event/31...
events.berkeley.edu
Events at UC Berkeley
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Orbán was admired by right-wing populists in the US and elsewhere. Even though Orbán allegedly “inspired” them, most other far-rightists did not really imitate his regime beyond its superficial traits. Like most critics of Orbán, they reduced Fidesz success to the leader's undermining and mockery 1/
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Iranian comrades say: It's our *primary* imperative to stop this imperialist war. At the same time, we should honor the decades-long struggle of the Iranian people for social and political freedom from their rulers. www.instagram.com/reel/DXAyx0_...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This paper on populism is now in print as LEAD ARTICLE (after the presidential address). tandfonline.com/toc/utsq20/6...
tandfonline.com
The Sociological Quarterly
Volume 67, Issue 2 of The Sociological Quarterly
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The Sociological Quarterly @socquarterly.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Volume 67, issue 2, of TSQ is now LIVE, featuring articles by @cihantugal.bsky.social, @jonathansmucker.bsky.social, @jcallahanbryant.bsky.social, @katherinefurl.bsky.social, @haphazardsoc.bsky.social, @criminovelist.bsky.social, @chinyereagbai.bsky.social, and more! Read it at bit.ly/4m4hdXD
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Habermas is a mixed bag. I’ve been teaching him forever, although I had to stop assigning him to undergraduate students because he alienates them from the academia with his uncommunicative (!) prose. My sociology shaped up as a counterpoint to his. His best work is unquestionably his treatise 1/4
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The Sociological Quarterly @socquarterly.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
ONLINE FIRST In this new TSQ article, Cihan Tuğal (@cihantugal.bsky.social), Jonathan Smucker, and Kip Roberts examine how emotions shape boundary work among populists and anti-populists within the Republican and Democratic parties. Read more at bit.ly/4cg6ir2
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
My tribute to and critical analysis of Michael Burawoy, published as the lead article in Sociologia. The heart of the piece is a discussion of 1) why/how Burawoy transitioned from his early, “labor process”-focused research programme to a “counter-market” one; ++ ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/So...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
"state terror" Springsteen's wording here reminds us of a basic fact: Despite their frequent vitriol against "terrorists," empires and states are the greatest terrorists in human history.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Syria's HTS is gearing up for its third round of ethnic cleansing with full Western guardianship. For a discussion of the first two rounds, and a sociological explanation of why Western powers would support such murderous forces, see this essay:
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Our article on populism is published in @socquarterly.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Based on 52 interviews with populists and anti-populists during Trump’s first presidency, we make the following contributions 1) We demonstrate the centrality of emotions in anti-populist politics
tandfonline.com
Populism, Emotions, and Boundary Work Among Political Activists in the Trump Era
How do emotions shape boundary work among populists and anti-populists? Based on 52 in-depth interviews, we analyze how political activists construct their positions through “emotive contestation.”...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Great article on why radicalization in the 1960s and 1970s produced very different results for the American Left and Right. Grumbach problematizes the widely held belief that polarization is bad for all parties involved. If you have the organization + journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
The fortunes of radicalization: How the party environment determined the fate of radical movements in the late 20th-century United States - Matthew Grumbach, 2026
Radicalization during the 1960s and 1970s is often cited as a cause in the decline of American New Left movements, but right-wing movements also radicalized dur...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
“Social sciences” are predominantly studies of Western behavior rather than human behavior. Example? With the exception of Likud, the strongest far-right parties are outside the West: the AKP in Turkey, BJP in India, etc. But theorizations of the far right largely ignore them. +
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Happy 2026 everyone! 2025 was horrible but here are a few things to appreciate about the first 26 years of the 21st century (yes, including 2025): · “Fascist” is still a curse word, despite the rise of the far right throughout the globe. They are still ashamed of who they are. 1/
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
On my reading list for early 2026: The International Sociological Association's magazine just published a special issue on Michael Burawoy globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org/uploads/imge...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Erdoğan’s AKP had absorbed Brotherhood-type Islamism both into Turkey’s institutional system and into the world order. Can the cooperation between the Syrian HTS and the Turkish AKP tame salafism too and make it serve global capitalism more smoothly? I discuss this question here:
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
The Political Education Committee of @dsaeastbay.bsky.social wraps up the Socialist Fundamentals Series with this panel. In the spirit of Marx's third thesis on Feuerbach, the audience educates the educators during this meeting. Bagels + community + fierce debate! www.eastbaydsa.org/events/4716/...
eastbaydsa.org
⚘ Bagels and Building Socialism: A Park Bench Panel [Socialist Fundamentals '25 Finale!]: Dec 13, 2025
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Bourdieusian theorizations of populism are long overdue. I am putting this article on my reading list. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
My essay on Syria, Islamism, and capitalist geopolitics has been translated to Indonesian. indoprogress.com/2025/12/evol...
indoprogress.com
Evolusi Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham dan Masa Depan Suriah Interaksi antara Islamisme dan Geopolitik Kapitalis Cihan Tuğal
Artikel ini sebelumnya telah dimuat di jurnal Spectre (https://spectrejournal.com/the-evolution-of-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-and-syrias-future/). Diterjemahkan dan diterbitkan ulang di sini untuk tujuan pe...
