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Matt Patterson

@yyz2yyc.bsky.social
351 followers 456 following 51 posts

Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Calgary, studying cities and culture. profiles.ucalgary.ca/matt-patterson

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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Is nothing sacred??
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Another way to think of it is: Calgary+Edmonton grew from 54% to 58% of Alberta's population, but their seat count only grew from 53% to 55%.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Quick/rough calculation using 2021 census data and 2023 ridings suggests its gotten more uneven (for Edmonton especially).
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Thanks for sharing! Interesting to hear about how these ideas apply to other communities.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Are you still in Calgary? Let's meet up!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Yes, in Montreal. Presented by one of the co-authors, Mojtaba Rostami. Wish I could have attended myself! Yours and the other presentations looked really interesting.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Thanks, Ariel!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Thanks, Mike!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Thanks, Seth!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Check out our new paper in American Sociological Review: "Living with Ghosts: How Physical Traces of the Past Shape Cultural Trauma in Chinatowns" The paper is based on research we've done on efforts to preserve and protect historic Chinatowns in Canada and the United States doi.org/10.1177/0003...
doi.org
Living with Ghosts: How Physical Traces of the Past Shape Cultural Trauma in Chinatowns - Matt Patterson, Henry Tsang, Bryan Kuk, Weiqi Li, Mojtaba Rostami, 2026
Cultural trauma refers to how past experiences of harm can fundamentally transform a community’s shared identity, potentially generating feelings of solidarity ...
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Can’t check right now, but assume wealthy city-states like Singapore, Qatar and Luxembourg will be well above the US and any other nation-state.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
GDP per capital of selected countries since 1980 for some necessary context before anyone freaks out about how Canada became so poor.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Getting a research grant is 10% coming up with a good idea, 20% writing a polished application, and 70% hitting reload on a web browser to see if the SSHRC website will appear.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Our department is hiring!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
At least it brought some excitement into his life.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
The average American has three friends
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Waging war against pop music is something Adorno and the Gores share in common!
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
NGL it’s pretty crazy to hear Al Gore quote Adorno and reference Habermas (though he uses the past tense as if he’s dead)
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/b...
nytimes.com
Herbert J. Gans, 97, Dies; Upended Myths on Urban and Suburban Life
A leading sociologist, he explored American society up close — living in a Levittown at one point — to gain insight into issues of race, class, the media and even the Yankees.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Getting flashbacks to the Captain John’s controversy.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Actually, for exploring, the East Village in 2007 is crazy (I also got to Calgary only 10 years ago and never saw any of these neighbourhoods back then)
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
10 Ave SW:
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Academics in their 40s should dress like Edward Said.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
I would have suggested Mike Davis’ “Militarization of Space” but looks like he got it.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
“Screw the meek!” I remember this one from the 90s!
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Reposted by Matt Patterson
Andy Yan @ayan604.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Want an introduction to the practice of #UrbanPlanning and #CityBuilding? @sfucity.bsky.social CITY101 with @nlamontagne.bsky.social is open for enrollment. Starts Wed, Jan 22 | 6pm PST | Register: www.sfu.ca/continuing-s...
sfu.ca
City Program
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
While we look back nostalgically at the formal fashion of the 1920s, the people back then were dreaming of the day it would be socially acceptable to wear pajamas to work.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Are you not carrying the truth of home ice inside you, Ted?
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
I can’t remember the last time I saw an escalator working at a Bay in Calgary.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 25/12/2024
This, except you can only make out every 5th word over the Hans Zimmer score and the sound of a helicopter.
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Reposted by Matt Patterson
Tim Haney @timhaney.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
My department is hiring a tenure-track sociologist. Please distribute widely and encourage people to apply: mtroyalca.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Check out this new tenure-track sociology job in Calgary: mtroyalca.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...
mtroyalca.hua.hrsmart.com
MRU eRecruiter - JS Job Details
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Try this book, by Mauro Guillen, which looks at the role of the early clients of Bauhaus (European industrialists) and does not rely on conspiracy theories about woke socialists controlling the world: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
press.princeton.edu
The Taylorized Beauty of the Mechanical
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
City looked nice this week.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Former YMCA, Philadelphia Chinatown (closed since 2007)
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Neil Postman, in 1985, predicting TV programs like the Daily Show intended to satirize television news but ultimately just further blurring the boundaries between entertainment and news.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Second, the GOP does not hold a monopoly on materialism. Trump’s status as a celebrity businessman lent credibility to his materialist campaign message. Less so for Romney’s businessman persona. Dems could have run a campaign that was both progressive and materialist 8/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
For Dems worried that they’ve become an ineffectual party of out-of-touch postmaterialists, there is reason to hope. First, materialism doesn’t always win the day. Voters’ motivations change from election to election. 7/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
More than SES, postmaterialism correlates with education. People who hold postmaterialist values are predisposed to pursuing higher education, and universities in turn promote postmaterialism. This explains the dramatic education gap between pro- and anti-Trump voters. 6/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Likewise, financial insecurity leads people toward materialism (because they have to worry about money). However, there are plenty of rich materialists who have dedicated their lives to maximizing their personal wealth. 5/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
The post/materialist divide better explains the electoral dynamics than SES. SES is correlated, but does not determine whether someone is a postmaterialist. Financial security allows people to be postmaterialist, but there are also poor postmaterialists who sacrifice money for their values. 4/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Trump ran a materialist campaign. He promised to make people richer. He made no claims that he was the more ethical candidate (only the “stronger” candidate). In the end, this materialist message proved more persuasive in a post-inflationary period. 3/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Materialists vote based on their personal material wellbeing. They ask, “which candidate will make me richer?” Postmaterialists vote based on abstract values. They ask, “which candidate will improve society?” Harris’s campaign adopted a postmaterialist focus on democratic norms and freedom. 2/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Coming out of social media hibernation to post my thoughts on the US election. Lots of debate over whether Harris was too centrist or not centrist enough. For me, this misses the mark. I think of this election in terms of Ronald Inglehart's concepts of materialism vs post-materialism... 1/8
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 11/07/2023
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 05/07/2023
Back when I forced you all to buy hard copies. It’s all free and digital now! Still force students to read this essay though.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
Good point! My eyes totally skipped over the mention of the New Year. I assumed they were referring to Mid-Autumn festival.
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
Here’s the information about that lantern:
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
A few more…
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Matt Patterson @yyz2yyc.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
They have an excellent museum there.
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