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Ruşen Çakır @rusencakir.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Küresel cihatçıların küresel kapitalizmle ilişkisi (Video) - Medyascope medyascope.tv/2025/12/07/p... @cihantugal.bsky.social
medyascope.tv
Prof. Cihan Tuğal ile söyleşi: Küresel cihatçıların küresel kapitalizmle ilişkisi - Medyascope
Prof. Dr. Cihan Tuğal, küresel cihatçılığın hem toplumsal krizler hem de kapitalizmin gerileyişi içinde dönüştüğünü söyledi.
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journalspectre.bsky.social @journalspectre.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
ICYMI: @cihantugal.bsky.social 's analysis on the movement dynamics of HTS and Syria's current political conjunction is still live on our website.
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Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies @ucberkeleycrws.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Check out this new article by CRWS faculty affiliate @cihantugal.bsky.social, "The Evolution of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Syria’s Future: The Interplay between Islamism and Capitalist Geopolitics."
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
"Fourteen years ago, Syrians rose up with democratic demands. Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the West sought to hijack these demands for capital accumulation and empire-making. But a major unexpected winner of this process might instead, or along with these actors, be a new kind of Islamism."
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journalspectre.bsky.social @journalspectre.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
November is in the books! Thanks to Keith Rosenthal, Ralf Ruckus, @yige-dong.bsky.social , John Mullen, and @cihantugal.bsky.social for letting us put your work on the web. And thanks to all the contributors to our twelfth issue! Links in thread 👇🏽 🧵
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
The HTS regime in Damascus is the culmination of a long process of theo-political maturation and salafism’s integration into world capitalism. Violently militant forms of salafism constitute a relatively recent development in Islamic theology. They first crystallized through a differentiation 1/4
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
The point is not that "al-Jolani has not changed," but that those changes are mostly in line with the interests of world capitalism rather than Syrians' democratic struggles. Moreover, there are strong signs that he retains important elements of his original mission. +
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
My analysis of Syria’s ongoing transformation, based on sources in Turkish, Arabic, English.🧵 1) After the defeat of the democratic revolution, the transformation has been guided by capitalist geopolitics and the remaking of the global field of Islamism. spectrejournal.com/the-evolutio...
spectrejournal.com
The Evolution of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's Future – Spectre Journal
Cihan Tuğal looks at the interplay between HTS's movement dynamics and capitalist geopolitics to analyze the prospects for Syria's future.
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
It was great to work with Spectre again!
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
The theory of populism needs to be reconstructed by attention to some of the cases neglected in generalizing debates: India, Turkey, South Africa, China, and Iran. I point out in this article that the dominant theories of populism are based on the West 1/ www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
annualreviews.org
Populism Studies: The Case for Theoretical and Comparative Reconstruction
Studies of populism have shifted from substantive to discursive/performative and institutional perspectives in recent decades. This shift resolved some long-standing problems but insulated the analysi...
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Charmaine Chua @charmainechua.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
We won. Every union representing workers at the University of California sued the Trump administration in September. Today, judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction barring Trump’s attempts to extort political leverage from public higher education. democracyforward.org/updates/cour...
democracyforward.org
Court Blocks Trump’s Attempt to Gain Leverage and Political Control Over University of California System - Democracy Forward
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Observations from the @dsaeastbay.bsky.social general meeting today: The organizers opened the event by stating that electing socialists to office is only the beginning. The power holders will fight every socialist-hued policy they attempt. The people will need to mobilize to counterbalance those 1/
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
DSA meetings in the coming weeks will be essential to building a mass movement across the nation. We have Zohran's energy and the @socialists.nyc victory filling our sails. This is the moment to participate in @demsocialists.bsky.social meetings wherever you are. Check your local chapter's calendar!
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Marxism tends to dismiss generosity—and charity even more so. In this article, I show that a reconstructed Marxism is necessary for a proper understanding of religious generosity: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1... The article is an offshoot of the book below.
tandfonline.com
Faiths with a Heart and Heartless Religions: Devout Alternatives to the Merciless Rationalization of Charity
The Left usually dismisses charity as demeaning intervention into the lives of oppressed classes, an obfuscation through which exploitation is legitimated. Few arguments by Marx and Engels are as d...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
I presented my in-progress book manuscript on right-wing regimes at the University of Chicago's sociology department. The room was packed! I got excellent questions, and thinking about them will make the book better. I got to meet several brilliant graduate students, and caught up with +
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
Is Bourdieu incompatible with Marxism? No. Analytical demonstration: My book on religious generosity. Field analysis with a world-historical market-making and market-contestation angle. www.routledge.com/Caring-for-t...
routledge.com
Caring for the Poor: Islamic and Christian Benevolence in a Liberal World
Based on several years of fieldwork in Egypt and Turkey, Caring for the Poor tells the stories of charity providers and volunteers. The book also places their stories within the overall development of...
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Mamdani’s victory against Cuomo-Trump shows: Socialism is the only thing that can defeat the marriage of authoritarianism and corruption. Mamdani didn’t win alone. At least 50K @demsocialists.bsky.social-organized volunteers helped him win. So did unions and other movement organizations. 1/
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
What is at the root of the historic violence of the last two years in the Middle East? In a recent panel on the Global Turn to the Right, I argued that an integrative analysis of 1) movement dynamics, 2) accumulation regimes, and 3) each nation’s place in inter-imperialist rivalry gives us
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Cihan Tugal @cihantugal.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
The rich are selling out to Trump one by one. It would be very idiotic for the resistance to count on them. Here's a recent piece from the Times, deifying Bill Gates. They might regret this today. But they will soon tell us to rally behind yet another rich hero. Don't fall for it.
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